[quirkySquirt]

Have you tested with a different CarPlay vehicle to rule out the Volt or your iPhone?

 

[llninja]

I would plug the USB cable into a cigarette adapter power port then use Bluetooth for all of your audio. That seems to work best for me with my gen1. The USB to center console has lots of issues and it hit or miss. The Bluetooth was also, but I have found the right steps plus workarounds to always get it to work.

 

[Windy City Wattson]

This sounds a little silly, but always plug in your iPhone before you power on the car, and always turn off the car before you unplug iPhone. I found this recommendation in one of these thread and didn't believe it. But, almost every funky CarPlay issue went away once I did this. Having some other family members with CarPlay in other vehicles, I can report these issues are not Apple related, but Chevy myLink related. But to be sure the software has been reset, power off your iPhone holding the sleep/wake button and the slider, turn it back on just to be sure the CarPlay software has reset.

 

[encore]

Thanks guys! No, I haven't tried it with another CP vehicle. I'll try plugging it in before powering on the car.

 

[encore]

I replied to this thread last week and it never showed. WT? Anyway...I did try your suggestions and it does help if you plug the Iphone in before turning on the car

 

[icharry]

I'll also try the plug in phone 1st. I have all kinds of issues and the only one I know for sure is when I have apple music turned on it always freezes the whole system. I seem to remember reading that it is an issue with the car trying to list the thousands of songs.

 

[gadgeTT]

I have a 2017 Volt and an iPhone 7 Plus. The iPhone is both paired via Bluetooth and typically connected via USB to CarPlay. This way, if the CarPlay connection fails for whatever reason, it fails over to the Bluetooth connection. I have found that if I let the car connect to the Phone via BT first, and then plug in the cord for the USB/CarPlay connection, things are a tad more stable than if I plug in first and attempt to have USB/CarPlay connect before BT.

Of course, YMMV.

BTW, does anyone else have a problem whereby the car switches to the iPod/iPhone input on its own and refuses to stay in any another audio source (like XM)? I usually listen to the XM source but still have my phone plugged into USB for CarPlay. Most of the time, the car stays on the XM audio input and everything is great. Randomly, though, the car will automatically switch to the iPod/Phone input and no amount of switching back to XM "sticks." This happens completely randomly and I can't find the repeatable set of circumstances to have it happen or prevent it from happening. All I know is that sometimes, I have to resign myself to listening to audio from my Phone instead of XM because I can't get the car to stay on the XM input without completely disconnecting my phone (unpair, unplug, or power off).

 

[encore]

BTW, does anyone else have a problem whereby the car switches to the iPod/iPhone input on its own and refuses to stay in any another audio source (like XM)? I usually listen to the XM source but still have my phone plugged into USB for CarPlay. Most of the time, the car stays on the XM audio input and everything is great. Randomly, though, the car will automatically switch to the iPod/Phone input and no amount of switching back to XM "sticks." This happens completely randomly and I can't find the repeatable set of circumstances to have it happen or prevent it from happening. All I know is that sometimes, I have to resign myself to listening to audio from my Phone instead of XM because I can't get the car to stay on the XM input without completely disconnecting my phone (unpair, unplug, or power off).

Yes, I've had this happen but it switches to the Iphone, out of say XM radio, because Iphone is doing something like Waze giving a traffic alert. After this happens, it won't switch back to XM radio. I've noticed there are some glitches in the system. I've resigned to using Waze without any alerts, sounds, or notifications, so it doesn't mess with the XM radio.

 

[quirkySquirt]

I replied to this thread last week and it never showed. WT? Anyway...I did try your suggestions and it does help if you plug the Iphone in before turning on the car

Careful which button you click to submit your post. I always gravitate to the big blue "Reply to Thread" button after typing instead of the "Post Quick Reply" button, wiping out my post with a blank text area.

Interesting to see that you have to plug the iPhone in before turning on the car and turn the car off before unplugging the iPhone. I don't get that with my Android 5.0 phone. I can also keep the FM radio (not XM) running while getting audible nav directions from Google Maps no problem--the FM audio just decreases significantly while the Google Maps voice guidance gives me an update, then the FM volume returns to previous listening level.

 

[HighlanderICT]

Yes, I've had this happen but it switches to the Iphone, out of say XM radio, because Iphone is doing something like Waze giving a traffic alert. After this happens, it won't switch back to XM radio. I've noticed there are some glitches in the system. I've resigned to using Waze without any alerts, sounds, or notifications, so it doesn't mess with the XM radio.

Yup. It does this on mine too ... there's something not quite right between MyLink / CarPlay / Bluetooth and depending on how you connect, what you had playing on your phone before you connected, and what order things get enabled you get any one or more of a large set of symptoms ....

I have had .....

• Car playing random music (not from my playlist) when first getting into the car ... in one instance it was the theme music for a kids game my boy was playing on the phone hours earlier. The game wasnt active any more but Carplay started playing the tune anyway.
  
• Car switching to ipod/iphone input whenever an app on the phone "speaks". That could be Siri, Waze alerts, Google Maps or anything really ... if it speaks it switches to CarPlay even if its not a native Carplay app. Waze is my biggest culprit so I also have alerts disabled.
  
• A new one from Waze is that now whenever I press the icon to launch the app the input switches even with the sound turned off. Once its up and running you can switch back to normal audio and it doesnt switch back but its an annoyance.
  
• Worst of all, randomly, the whole system freezes up and you cant switch to anything whatsoever. You cant even press the onstar button. I thought I was doing this by going into gear when the screen message told me to wait but I am now convinced that there is a certain order that things connect in that cause it to do a total freeze and your only option is to switch off the car, walk away (with the remote) and then go back and switch things back on.
  

Apple dont want to know and likewise Chevy seem to think its an Apple issue ... bottom line is nobody wants to own it so it remains a problem for the customer with no-one wanting to address it. Same applies for the speedo issue whereby any app that displays a speedo (like Waze) only shows half the actual speed when connected to CarpPlay.

We desperately need a "Reboot" button or option in one of the menus for the infotainment system .... or for them to fix the issue properly ....

 

[encore]

Well, I've had the Volt two weeks now, and while I do like the car, I am disappointed with the bugs in the infotainment system.

Last night, I preconditioned the car, the preconditioning turned off right before I got in, I plugged in my Iphone 6s while the Waze app was running, started the car, and tried to turn on Sirius XM: none of the audio worked....nothing...no local radio...no Carplay....no SiriusXM...nothing. Also note that the Waze app was not operating correctly as it was taking forever to pull up alternate routes.

So I pulled over, shut down the car and restarted...still nothing worked. So I turned off the car again...restarted my Iphone...let the car sit for about a two minutes as I called my wife to complain. Restarted the car and everything worked!

So...anyway...I hope this was just a "computer" fluke, or essentially two computers (Volt and Iphone) that didn't want to play nice and shut down.

 

[encore]

[*]Worst of all, randomly, the whole system freezes up and you cant switch to anything whatsoever. You cant even press the onstar button. I thought I was doing this by going into gear when the screen message told me to wait but I am now convinced that there is a certain order that things connect in that cause it to do a total freeze and your only option is to switch off the car, walk away (with the remote) and then go back and switch things back on.

Yep, this is exactly what happened to me last night. I forgot to mention that I did also walk away from the car with the remote before restarting.

 

[Noremacnova]

CarPlay is perhaps the most disappointing feature of the Gen II. I simply can't get it to behave well enough to use it, and do not know whether to blame Apple, GM, or the Bluetooth standards committee. Most of my problems revolve around the system not selecting (or reverting to) the appropriate audio source.

Does anyone know if Apple intends that CarPlay be an upgradable capability (like iOS)? Can we hope that Chevrolet will install (or let us install)?

 

[Windy City Wattson]

I should have added earlier, that I have my success with my 2017 Volt and CarPlay by not using bluetooth at all. CarPlay can also host calls over the car's microphone/speakers. I'd encourage anyone having problems to disconnect and "forget" bluetooth settings between their iPhone and Volt, then be sure to plug in iPhone before you turn on Volt. That solved almost all of my problems.

CarPlay capabilities are implemented by Apple in iOS, and recently saw improvements with the change from iOS 9 to iOS 10. The Volt didn't need to be upgraded for those changes. Essentially the Volt's myLink screen is just a touchscreen display interface for iPhone. Based on other problems described in this thread, there are some hiccups in how notification sounds, and other details are handled when the audio source is not the iPhone (radio or XM). I believe that detail is out of Apple's hands.

 

[jlhardwick]

This sounds more like a iPhone problem not the Volt or CarPlay. Most problems with audio and iPhones can be solved by performing a reset of the phone. Hold Down the power and home button until you see the screen blank and wait for the apple logo pop up then release.
My guess is this will fix the problem.
I rarely have any trouble with my iPhone on the Volt but when I did this was the fix.