Sync 3 and intermittent low volume on phone calls

[tech10002]

Has anyone else had phone volume issues on Sync 3? Probably more than half the time, I have to turn the phone volume up to 30 to even hear it, and then calls are barely audible at highway speeds. The stereo, ringers, Sync voice prompts, Bluetooth music, etc work fine. You can disconnect Bluetooth and reconnect, and it will eventually have normal volume levels in phone calls. Sometimes it takes multiple disconnects and reconnects to fix it. I’m using an iPhone X on iOS 12.0.1. I’m trying to figure out if it’s a phone issue or Sync. The phone was just replaced by Apple and is brand new, and the old phone did the same thing on iOS 11, so I’m thinking it’s probably a Sync issue.

It’s really annoying since I have to make a test call to my voicemail every time before making a call to make sure I’ll be able to hear it and it’s a crapshoot when I answer a call whether I’ll be able to hear or not.

 

[SaveMelMac]

Can you make some test calls from android?

 

[Johnbigdog]

Does it act the same via Bluetooth and Apple car play?

I know Apple products have always seemed to be finicky.

 

[tech10002]

Can you make some test calls from android?

I don’t have an android phone that’s activated so no way to try. As much as my iPhone has been ******* me off lately, though, that may change soon.

 

[tech10002]

Does it act the same via Bluetooth and Apple car play?

I know Apple products have always seemed to be finicky.

I haven’t used CarPlay in a while but I don’t remember having that issue. I really hate CarPlay. It’s such a piece of garbage and restricts what you can do so much I just disabled it. I guess I can try it for awhile to see if the phone issue is there.

Mainly I just wanted to know if others are having the same issue. Sync 3 3.0 has so many bugs, I am inclined to think it’s the problem. I was thinking of rolling back to 2.2 as I don’t remember near the problems with that software.

 

[Lostneye]

Does it act the same via Bluetooth and Apple car play?

I know Apple products have always seemed to be finicky.

Mine will do this occasionally through Bluetooth, never had the issue with carplay.

I haven’t used CarPlay in a while but I don’t remember having that issue. I really hate CarPlay. It’s such a piece of garbage and restricts what you can do so much I just disabled it. I guess I can try it for awhile to see if the phone issue is there.

Mainly I just wanted to know if others are having the same issue. Sync 3 3.0 has so many bugs, I am inclined to think it’s the problem. I was thinking of rolling back to 2.2 as I don’t remember near the problems with that software.

I like carplay, there are a couple things I would change but it's a better experience with an iphone to me anyway. I upgraded from MFT so have only used version 3.0

 

[tech10002]

Mine will do this occasionally through Bluetooth, never had the issue with carplay.



I like carplay, there are a couple things I would change but it's a better experience with an iphone to me anyway. I upgraded from MFT so have only used version 3.0

I just hate CarPlay. It only lets you see 20 songs when you’re moving, and the Forscan in motion hack doesn’t fix it. Waze is so limited it’s almost useless, and Siri will only do the things Apple lets you do and won’t launch or control any third party apps. Plus, it’s always been super buggy when I used it and made the phone crash and do other odd things. I guess I’ll have to try it for a while to see if the volume issue resolves itself with CarPlay. At least it will prove if the issue is Bluetooth related.

Another thing that’s so annoying is you can’t use the phone speaker for Waze if you’re streaming music over Bluetooth or directly over USB. Even if you tell Waze to use the phone speaker, it’s overridden and plays through Bluetooth. You can barely hear Waze unless the volume is up super loud. I’m positive it used to work over the phone speaker. I think that’s something Apple did in an iOS update, though. Doubt that has anything to do with Sync.

Really curious how Android will work. I might try to borrow an Android phone for a few hours just to try it out.

 

[Lostneye]

Carplay is definitely not prefect but much better than MFT and better than trying to use Waze through SYNC3.

If I can remember I'll have to check if I can use Waze through the speaker, I know I have just can't remember if it was MFT, SYNC3, don't think it was carplay. My issue without carplay was the source would switch to my iphone for Waze to give directions and would not switch back and I have no music saved on my phone it's on a USB drive/Sirius so every time Waze talked I got silence after. Now I mostly use Waze on my normal commute with the sound off anyway since I know how to get home it's just nice to know where the cops/red light cameras/accidents may be.

I'm also annoyed I cant even access the factory nav/map with the phone plugged in.

 

[tech10002]

Carplay is definitely not prefect but much better than MFT and better than trying to use Waze through SYNC3.

If I can remember I'll have to check if I can use Waze through the speaker, I know I have just can't remember if it was MFT, SYNC3, don't think it was carplay. My issue without carplay was the source would switch to my iphone for Waze to give directions and would not switch back and I have no music saved on my phone it's on a USB drive/Sirius so every time Waze talked I got silence after. Now I mostly use Waze on my normal commute with the sound off anyway since I know how to get home it's just nice to know where the cops/red light cameras/accidents may be.

I'm also annoyed I cant even access the factory nav/map with the phone plugged in.

Yeah, and that’s a Sync programming thing. I have a Kenwood nav unit in my truck, and I can use the built in Garmin nav or Apple CarPlay. They can even both run at the same time. I really wish a group of coders would fully hack Sync 3 where we could change how it works, but I’ve never seen a thread about anyone even attempting it. You’d think it would be possible if people can hack something as complex iOS or Android, though.

I like having Waze running just to point out cops and accidents, too. I vastly prefer it just running on my phone and playing through the phone speaker. I have a magnetic phone mount to the right of the audio / climate control panel with the phone easily visible. Waze works fine through the phone speaker as long as you’re not streaming Music. The minute you start streaming, it uses the car for audio. It does the same thing on Bluetooth or usb with CarPlay disabled. With CarPlay running, you’re forced to use CarPlay for audio in Waze, and you can’t display the map on your phone. I also hate how it switches your phone display to whatever is displaying on CarPlay and if you open another app, it closes the display on CarPlay—for example, if I have Waze displaying on CarPlay and go to amazon music, it turns the Waze display off on CarPlay and displays amazon music. The reverse is true too.

I hate being forced to use something only one way. Before Apple replaced my phone a few weeks ago, I was jailbroken and was using a tweak called Carbridge. You could make CarPlay do whatever you wanted, and I had been running Waze on CarPlay for months on iOS 11. Waze was fully featured and not the neutered version iOS 12 supports too. My new phone is on iOS 12 though, so I have to wait for a new jailbreak now.