[filmvolt]

Like many of you I have had issues getting my phone at times to connect to CarPlay properly. Sometimes even after connecting the lightning/USB cable to the phone "Projection" is still shown on the screen or many times even if I see a seemingly successful "CarPlay" icon on the Volt screen, when I press play to listen to music or a podcast, audio will only play out of the phone speakers and not through the car stereo.
Here are a few solutions to these issues that have worked for me...please leave suggestions that have worked for you so we can all learn from one another and help out fellow Volt owners.

Issue: Phone does not connect to CarPlay after plugging in (even with various cables) and "Projection" is still shown on the Volt Infotainment screen.

Solution: Try going to the "Settings" icon on the Volt Infotainment screen (the gears icon). Scroll down to "CarPlay" and select it. Select CarPlay Devices. Then select your phone's name from the list of CarPlay Devices. Wait a few moments (at least 10-15 seconds) and see if the "X" next to your phone's name in the list changes to a check and the phone becomes active. Press the "home" button on the Infotainment controls and see if "CarPlay" has replaced "Projection". If it has you should be good to go. If not, repeat the above steps but instead of choosing your phone's name from the list, press the "delete device" button and delete your phone from the list. Unplug your phone and then replug it in and select the "Add Device". After re-adding your phone it should work.


Issue: I successfully see the "CarPlay" icon on the Volt screen, but when I press play to listen to music or a podcast, audio will only play out of the phone speakers and not through the car stereo even though it shows the song/podcast is playing on the Volt Infortainment screen and I can press play/pause/etc.

Solution: This one frustrated me a lot and was happening to me quite often, but at randoms times. This solution seems to work for me. Simply make a Siri request on you phone by either pressing and holding the iPhone's home button or the "Speak" button on the Volt's Steering Wheel. When you hear the familiar Siri double beep and "What can I help you with" shows up on your iPhone and the Volt Infotainment screen, say "Test". Siri then responds with something along the lines of "All my circuits are working fine thanks". And then, voila, the sound from your music/podcast will now come out of the car speakers. This works overtime for me. I assume because it wakes up the CarPlay app to activate the car's microphone and speakers.

Good luck and please leave your issues and solutions or comments so we can all figure stuff out!

 

[VoltenRock]

Great post. I've suffered these, plus the occasional "freeze" of iPhone streaming. Unplug/replug sometimes solves it.

Have no idea whether Apple or MyLink is to blame. Both are equally suspect given recent QC hiccups.

 

[Loboc]

Why are you on such an old version of iOS? Current is 11.2.1.

 

[jakesterpdx]

Indeed - not updating to at least iOS 11.1 leaves you vulnerable to a lot, but "most notably a fix for a major WPA2 WiFi vulnerability. Prior to this update, attackers could use a key reinstallation attack, aka Krack, to pull out sensitive data and personal information by decrypting network traffic."
https://www.engadget.com/2017/10/31/apple-ios-11-1-new-emojis-security-updates/

 

[joe_u]

Running IOS 11.2.1 here with an iPhone 7 and have experienced the same issues as described above. My iPhone has a better chance of loading Car Play and producing the required Projection using to upper USB Port. The upper USB port works 90% of the time. The lower USB Port hardly ever causes Car Play to load when I plug the iPhone into it. Projection rarely ever results when using the lower USB Port. The iPhone will charge off this port which indicates that it has power.

I recently had the opportunity to rent a 2018 Chevy Cruise during a recent trip. Apple Car Play on the Cruise is rock solid and never exhibited the same bugs that are normally encountered with the Infotainment System on the 2017 Chevy Volt. As an aside, I'm now on my 3rd Human Interface Module as I've experienced the black screen of death on the center Infotainment Display 2 times.

When Car Play works it works great. Getting it to launch reliably on the 2017 Volt appears to be an issue. Also looks like their is now a newer hardware version of the Infotainment System as well. Found this out when asking about the GM App Shop App that is supposed to download onto the Infotainment System to allow for various services and Apps such as iHeart Radio, Time-In Radio, etc.. so you wouldn't have to use the phone apps. Onstar states my radio hardware has to be version 3.0 for the GM App Shop to download. My hardware is an older version. Mine dates back to February 2016. They state the 3.0 hardware is only on late 2017 and 2018 Volt models.