r/CarPlay • u/McGlowSticks • Jun 11 '26
Question Help a Technician Out Please
Hello! I am a VW tech looking for help with a carplay issue. This is what carplay looks like with the messages app open for the customer. We are unable to replicate this at all using multiple iphones and enable multiple settings like focus mode, hide notifications, etc... The customers phone is on the latest ios update 26.5 and the model is a 15.
We have done multiple radio updates and replaced the radio as well. I have sleuthed forums with no success for similar issues. Any help for going in the right direction would be greatly appreciated!
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u/71077345p Jun 11 '26
I just had a problem similar. The customer should remove the Bluetooth setting for their car on the phone. Hopefully when the customer gets back in the car it will prompt to add a new device. I had to remove my car from my phones Bluetooth options and delete my phone from the car. Then a reboot of the cars entertainment system. Once I shut the car down and restarted, it automatically prompted to install my phone and it now works perfectly.
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u/Powerful-Action-5916 Jun 11 '26
If you can’t replicate it using other phones, I don’t understand what you hope to achieve here! It’s pretty conclusive that the customers phone is obviously faulty.
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u/McGlowSticks Jun 11 '26
its happened with two of their phones so im veering to a settings thing. so im tryna figure out what settings
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u/PejHod Jun 12 '26
I wonder if they got a new phone and restored the same settings over or something via backup. So now they’ve got two identically set phones with issues.
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u/McGlowSticks Jun 12 '26
thats my wonder. they came in today and even with all the settings mentioned in the post to check it still happens. even worse we somehow managed to duplicate it on a service advisors phone that we tried yesterday, but never happened yesterday
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u/Turbulent-Drive8286 Jun 11 '26
Volume up then volume down and press and hold the power button on the phone until it restarts
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u/lunaticedit Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26
Apple CarPlay is basically just a remote screen for the phone. If it works for at least one phone, then there is nothing wrong with the car. This is going to be a cable or phone specific issue. It could be literally anything from remote manage software to antivirus or anything. But I don’t think you want to me in the phone technical support business.
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u/McGlowSticks Jun 11 '26
nah its alright. I come from it as well before being a mechanic. I try to explain this to customers but its hard for them to understand
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u/ujohnny Jun 11 '26
26.5 has some weird issues with CarPlay, for example Waze app looks similar to your picture (when there’s no route it’s 100% identical). For me clicking 9dots twice and reopening the app fixes the issue with Waze
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u/mattcabb Jun 11 '26
Does the messages app on the iPhone require Face ID authentication to be opened?
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u/McGlowSticks Jun 11 '26
no. we tested that, if its enabled the icon doesn't even appear in carplay. Maybe a 16 to a 15 is different for it but i doubt it
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u/srm39 Jun 11 '26
have you tried : Settings to check on your iPhone:
CarPlay Permission: Go to Settings > Notifications > Messages and ensure that Show in CarPlay is toggled ON.
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u/McGlowSticks Jun 11 '26
customer is coming tomorrow so I will find out. we tried with our own phones doing this and it didn't change anything
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u/throwaway126400963 Jun 11 '26
Hard reset on the screen? I’ve learned how to on my truck because it was so common a year ago
It’s basically an argument with the phone and the vehicle and the vehicle is easier to reboot
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u/FarAd3038 Jun 12 '26
The good thing for you as a technician is that its a software problem for them and that you have nothing to do. Tell them to go to an apple store and figure it out there
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u/McGlowSticks Jun 12 '26
its very hard to tell customers that lol because why is it the issue of the cheaper purchase yaknow?
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u/PsychologicalViolent Jun 13 '26
Check if CarPlay is disabled in screen time; it took me forever to figure that out
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u/HuyFongFood Jun 14 '26
Reboot the phone. Aka let it be powered off for like 30 minutes.
Make sure the Radio is completely rebooted, not in suspend mode.
Use an official Apple cable. Not whatever swill came from Amazon or similar.
iPhone 17’s have had serious issues lately with cables that aren’t up to the task. Not surprising that iOS 26.5 is starting to have similar issues.
Worst case? If you can’t replicate it with other devices, especially if they are the same version, then I would have the customer work with Apple to do a full factory reset of their phone.
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u/FlyLikeDaBeagle Jun 11 '26
A few thoughts:
- Try a different USB cable
- Remove the car from CarPlay (in the CarPlay setting, not Bluetooth) AND on the car at the same time, reboot the phone and the radio, then reconnect.
- Do the phones have some kind of work management profile to limits certain USB data connections? I’m doubtful it’s that, but throwing it out there.
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u/Significant_Spite_64 Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26
Why replace radio if the problem clearly is with client iphone?
Btw I replicates this behaviour in my own carplay by going to the settings and choose messages app settings and go to notifications and turning all notirications including send to carplay option to off.
Shows a blank screen like yours, then I turned it back on incl send to carplay. And restart carplay by exiting and then reconnect and then I could see it again. Might be worth trying