The connectivity between my car and my phone never works correctly from “fix” to “fix”. The dealership rep will reboot my phone, check settings, clean out programs, and such. We drive around locally and it works for awhile. Next time I have to venture outside of my general area of work and residence, it goes dumb on me! The screen freezes, the voice directives stop, and I’m left wandering aimlessly in an unknown area. I’ve complained to the dealership at least 6 times in the last 8 months. I’m considering buying a Garmin or such as I occasionally travel to other states and small obscure towns with with my work.
Subaru has a history of issues with Bluetooth pairing. There was a TSB issued in 2015 for this problem but it should have already been installed in new production units. Have your dealer search for a recent TSB for this. If Subaru hasn’t issued one, it probably will in the near future.
Also, you can post this on a Forester forum, a dealer somewhere might have figured it out.
Great advice above. I am a fellow Forester owner and mine is a '16 without Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. I assume you have used one of the two to connect. If not, that should absolutely be your first step. Bluetooth is good, these direct connections way better. While you sort things out, pick up a cheap phone holder on Amazon. The rubbery bottom ones. I have one and I use it to hold my phone while I use Google Maps. I just run it on the phone, not via the bluetooth connection. Works great. Here is a quick pic to help illustrate. Skip the Garmin. ps - If you still have trouble holding the app open with this method using Google Maps, the Forester is not your problem.
I should add that Subaru and Apple do not get along very well. iPhones have been problematic in a lot of cars but Subaru particularly. If you get an iPhone to work, do not upgrade the OS because chances are that if you do, it wont work anymore. If Subaru comes out with an update to make it compatible again, they charge $150 to install it.
This sounds similar to the problem I had with my radio and Sirius connectivity. I received some very good advice on line here to politely contact Subaru Corporate Customer Service. There is a known problem with the firmware in some of these systems… Skip/bypass and do not stop first at a dealership go directly to corporate. My issues was resolved by corporate providing me with a voucher to cover the “dealership estimated repair costs” I found a new/smaller dealer and they made me a new customer for as long as I own my 2016 subaru forester And as they story goes, I told EVERYONE I met about the poor service from the old guys and the fantastic service and problem correction from the new ones. They gave me a 2019 courtesy car for the 2+ weeks they had my car. Hope you can resolve it as well.