iPhone 12, Acura TLX, & CarPlay sync tip
 

This morning, I disconnected the wi-fi on my IPhone 12, before starting my Acura TLX/2021 ASPEC
Lo & behold, the devices actually synced!
Amazon Music was flawless, & Waze was reborn
I'm crossing my fingers, that this fix is real
BTW: devices were connected by an Anker Twist cord
Siri, actually gives me weather info, like it used to
Will try Apple Maps, on the way home, to see if my fix works

FALSE ALARM:
Today everything went back to FUBAR!
Sorry folks

That is frustrating. I've become addicted to ACP, myself. I've had no issues with it at all since switching to a better USB cable about six months ago. In my prior car, (before my TLX I had a Lexus UX 250H) I tried Waze. I think it's decent in theory, but the glitches were constant and seemed to effect the entire carplay experience - not just Waze itself, so I deleted the app. Google and Apple maps are sufficient for me. Another solution I can suggest would be to: leaving your phone unconnected, start your car, wait until your head unit boots up fully (about 30-60 seconds), then connect your phone. Wait until carplay boots up fully before starting any interaction with it (playing music, asking for directions, etc). I started trying this before switching to a better USB cable. This strategy mitigated the carplay crashes or load failures I was experiencing - but didn't eliminate them. Only when I bought a better cable did the problems fully disappear.

The link I have posted in the past to the exact USB cable I use (which I purchased at Walmart) no longer works so they may have changed the product somewhat. I read that Anker makes high quality stuff so I basically picked the most expensive one that was in stock and hoped for the best. You mentioned you are using an Anker cable so perhaps you might want to try a heavier duty one. This link appears to be to a similar cable, available in different colors and lengths: https://us.anker.com/collections/cab...37437807460502

I bought the Anker braided cable, on vacation in Maui, at Target
My tech guy at Acura, swears, it's an IPhone 12, handshake problem, with no fix in sight
I've tried all your recommendations, to no avail
Also, my car is in a heated garage; when it's outside, in the cold, the CarPlay is useless
Interesting to note: On vacation, my cheap Nissan Altima, had FLAWLESS CarPlay
Go figure

Damn, that sucks. My phone is an XR, so maybe that's why I haven't had these issues.

Just read that Apple IOS 15.2, will ADDRESS CarPlay issues
Fingers XXXXXXXXXX

Useless; going to the Apple Store Wednesday
Hopefully, they'll flip me to an IPhone 13, or replace my IPhone 12
We'll see

Good luck! I updated to iOS 15.2 last night. On my morning commute, everything worked fine. Sometimes I worry that an update will cause issues rather than solve them.

Went to the Genius Bar on 5th Avenue today
One of the Managers told me , a woman last week had the same IPhone 12/Carplay problem
He suggested, that I DELETE, my VPN, & TMobile McAfee Security, app
He claims IPhones don't need the extra security, & it interferes with CarPlay
Then, he told me to disconnect, my IPhone from Carplay, & then re-install it
It now works, PERFECTLY! Lets see about tomorrow, & afterwards
Only problem, is still no wireless charging, in my Acura TLX/2021
Can't have everything

CPR did you try turning off the optimized charging setting? My 12mini charges fine when that is off.

Tried it; thx!
didn't work

iPhones 11 and 13 charge just fine in my 2022 Type-S. The 13 needs to be placed all the way forward, but it charges. Just took possession and haven’t played with CarPlay much yet.

Seems I have much better connectivity luck when I ensure the phone is "unlocked" before connecting the USB cable.

I'm also catching a very high frequency "beep" occasionally when using Sirius XM via CarPlay or Apple Music via Bluetooth Audio. Trying to replicate, but it isn't consistent. Seems to happen while the car is connecting to AcuraLink via my phone's cellular. Anyone else hearing this?

I have had random issues connecting with CarPlay. My power cord was beginning to show wear with a few blacked spots on the contact plug. A new power cord has corrected the issue, whether I connect before or after starting the car, or whether my phone is unlocked or not.

Still having slow booting challenge. They seem exponentially worse when I’m plugged in to Car Play and the car simultaneously loads my wife’s Bluetooth settings. She has over 2,000 contacts (separate issue) which takes awhile before the error message pops. In the mean time, I don’t get connected to Car Play …. At all.

Turned off the “automatically load contacts” setting and will see if that has an impact. Next item to disable is Acura Link loading via cell connection.

Funny (sad?), the 2019 Honda Clarity I had as a rental car last month had zero Car Play sync issues …… looking forward to the next OTA update when it is available. Maybe once Sony gets engaged ……???

I have mentioned this before in other threads but I really think Acura's system has trouble multitasking. These solutions should definitely help. Don't give the system too much to do on startup or it flakes out.

false alarm here too. Doesn’t work.

Acura In-house Tech told me yesterday, there is still NO FIX, for the
wireless charging issue, with IPhone 12 & 13
My Acura tech, thinks, they'll eventually, have to change the charge pad; under WARRANTY!

While we have no issues with wireless charging for our iPhone 11s and 13s (2022 TLX Type-S), the overall CarPlay connectivity absolutely sucks. Drove four miles to Gelson’s today with no connectivity issues, but I did get four or five “electronic chirps” while using Apple Music during the drive. Spent 10 minutes at the store and when I got back into the car, zero Car Play connectivity the entire drive home.

Same user, same car, same cable, same phone ….. entirely unacceptable results. Makes me regret converting my lifetime Sirrius subscription to this car last week. You can only transfer it once I believe and if Car Play stays this shitty, I’ll dump the car.

Love the car, hate the “lack of” Infotainment (?). Disappointing. But fixable I assume.

Apologies to Acura. I just replaced the cable I was using to access CarPlay and connections are much more consistent.

Unfortunately I assumed that if a cable was capable of charging the phone, all other connections were also performing. Seems that the lightning cable wears. New cable helped - still minor booting items, but the phone now connects. Wish I had changed the cable before completing the JD Powers survey earlier this week. Love the Type-S, only issue I noted was CarPlay.

I have been having consistent success connecting CarPlay by plugging in my phone once the system has started to boot and the disclaimer screen has appeared. The experiment continues.

Update, I have had 28 consecutive successful Aple Car Play connections using this method. No need to restart the car, open the door, etc. Its a very nice change.

Does anyone have any updates on this? I've had issues since I bought my car but am becoming very tired of them. The dealer did the FAKRA connectors, and replaced the wire harness. I have a case open with client relations about a couple of electronics issues. I've tried multiple cables and that hasn't help. Carplay works reasonably well if I wait a full 2 minutes after starting the car. I still have the occasional beeps or black screens but it's not nearly as bad after that period. Carply in my wife's MDX works flawlessly in less than 30 seconds from ignition. Any thoughts?

Nope, it’s really a glitchy mess. I’ve heard Android Auto is far less glitchy on boot up but I can’t confirm. I wish a fix would come out as I’m quite annoyed by it glitching on me.

What brand wires are you using to connect?

Absolutely no issues for me since switching to this cable: https://us.anker.com/collections/cab...37437807460502 AND making sure everything is booted up including the car's GPS system before plugging in my phone. If you don't have GPS set to load to the smaller of the 2 center screen displays already, or to the main center screen, you will know it's booted up in the background when your current compass heading appears in your gauge cluster next to the odometer readout. It takes everything about a minute tops to boot up after starting the ignition. Because of my OCD I also make sure the backup camera is not on when I plug in the phone, too. Basically I think this strategy coupled with the connection type specified minimizes the multitasking being asked of the car upon startup. Otherwise, this could all be a bunch of horse poop and I have just been very fortunate not to be experiencing carplay issues for as long as I have.

I bought the Anker cable as soon as I leased my car to try to head off these CarPlay connectivity issues.

It works good enough that it isn’t one of my key complaints about the car.

i use an Anker cable as well but my CarPlay is still buggy as hell. I was waiting for ios16 to see if there was an improvement. NOPE. Then I bought an iPhone 14 hoping for improvement. NOPE. I can’t believe Acura can’t get this right after 4years with this head unit.

It's really frustrating there are so many issues with Apple Carplay and this car's infotainment system. I have an iPhone 12 Mini, and getting it to connect successfully every time I start the car is like playing roulette. Sometimes it connects with no issue, but more times than not it connects and then disconnects, or freezes up rendering the trackpad useless. I have applied every update, running the latest iOS, and using a proper Apple cable but still experiencing problems. I wish Acura could have debugged their software more thoroughly because these problems should not be happening on this class of car. I've driven basic rentals that have had better connectivity with CarPlay than Acura. Other than that, I love the vehicle :-)

My work vehicle, a Ford Transit mind you, connects to my phone wirelessly quicker than my Acura does wired. I find that I need to wait about 10 seconds after the screen shows the source list before plugging in my phone or it’ll glitch up.

I have many similar issues. I upgraded from 12 to 14 same if not more issues. I switched to android. A little better but still buggy. 40+ days at the dealership over this. Car also likes to lock me out when I use remote start. Other than those things the car is great.

Really astonishing how Acura failed on the CarPlay connectivity in a car that has so many other technical elements (that work well!).
Also, I have never gotten wireless charging to work on the iPhone 12 Mini - like others have reported, the issue has no fix.

The only fixes would be for either Acura to replace the charging pad with one that has a larger charging coil or Apple to redesign their phones.

To be honest this issue has been happening for long enough that Acura should have had the necessary coils for alignment for the largest phone manufacturers. Apple has such a huge market share and no iPhone seems to work with this pad. That’s a huge miss on Acura.

Just a data point - my iPhone 13 mini does charge in my Type S, inside a magsafe case. I know that it begins charging when I put it on the pad when I get in the car. I'm not really sure if it continues to charge while I drive or it disconnects from moving around. I'll have to take note of the before/after but right now it's a sunday driver. Maybe something has changed in the pad since the car was just delivered from the factory in March.

The mini may charge because you have a lot of room to position it. On a standard iPhone there isn’t any room to move it into position. However, I am able to get it to start charging but it’s basically on the edge of the coil and stops almost immediately even if I’m not moving.

I have the same issues with my iPhone 11. CarPlay freezes up and then shuts down to the main Acura screen, where it shows the CarPlay logo, which is dark and will not let you launch it. I have the chirps as well. Frustrating to lose your GPS in the middle of your route and the ability to answer a phone call or use Siri. Not to mention having no access to your music. Sometimes it takes a few minutes, and it will reconnect others. I have to restate the car. I had a similar issue in my 2016 Accord Touring. I had the head unit replaced once under warranty which solved the problem for two months, but then it started again, which is the reason I got rid of the car. I love this car, but I don't know if I want to deal with this problem again. Why can't Acura make a reliable head unit?

Update
 

Picked up my new 2023 TLX/ASPEC/SHAWD, on Saturday, along with a new IPhone 14
SAME PROBLEM as before
Phone charges for 15 seconds, & then stops
You would think that a $50,000 vehicle would do better
Love the car, but it's annoying!

iPhone 12 mini to 14 pro
 

I too upgraded my phone and my CarPlay connect reliability is WORSE.

it’s been a long time since my Acura downloaded and installed an infotainment update, it did so yesterday after I connected Acura to a new Wi-Fi network. Let’s see what happens…

Yeah, my 19 TLX A Spec had flawless carplay too! The new infotainment is the issue. Period. 21 to 23....even my brand new Type S has same issues. I did an OTTOCAST wireless unit and still has connections issues 1 out of 4 times or so. Using an iPhone 14 Pro.

Just make sure the phone is always up to date. And FYI, even replacing the infotainment does no good. it's an Acura issue that they can't for some reason fix...

Also, ONLY use apple cables. Just FYI.