Carplay oddities on Corolla GR Sport MY22

[rederick]

I had a look through forum, didn’t see a post on this topic; please advise if I’ve missed the right place.

My Jan 2023 (MY22) GR Sport Corolla’s CarPlay worked brilliantly from purchase until I changed my phone last October… and testing with a friends older model iPhone shows the problem doesn’t matter on handset. music, navigation apps (Apple and non apple) work normally, but sending or reading messages/SMS no longer actually works. The “Siri Voice” gets stuck in loops and doesn’t complete the operation. This worked perfectly until the update at Christmas. Anyone know if there is a Software Update for the Corolla? I’ve tried connecting the car to a WiFi hotspot on my phone, but “no updates available” is all I get, same since I bought the car.

I searched Apple forums but most people just can’t get CarPlay to work, which mine is great for music and navigation, just very odd when someone sends you a message when you’re driving… when it did work well.

Thanks.

[Paul john]

54 minutes ago, rederick said:

I had a look through forum, didn’t see a post on this topic; please advise if I’ve missed the right place.

My Jan 2023 (MY22) GR Sport Corolla’s CarPlay worked brilliantly from purchase until I changed my phone last October… and testing with a friends older model iPhone shows the problem doesn’t matter on handset. Music, navigation apps (apple and non apple) work normally, but sending or reading messages/SMS no longer actually works. The “Siri Voice” gets stuck in loops and doesn’t complete the operation. This worked perfectly until the update at Christmas. Anyone know if there is a Software Update for the Corolla? I’ve tried connecting the car to a WiFi hotspot on my phone, but “no updates available” is all I get, same since I bought the car.

I searched Apple forums but most people just can’t get CarPlay to work, which mine is great for music and navigation, just very odd when someone sends you a message when you’re driving… when it did work well.

Thanks.

Its more likely a phone issue. What iPhone and ios version do you have?

odd that you say that the Apple forums say cant get Apple carplay to work since it is a simpler setup than AA. 

[sportse]

It’s a CarPlay bug that affects different cars and phone models randomly. 
 

I’ve had it myself, the Siri voice cuts off half way through speaking, or before you can tell it what to put in a text message/etc. 

mines working again but it’s just luck what fixes it - I tried deleting and reinstalling the phone to the car, turning off Siri and back on with new voice learning, changing the Siri voice and downloading a new one. 

[Paul john]

3 hours ago, sportse said:

It’s a CarPlay bug that affects different cars and phone models randomly. 
 

I’ve had it myself, the Siri voice cuts off half way through speaking, or before you can tell it what to put in a text message/etc. 

mines working again but it’s just luck what fixes it - I tried deleting and reinstalling the phone to the car, turning off Siri and back on with new voice learning, changing the Siri voice and downloading a new one. 

Siri is time sensitive , so if you pause too long it thinks you have completed instructions. 
that sometimes causes Siri to “cut off” mid way through telling it the text message. 

[Delta01]

Sometimes it is just the problem that the volume of Siri is changed. 
Try to open Siri with the button on the steering wheel an when Siri opens try volume up. 
Sorry for the bad English but iam from Holland, good luck trying 👍

[rederick]

Thanks for all the ideas.   The current phone is a 15 Pro with iOS 17.4.1 today and its never worked with any iOS 17 release. The old phone that worked properly was handed down, iPhone 14, but has also been updated to iOS 17 and I've tried testing with it a few times, no difference to the 15. I have access to an iPhone SE 2nd gen (quite old) and that is also on iOS 17.4.1, so I will try that as well.

Volume doesn't seem to be an issue. I've got into the habit of muting the radio when trying Siri and on the MY22 the only way to start Siri is with the button on steering wheel, voice activation is disabled when connected to Toyota's CarPlay.

Yet another Apple bug, they are getting less and less reliable over there in Cupertino.. 😃

[sportse]

The bug isn’t volume or time related unfortunately. 
 

if I’d asked it for the weather, half way through speaking it would just stop. 
 

you couldn’t send a text message, as it would stop before letting you add the message. 
 

a funny one was when I asked it to add a reminder, it cut off half way through setting it up and the actual entry was Siri itself speaking - it had recorded its own voice as my reply. 

[rederick]

Strangely it works correctly if I disconnect from the car and just shout at the phone. It is only when CarPlay is active that Siri's features don't work. Thanks all for confirming this issue affects other people, and not just my car.

If I ask it to send a message, it says "to whom" you reply and it then says "what do you want to say" and you say one word and it replies and gets into a loop saying "it says, it says, it says" until you press the button on the steering wheel. Its hilariously broken...

I'll submit feedback to Apple.

https://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone/

 

 

[Paul john]

4 hours ago, rederick said:

Thanks for all the ideas.   The current phone is a 15 Pro with iOS 17.4.1 today and its never worked with any iOS 17 release. The old phone that worked properly was handed down, iPhone 14, but has also been updated to iOS 17 and I've tried testing with it a few times, no difference to the 15. I have access to an iPhone SE 2nd gen (quite old) and that is also on iOS 17.4.1, so I will try that as well.

Volume doesn't seem to be an issue. I've got into the habit of muting the radio when trying Siri and on the MY22 the only way to start Siri is with the button on steering wheel, voice activation is disabled when connected to Toyota's CarPlay.

Yet another Apple bug, they are getting less and less reliable over there in Cupertino.. 😃

Are you using an Apple usb cable or an “amazon basic” one?
the iPhone 15 pro looks for a fast connection speed for accessories and sometimes throttles functionality accordingly. On cheaper cables the speed synchronisation fails (just like connecting a cheap hdmi cable to a 4k TV and getting purple and green flashes that indicate a sync failure).
The iPhone 14 connected with a lightning cable that connected at a much slower speed and has a chip in it for negotiation. 

[Paul john]

3 hours ago, rederick said:

Strangely it works correctly if I disconnect from the car and just shout at the phone. It is only when CarPlay is active that Siri's features don't work. Thanks all for confirming this issue affects other people, and not just my car.

If I ask it to send a message, it says "to whom" you reply and it then says "what do you want to say" and you say one word and it replies and gets into a loop saying "it says, it says, it says" until you press the button on the steering wheel. Its hilariously broken...

I'll submit feedback to Apple.

https://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone/

 

 

Good luck with that

[rederick]

15 hours ago, Paul john said:

Are you using an apple usb cable or an “amazon basic” one?
the iphone 15 pro looks for a fast connection speed for accessories and sometimes throttles functionality accordingly. On cheaper cables the speed synchronisation fails (just like connecting a cheap hdmi cable to a 4k TV and getting purple and green flashes that indicate a sync failure).
The iphone 14 connected with a lightning cable that connected at a much slower speed and has a chip in it for negotiation. 

The MY22 Corolla is "wireless carplay". My lightning cables (USB-A) are Apple genuine, but the iPhone 15 uses USB-C and Apple doesn't sell their own A to C cable. I have a belkin one.  In testing, using a wired connection made no difference. The maps/music and other apps work perfectly on both connections. It is only Siri that is broken.

 

[Paul john]

16 minutes ago, rederick said:

The MY22 Corolla is "wireless carplay". My lightning cables (USB-A) are Apple genuine, but the iPhone 15 uses USB-C and Apple doesn't sell their own A to C cable. I have a belkin one.  In testing, using a wired connection made no difference. The maps/music and other apps work perfectly on both connections. It is only Siri that is broken.

 

Weird. I use an adapter to turn wired to wireless, but experience none of the Siri issues you describe apart from my aforementioned “talking too slow causes siri to think you have finished the command”

admittedly it is on an iPhone 14pro. The wireless difference between the 14 pro and 15 pro is negligable as it is only a bump from 6 to 6e. I doubt your head unit is using 6Ghz yet and 6e is backwards compatable. The bluetooth versions on both phones are the same.

i guess you have already looked at this thread? It does mention the Apple supplied Belkin cable that you have did resolve some issues.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255151849?sortBy=best
 

[Delta01]

Do you have disconnect the bluetooth from phone to car radio? 

[rederick]

I've found a solution, doesn't make much sense but....

I plugged my iPhone 15 Pro into my laptop (Windows 11) and ran iTunes. It offered to upgrade me from "17.4.1" to "17.4.1"; checking on various websites there is a newer build number. https://www.macrumors.com/2024/03/27/ios-17-4-1-new-build-number/
If this hadn't been released I would have had to 'backup' the phone and use the 'restore' option.

iTunes then failed to update as it said I needed a newer iTunes (yet this is the latest!) and it turns out that on Windows 11 you now have to use the Apple Devices app from MS Store. It was about 8GB download, and once installed, taking about 20 / 25 minutes, the phone came up looking unchanged.

Later today in the car.... wow, everything fixed using wireless carplay.

• Siri can read receiving text messages correctly and doesn't get "stuck" and repeat itself.
• Siri can send text messages, and can send emails correctly without getting stuck and saying "it says, it says, it says"
• Best of all, using the voice "wake word" now works with CarPlay active, as well as the steering wheel button. This never worked back to my old phone with iOS 16.x the week I collected the car, so I assumed wasn't supported by Toyota.

Posting here in hope it helps someone else. Perhaps the iPhone 15 models have had issues with the small OTA updates, and it needed a full install to reset some random settings. That is obviously an Apple issue, as they should be able to tell if a delta is the same as full load.

[rederick]

1 hour ago, Delta01 said:

Do you have disconnect the bluetooth from phone to car radio? 

Using Car Play in the Corolla the normal "bluetooth" link isn't used. If I turn off Car Play in the Toyota radio settings, then I would have to pair the phone to the car again using bluetooth and then I could use the traditional audio and text messaging features with Toyota's voice support.

[rederick]

5 hours ago, Paul john said:

Weird. I use an adapter to turn wired to wireless, but experience none of the Siri issues you describe apart from my aforementioned “talking too slow causes siri to think you have finished the command”

admittedly it is on an iphone 14pro. The wireless difference between the 14 pro and 15 pro is negligable as it is only a bump from 6 to 6e. I doubt your head unit is using 6Ghz yet and 6e is backwards compatable. The Bluetooth versions on both phones are the same.

i guess you have already looked at this thread? It does mention the apple supplied Belkin cable that you have did resolve some issues.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255151849?sortBy=best
 

Your third party adaptor may of course be different to the wireless support being built in; I have colleagues with KIA and other cars that use a third party wireless adaptor for Car Play and none of them had experienced this issue. Most have older phones, iPhone XS, or XR, or 12 etc.

I tried a friends 14 Pro that is running 17.4.1 and that had the same issue, yet my old 14 Pro (traded in last year!) had no issues when iOS 16 was the current version.

[Paul john]

3 hours ago, rederick said:

Your third party adaptor may of course be different to the wireless support being built in; I have colleagues with KIA and other cars that use a third party wireless adaptor for Car Play and none of them had experienced this issue. Most have older phones, iPhone XS, or XR, or 12 etc.

I tried a friends 14 Pro that is running 17.4.1 and that had the same issue, yet my old 14 Pro (traded in last year!) had no issues when iOS 16 was the current version.

agreed

My iPhone 14 pro is running 17.4.1 . My wireless adapter is a carlinkit 2air v5. 
have connected it to many cars and many phone including an iPhone xr.  

perhaps that may be the way to go. that way both toyota and Apple lacklustre support is removed.