CarPlay, iPhone and Bluetooth question

[sjm1027]

I have two issues with my 2026 4Runner Limited. The issues are with CarPlay, my iPhone, and the 4Runner Radio (XM) connection.
I noticed that when I remote-start the 4Runner, get in, press the brake, and press the start button, CarPlay never connects unless I stop the 4Runner and restart it with the button. It seems to happen all the time, and I am wondering if anyone else has the same issue?

My second issue is that my iPhone is on the Qi charger, and I look at the 14" screen and notice the Qi symbol at the very top is tinted blue, the Wifi symbol is blue, but the Bluetooth symbol is grayed out. I don't think I have ever seen the Bluetooth symbol, a blue signifying it is connected. I also have times where the music Source button, when pushed, shows my iPhone as connected, and when I select Radio, the radio plays for 10 seconds and goes back to iPhone. Does anyone else have this issue? I would think the 4Runner radio would be the default player since Bluetooth is never tinted blue.

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[bancroftdg]

Regarding remote start from your phone, yes mine does the same thing - no Carplay until I restart. I did remote start with my FOB and Carplay was active when I got in.

Not sure about second issue, I'll have to check. I do note that occasionally while listening to Sirrius, the music stops and I have to hit Source then Radio (it had connected to my Iphone).

 

[sjm1027]

To connect my phone via Bluetooth, I have to remove everything first. Right now, the only icon highlighted in blue is the WiFi satellite icon, the one next to Qi. I am afraid of screwing something up, so I don't want to remove everything just to get my Bluetooth connected. It works without, so I suspect the WiFi satellite icon is the connection between my phone and the 4Runner.

 

[L-2]

Wasn't/isn't WIFI an extra-charge subscription service? Maybe I'm confusing WIFI service with some other service which I didn't extend or subscribe to. I don't have a Limited model. I have the Trailhunter, instead, if that makes a difference.

 

[sjm1027]

I don't know, I am very confused about how my phone is connected right now. I am just hoping someone will shine a little light on this issue.

 

[SteveS]

As I understand it it, Apple CarPlay used both BT and a WiFi connection to the car. I believe it initially initiates a BT connection but then WiFi.

I wanted to connect my phone to a dedicated hotspot and use CarPlay wirelessly. It was not possible because CarPlay takes the WiFi connection on your phone.
I use. a cable now which hase bee

 

[jimbo285]

I was having problems connecting wireless CarPlay but noticed that my home WiFi was still connected in my driveway. I had to manually disconnect from my home WiFi and connect to the WiFi listed as “smartphone something” and the CarPlay would open. Got tired of doing this and made my home WiFi not auto-join but smartphone something auto-join. Now I only have the occasional failure if I hop out to pump gas or make a quick stop at a store. I just hard reset the power on the radio to cure that one. Quick fix but nothing is perfect

 

[Biff]

I have the same issue connecting to Apple CarPlay after using remote start with the app. When I get in and start driving I always have to hold down the button on the volume knob until the radio starts to reboot. Then it connects to my iPhone for CarPlay. I don’t understand how or why it’s like this!! It is very annoying, especially in the winter months when I need to remote start the truck to warm it up !!

 

[Joestac]

 

[Joestac]

Interesting, not a lot of info on the DCM in either the full manual, or the multimedia one. This does give an overview of the icons though.

For the issue of the device not connecting automatically, this is probably just a simple wifi timeout so the system does not always keep searching for a connection.

I get around it on Android Auto by just cycling the wifi on my phone, quicker than holding the power button down on the unit. Then the phone itself attempts to initiate a new connection, which the vehicle answers and AA connects.

 

[Nodak]

when doing remote start, if the phone is not within range, the head unit will soft lock the phone connection via BT (since BT is the primary connection for carplay/AA (it soft locks since its looking for a phone and times out looking for it)

once you get in and do a take over you can do 1 of 2 things

1. touch the screen if it is completely blank (its in screen saver mode) to start up carplay/AA since the head unit is in sleep mode

2. soft reset the head unit by holding the volume button for 5-10 secs

you dont need to turn off the vehicle to restart the carplay/AA connection sequence if the you do the head unit soft reset sequence

 

[L-2]

All this Apple Carplay, wifi, Bluetooth info is a bit beyond my ability to understand how everything works.
As I mentioned elsewhere in these forums, my main gripe with Apple Carplay is when I choose the Apple Music app on Carplay; if the 4Runner is moving, I can't get to my full music library unless I stop. This isn't convenient if/when my Pandora/iHeart connection loses connectivity while on the freeway driving in the mountains, causing me to want to hear music from my iPhone's music library. Instead, I get a limited selection from my library of recently downloaded ARTISTS, not my full ARTIST listing already installed. Oh well, at least I now understand this limitation vs before when I thought there was some weird Carplay connectivity issue between my Trailhunter and my specific iPhone.

I'm guessing it somehow keeps me from not paying attention to driving and resulting in a traffic collision.

 

[Nodak]

are you using carplay or the toyota side of the house for audio?

i know in spotify i can select any playlist i have via the spotify app in the screen.

only thing i can think of its a limitation of carplay not the headunit.

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