Upgrading Sync to v3.7 from v3.6.2 Phone Book Problem

[scn101]

I upgraded the Sync firmware as I was instructed to do on Ford owner's portal. The install went fine except now no matter what I do I cannot get Sync to download my iPhone 5s phone book. I can pair the phone and I can make calls using the phone/Bluetooth but I cannot use Sync's hands free to make a call since my phone book is empty.

 

Things I've tried (most many times):

- Master reset of Sync

- Forget Sync on the phone's Bluetooth and delete the phone on Sync...then re-pair

- Manually ask Sync in settings menu to re-download the phone book.

- Tried to manually add contacts via Sync

- iPhone Bluetooth entry has phone book access allowed for Sync

 

Always the same result...phone book says "downloading" for a while then says Phone Book Empty. Using v3.6.2 I had no issues. I called Ford's helpline and they walked me through all of the above and in the end said...go to the dealer. I guess that's what I have to do.

[murphy]

I don't have an iPhone but on my Android phone I have to approve the phone book download on the phone itself.

[SteveB_TX]

I don't have an iPhone but on my Android phone I have to approve the phone book download on the phone itself.

 

Yup. :)

[scn101]

I agree, but the phone never asks me...and I'm thinking that is because SYNC never really requests the phonebook.

[corncobs]

IIRC there's a manual trigger to synchronize/download the phone book from MFT. Have you tried that even though it should do it automatically.

[scn101]

I have manually tried to ask Sync to "re-download" phone book. It goes to the phone book screen says downloading and then after a few minutes stops and says phone book empty. The iPhone is set to allow Sync to access the phone book. I'll probably head to the dealer next week. It all worked fine on 3.6.2 so something changed.

[hybridbear]

Are your contacts stored in iCloud or locally on your phone? Our contacts are stored in iCloud and shared across all our Apple devices. We have 3 or 4 groups of contacts in iCloud. Sync downloads all of them. My iPhone also has my contacts from work synced through Exchange. Sync also downloads all of those contacts to the car.

[scn101]

I have spent hours debugging this issue and here's why I think Sync v3.7 no longer works with the iPhone's contact list.

 

Case 1:

 

iPhone5s running iOS 8.2. I used iTunes to "Restore" the phone and forced iTunes to reload the phone's firmware (8.2). This turns the phone into a "new" phone, nothing on it, brand new. I entered one contact manually into the phone. I deleted the Sync's Bluetooth pairing and then re-paired...it paired with Sync, said phonebook downloading but ended with "Phonebook empty."

 

Case 2:

 

iPhone4 running iOS 7.1.2. Same procedure, I used iTunes to restore the phone to new. Entered one contact, paired it with Sync successfully (note: Sync has never seen this iPhone4) and again...downloading phonebook ended up with a empty phonebook message.

 

So I've tried to "new" iPhone's running two iOS versions with Sync v3.7 and Contacts will not download. It is possible that the Sync unit on my vehicle is defective but that seems somewhat odd since the issue surfaced after the Sync firmware update. Both iPhone's cannot be defective. Both iPhones, under the Bluetooth setting have "Sync Contacts" checked (green).

 

If anyone is running Sync 3.7 but previously had an older Sync version with an iPhone, you may be using contacts that were downloaded under the previous version of Sync and not know you have an issue. Try adding a new test contact to your iPhone and see if it shows up under Sync running 3.7. My experience says it won't. Of course, my Sync unit might be broken. Let me know.

 

I will go to the dealer and see if my iPhone will download contacts to another vehicle running Sync v3.7 and/or v3.6.2 to eliminate a defective Sync unit in my vehicle.

 

My iPhone5s contacts worked fine with Sync v3.6.2 (if anyone has this zip file please send it to me).

Edited April 5, 2015 by scn101

[HighwayJerk]

Try this From Fords website:

 

SYNC Troubleshooting Utilities

SYNC My Phone

If you're having trouble downloading mobile contacts to your SYNC system, SYNC My Phone may be helpful to you. It's a software program that you can download directly to your computer, and it allows you to manually create and download phonebook contacts. to your vehicle through your USB drive.

Download SYNC My Phone

Would be better if Sync could download your Contacts automatically, but at least you can manually create them this way.

Edited April 9, 2015 by HighwayJerk

[scn101]

Thanks for the link to SYNC My Phone.

 

Update: The dealer was able to reproduce the issue on their test phone and replaced the Sync unit (APIM Module). They still have the car as they are trying to figure out another issue so I have yet to test it. Second module to die on the vehicle, first was the heated steering wheel module.

[scn101]

Still don't have the car back to test Sync as I had asked the dealer to check a "growling" noise when the car transitions from EV to engine that occurs ~40-50% of the time. They heard the noise, compared it to a new Fusion Hybrid on their lot, and said the noise was not normal and would hunt down the cause. Today they told me it was my transmission. 12K miles and I need a new transmission, ouch.

 

The good news is that I trust my dealer, the bad is that I'm losing faith in the vehicle.