Hi there
We have a 2018 CR-V EX-L. My wife has an iPhone 15 Pro Max, and it rarely connects successfully to the screen with Apple Car Play. I have an Samsung S20FE and it’s better but sometime drops out and doesn’t reconnect until I turn off the car and start it again. When her iPhone does connect, often times it doesn’t stick for very long.
I’m also getting a “Unable to connect to smartphone using bluetooth” sometimes while using Android Auto. It interrupts navigation and music (very annoying) and usually it comes back after several seconds, but one time it didn’t at all.
But here’s the thing, when I inquired about these issues at Honda, the service dude said he never heard of that from any other customer, and all they could do is run a diagnostic for like $250 to see if anything’s wrong with the screen. He did run a factory reset on it, which I’ve also tried myself, but that didn’t make any difference.
It troubles me that the guy at Honda couldn’t even admit there might be an issue with their screen or suggest where specifically the problem may lie. Just an expensive diagnostic, which may or may not reveal anything useful. He also had absolutely no idea if there’s a software update for the car. I mean, it’s 7 years old, surely there’s a software update?
Anything I can try myself here? Anyone else experiencing anything like this? Should I be surprised the guys at Honda don’t actually know anything?
Thanks!
It isn’t a computer with a generic operating system. There are rarely any updates unless there is a lot of customer complaints within the first couple of years. After a few years, no updates.
Cars obsolete themselves because once you own it, there is no incentive for Honda to update it. So your 2023 phones may no longer be compatible with your 2018 car. If they still are, your 2024 phones may not be.
I am odd, I keep phones for 5 years but I keep cars 10 to 20 years.
Looks like several people are have this issue with the iPhone 15 Pro and Honda
The most common work around has been to use an Apple approved usb cord and not the bluetooth
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Do the phones connect through USB cords?
A vehicle made 6 model years ago won’t connect with a phone just released 1 year ago. SHOCKING ! Did you really expect your Honda to just automatically keep up with the rapidly changing phone tech. Of course connection will be unreliable with a device that wasn’t even produced at the time the car was.
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+1
I had gotten used to a seamless interface between my cell phone and my 2011 Outback’s Bluetooth system… until I got a new phone in 2020 that just wasn’t compatible with the vehicle’s Bluetooth. I had to adjust to being unable to use that system for a couple of years, until I bought a new vehicle, and now everything is back to normal.
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Thanks everyone. While that is terribly disappointing, it also makes sense. Yes, over BT the car will only handle phone calls. If we want maps, music, anything else, we have to connect with cable.
We’ll try a “proper” Apple cable for my wife’s phone. Hopefully if that works it’ll also work with my older Samsung.
I was actually really happy when she got the Pro 15, because before that, we kept having to swap cables from lighting for her iPhone 12 to USB-C for my Samsung, now we both have USB-C phones, so no more cable swapping. (Yes, only one port supports data in the car.)
But overall this seems a really stupid reason to keep old phones, but maybe we keep an older one in the car and tether the data connection from our current phones.
Neel
Me does not think that someone who keeps an old phone and vehicle that work together is ( Stupid )
I don’t understand the need to keep getting a new model Iphone but if that is what someone wants it does not effect me at all.
+1
My best friend gets a new I-phone every 2-3 years because… (?).
My current phone is a reasonably up-to-date Samsung Galaxy S21, and I have no plans for replacing it in the near term. I can tell that the battery is starting to show its age, as it now drains quickly, but I think it makes more sense to just replace the battery, instead of replacing the phone.
It’s a shame that Samsung has followed Apple’s lead, and made it much more difficult to replace their batteries, as compared to their older phones, but there is a well-rated technician’s shop near me where I will have the job done.
I’m still using my S9… lol
Wifey gonna make me update soon though, I told her I am the head of the house and I don’t want to upgrade, she said she is the neck that can turn my head… 
She is the main reason I upgraded to the S9 from the S3 a few years ago… 
(that was an old joke, no hate mail please)
I got a new Samsung last year and it has no trouble connecting to my 2011 Camaro.