[kindlibrarian]

I have a 2014 Volt and my 3 free years of Onstar just ended. I did not renew it. Today, I tried to make a call through my bluetooth connection with Volt and instead of putting the call through my speakers, I got a loop recording telling me to press the blue button to renew Onstar. A second try led to a recording loop requesting to enter my account number. Is Onstar required to use my iPhone/bluetooth connection?

 

[mpmoore1979]

You do not need a active on-star account for the Bluetooth to work, it does go through the on-star module but not required to have a account. There was a iphone ios update that have affected the Bluetooth operation, GM has a bulletin to update radio software for this issue.

#15-NA-081: Radio Locks Up and/or Resets, Bluetooth Pairing, IPhone Loses Pairing, Bluetooth Connection And Audio Concerns, Street Names Flickering, TBT Routing Screen Displayed After Download is Finished, XM Weather Alerts Cannot Be Selected Off, Voice Recognition and Navigation Updates, Various Rear Vision Camera Concerns, Podcast Will Not Play, Cannot Edit Device List - (Sep 14, 2016)

 

[llninja]

I just pair up my Bluetooth, then press and hold the home button and say "siri call (insert name here)". Works just fine without a full onstar subscriptoin in as I switched to Basic a few months ago. I'm good until oct 2021. Maybe by then GM will stop trying to make Onstar profitable and just build lifetime service into the price of the car.

 

[kindlibrarian]

Thanks for the helpful reply. It gave me courage to try again. I was able to make and receive iPhone calls today with out the OnStar borg taking over and ordering me to renew. No clue why that happened yesterday but hopefully it is behind me!

 

[canehdian]

If it happens again, press the phone icon
See if it displays your phone name at the top with signal meter, or if it says Onstar Handsfree Calling - your phone may not have actually been connected, or was in the process of connecting/reconnecting for bluetooth handsfree and wasn't ready yet (too soon after startup, perhaps?).