Jump to content
Texasota

Connecting two iPhones

Recommended Posts

We have two iPhones successfully paired to our 2015 FFH S (does not have MFT). My wife’s iPhone is the primary phone (it was paired first) and whenever she gets in the car it connects automatically when her iPhone's bluetooth is turned on. All works as expected.

 

When I get in the car my iPhone does not connect automatically (yes, bluetooth is turned on). To get my iPhone to connect I have to push the car's phone button, and follow the menus to select my phone and then it will connect. Is there a way to get my phone to connect automatically even though it is not the primary phone?

 

My apologies if this question has been previously addressed. I searched and did not find anything.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

We have two iPhones successfully paired to our 2015 FFH S (does not have MFT). My wife’s iPhone is the primary phone (it was paired first) and whenever she gets in the car it connects automatically when her iPhone's bluetooth is turned on. All works as expected.

 

When I get in the car my iPhone does not connect automatically (yes, bluetooth is turned on). To get my iPhone to connect I have to push the car's phone button, and follow the menus to select my phone and then it will connect. Is there a way to get my phone to connect automatically even though it is not the primary phone?

 

My apologies if this question has been previously addressed. I searched and did not find anything.

Your phone should connect if the car determines that your wife's phone is not present. Sync appears to search only for the primary phone for about 30-60 seconds. If the primary phone cannot be found during this time the car will begin searching for the next device on the list. It will then move down the list until it finds a device that can be paired.

 

If you leave home & your wife's iPhone is close enough that the car can connect to it, it will disconnect once you get too far away, but it will not search for another device since it has already found a device to connect to.

 

We've found that the easiest way to get it to connect if no phone is connected is to press the voice command button & say "phone". Samantha will tell you that no phone is available & then the car will begin searching again for devices. It will again search for the primary phone first & then connect to another device if the primary one cannot be found.

 

Back when we had our FFH SE the primary iPhone could be two floors upstairs in our apartment & the car would connect to it. Then once driving away it would disconnect & no phone would be connected.

Edited by hybridbear

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

HB, thanks for the suggestion of using the voice command of "Phone". I will give that a try. My wife's phone always has bluetooth turned off unless she intends to connect her phone to the car so that should result in her phone not being found. But, I'm not sure if we have waited 30-60 seconds before giving up and using the phone button and menus. I'll wait longer next time and see what happens.

 

Thanks for the great explanations. :thumbsup:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Is your phone connected to another Bluetooth source when you try to connect to the car? I have this issue where if my Bluetooth is on it connects to our home phone allowing me to use that instead of my cell. If I'm connected to that and then get in the car and try to go it will not connect to the car until my phone drops the connection with my home phone. If I wait long enough it will connect to the car on its own after that, but sometimes i need to do steps you talked about.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Is your phone connected to another Bluetooth source when you try to connect to the car?

I'm positive my phone is not connected to another Bluetooth source. I just got back from our FFH and was able to verify that the behavior is as HB described. About 40 seconds after I started the car it did connect with my phone (my wife's phone was not near the car and its bluetooth was turned off).

 

Now I'm curious if my phone will connect if I turn its bluetooth on long after the car has been started. I suspect not as that would imply the car is constantly searching for a device to connect too? HB's above post makes me think it may not keep searching. In this case, the voice "phone" commmand will be a much easier way to make it search for my phone.

 

Maybe I'm worrying to much about battery drain from leaving the phone's bluetooth turned on (that is why I usually have it turned off). From what I found from googling it seems that it does draw power from the phone's battery but not very much.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Now I'm curious if my phone will connect if I turn its bluetooth on long after the car has been started. I suspect not as that would imply the car is constantly searching for a device to connect too? HB's above post makes me think it may not keep searching. In this case, the voice "phone" commmand will be a much easier way to make it search for my phone.

It is not constantly searching, but it will search again if you use the voice command "phone". My phone is set as the primary in both cars, since my wife doesn't want her phone connected when we're going places together. When she & I are both leaving at the same time in separate cars, both cars will connect to my iPhone. The fact that my car is already connected to one car doesn't prevent the second car from connecting to it. To stop this, I turn off my Bluetooth before getting in the car. Once I'm sure that enough time has passed that her phone will have connected to whichever car she is driving, I turn BT on & use the voice command "phone" to get my phone to connect.

 

Each car can also be connected to multiple BT devices at the same time. It can connect to one device via BT for phone calls & another device via BT for music. This has been very useful on road trips.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It is not constantly searching, but it will search again if you use the voice command "phone". My phone is set as the primary in both cars, since my wife doesn't want her phone connected when we're going places together. When she & I are both leaving at the same time in separate cars, both cars will connect to my iPhone. The fact that my car is already connected to one car doesn't prevent the second car from connecting to it. To stop this, I turn off my Bluetooth before getting in the car. Once I'm sure that enough time has passed that her phone will have connected to whichever car she is driving, I turn BT on & use the voice command "phone" to get my phone to connect.

 

Each car can also be connected to multiple BT devices at the same time. It can connect to one device via BT for phone calls & another device via BT for music. This has been very useful on road trips.

Well, this is very interesting. My wife always tells me I am not patient enough and in this case I'm thinking she is right. We were driving in the car for over an hour with bluetooth turned off for both of our iPhones and I confirmed that the bluetooth indicator on my FFH's 4 inch center display was off. I then had my wife turn on bluetooth for for my iPhone (the secondary phone) and after around 40 seconds it connected successfully and the bluetooth indicator on the FFH's 4 inch center display turned on.

 

I know next to nothing about bluetooth but this would seem to indicate that the FFH is continously polling for devices or else my iPhone somehow woke up Ford sync. I'm going to repeat this tomorrow to confirm the behavior.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Each car can also be connected to multiple BT devices at the same time. It can connect to one device via BT for phone calls & another device via BT for music. This has been very useful on road trips.

Could you please describe how this is done?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, this is very interesting. My wife always tells me I am not patient enough and in this case I'm thinking she is right. We were driving in the car for over an hour with bluetooth turned off for both of our iPhones and I confirmed that the bluetooth indicator on my FFH's 4 inch center display was off. I then had my wife turn on bluetooth for for my iPhone (the secondary phone) and after around 40 seconds it connected successfully and the bluetooth indicator on the FFH's 4 inch center display turned on.

 

I know next to nothing about bluetooth but this would seem to indicate that the FFH is continously polling for devices or else my iPhone somehow woke up Ford sync. I'm going to repeat this tomorrow to confirm the behavior.

Very interesting! Our 2013 with MFT does not do that. I have had times where I have turned my BT on after having it off when leaving as described previously & the car doesn't automatically connect.

 

Could you please describe how this is done?

In our car with MFT, when we choose BT Audio on the MFT screen it asks us which device we want to use for BT Audio. When traveling we often use the iPad for music since it has our entire iTunes library. We usually can connect it via USB, but it doesn't charge then. If we need to charge it we must unplug it from the USB port & play music via BT Audio. The car is still connected to an iPhone for phone calls or text messages, but is connected to the iPad for music.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Very interesting! Our 2013 with MFT does not do that. I have had times where I have turned my BT on after having it off when leaving as described previously & the car doesn't automatically connect.

 

I have tried this experiment two more times (turning iPhone's bluetooth on after driving for a lenghty period without phone connected). On one occasion it connected successfully and on the second attempt it did not. In the second case I used the "phone" voice command and it connected right away (thanks, HB).

 

But I have not yet determined what causes it to connect sometimes and not others. I think it might have somethingto do with the USB cable because my wife is manipulating it so that we can use the IHeartAudio mobile app. Still playing...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I tried all kinds of experiments during a 9 hour drive today and had no luck in getting the iPhone to connect automatically when I turned bluetooth on 30 minutes after FFH startup. I give up on figuring out the rhyme or reason to it. I think Ford sync has a mind of its own. Possibly even deranged.

 

But, on the positive side HB provided a great answer to my original question and how to get Samantha to connect my phone.

Edited by Texasota

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...

×
×
  • Create New...