iPhones, USB ports and Sync corruption

[GrySql]

My Sync voice activated phone was acting up today, it made no sense whatsoever.

Last week my dashboard was removed for the A/C repair so I called my Dealer's S/A and asked him about it.

In addition, two days ago in another Thread I had also hooked up my iPhone 30-pin/USB/Component cables to the center console and was using an iPhone App on the MFT.

 

I talked to the S/A about today's unusual Sync/voice activated phone problem and his first question was what type cell phone do I use.

I use an iPhone 4, then he asked if I ever used a USB cable with that iPhone, I said yes.

 

The SA launched into a story about all the problems his Service Dept has with Sync and iPhone when it is tethered to a USB cable to the center console USB ports.

They have very few iPhone/Bluetooth issues.

It appears that Sync does not mesh well with the iPhone IOS when using the Ford USB ports, corruption begins to creep into the Sync system and before long strange things begin to happen when you try to use Sync.

He said they had a new 2014 in this week for that exact reason, the solution is always the same - do a Master Reset of the Sync system, delete Sync from the iPhone's Bluetooth, restart the iPhone and go through the 'Add a phone' procedure, etc. (This method is posted on this Forum in a couple places)

He added that using the USB/iPhone interface does not always cause a problem right away but eventually problems begin to surface.

 

Now, wait a minute, was he blowing smoke at me? I don't think so, I know him pretty well and he was very animated about this issue because he's seen it so often.

I can't be more specific about this.

From his point of view using an iPhone and the USB cable to the center console is a problem in the making.

 

I am going out now and do a Sync Master Reset, I don't have to worry about any pre-sets because when they removed my dashboard last week they all disappeared anyway.

 

[hybridbear]

Interesting. Did he know any specifics about the iOS version or iPhone version that causes the problems? We've hooked our iPhones (a 5 & a 5s) up many times with no issues so far. My mom has connected her 5s in their C-Max many times without issues. I hope it stays that way.

 

Our black FFH, without MFT, had lots of issues with our old iPod that we keep in the car all the time. It's from about 2005-2006. In the black FFH it would constantly index and thus voice commands were disabled. Since we got the white FFH with MFT we have had zero issues with that. We even regularly move it back and forth now between the Focus Electric & the FFH and it works perfectly. It's only 4 GB so it doesn't have a lot of music to index and it takes less than a minute now. Our iPad with about 2500 songs took about 5 minutes to index in the white FFH on our recent road trip.

[corncobs]

Between the iPhone 4 and 5 the connector is different which also likely changed how the USB is handled. Now the iPhone might transfer more data than the iPod which might cause weird issue like GrySql was experiencing.

 

MFT probably also has more internal memory to store the information on 2500 files resulting in a stable connection.

[SteveB_TX]

Android baby! Android! :bliss:

[GrySql]

He didn't mention model or IOS.

 

Doing a Master Reset made my Sync system work properly again. :)

 

RE: USB

Most people just hook one simple connection up, but oh, not me.

No, I just have to connect every blasted thing in the console to my iPhone all at once just to see if smoke comes out of my MFT screen.

Edited August 7, 2014 by GrySql

[acdii]

I can concur the iphone/sync issues with an iphone 5. When I first hooked it up to either the HyTI or the T, everything was fine, but as time goes on, I am noticing that it acts strange. When I make or receive a call, whatever was playing at the time of the call will continue to play on the phone when I hang up, but not through MFT, so its total silence. Sometimes I can re-sync it by pausing the phone then pausing MFT, then play on MFT and it works, while other times I have to disconnect the phone altogether and plug it back in. I also notice that sometimes it reindexes and no information is displayed on either screen and sometimes only on MFT.

 

Here's the kicker, it never did this in either car until the last IOS update was done. I dont think its MFT this time, I think its the IOS.

 

I dont talk to my car so can't tell you if there are any Sync issues, the only one I do know of is the playback problem. Oh and sometimes it will just stop playing through MFT but continues on the phone, I have to do the pause pause play thing to get it to play through MFT.

[FordIVTteam]

Now, wait a minute, was he blowing smoke at me? I don't think so, I know him pretty well and he was very animated about this issue because he's seen it so often.

I can't be more specific about this.

From his point of view using an iPhone and the USB cable to the center console is a problem in the making.

 

I am going out now and do a Sync Master Reset, I don't have to worry about any pre-sets because when they removed my dashboard last week they all disappeared anyway.

 

 

 

I can concur the iphone/sync issues with an iphone 5. When I first hooked it up to either the HyTI or the T, everything was fine, but as time goes on, I am noticing that it acts strange. When I make or receive a call, whatever was playing at the time of the call will continue to play on the phone when I hang up, but not through MFT, so its total silence. Sometimes I can re-sync it by pausing the phone then pausing MFT, then play on MFT and it works, while other times I have to disconnect the phone altogether and plug it back in. I also notice that sometimes it reindexes and no information is displayed on either screen and sometimes only on MFT.

 

Here's the kicker, it never did this in either car until the last IOS update was done. I dont think its MFT this time, I think its the IOS.

 

I dont talk to my car so can't tell you if there are any Sync issues, the only one I do know of is the playback problem. Oh and sometimes it will just stop playing through MFT but continues on the phone, I have to do the pause pause play thing to get it to play through MFT.

 

Hello to both of you.

 

The iPhone is compatible with your MyFord Touch systems. If you take a look at our chart, you'll see that the newer iOS versions aren't confirmed as supporting the CONNECTS VIA USB feature: http://support.ford.com/sync-technology/device-compatibility-sync-myford-touch This doesn't mean that it won't work, it just means that it may not work exactly as intended. I normally recommend connecting via Bluetooth to stream music if you have an iPhone.

 

If you prefer to continue connecting via USB, I suggest soft resetting your phone every once in a while. This is done by holding the POWER and HOME buttons until the Apple logo appears. This will help keep everything running smoothly and also improve your Bluetooth connection. :)

 

Kim

[GrySql]

This doesn't mean that it won't work, it just means that it may not work exactly as intended. I normally recommend connecting via Bluetooth to stream music if you have an iPhone.

 

If you prefer to continue connecting via USB, I suggest soft resetting your phone every once in a while. This is done by holding the POWER and HOME buttons until the Apple logo appears.

Kim

Hi to you too!

In essence my S/A was correct then, using an iPhone via USB anytime can produce future Sync problems.

 

Why does doing a regular schedule of soft iPhone resets help maintain Sync and prevent issues?

It was necessary to do a Master Reset of Sync in my FFH to correct the Sync problem, I did not do a soft reset of my iPhone and everything cleared up.

 

Using the Chart you linked to I checked the 'Carrier' as Sprint, then checked the 'Connects via USB' box and in the 'Choose a manufacturer' there are zero choices.

If I use Sprint>'USB Charging' boxes I get zero further choices.

If I just use Sprint>Apple, I get a list of 13 phones, I chose > iPhone 4 w/IOS 7.1.1 > this chart appears:

 

Nothing about USB so I suppose all these tests were done via Bluetooth, correct? The latest iPhone IOS is 7.1.2 and is not shown on the Chart.

 

From my S/A and your advice I am convinced that Sync and Apple iPhones via USB are not a good option.

[FordIVTteam]

Hi to you too!

In essence my S/A was correct then, using an iPhone via USB anytime can produce future Sync problems.

 

Why does doing a regular schedule of soft iPhone resets help maintain Sync and prevent issues?

It was necessary to do a Master Reset of Sync in my FFH to correct the Sync problem, I did not do a soft reset of my iPhone and everything cleared up.

 

Using the Chart you linked to I checked the 'Carrier' as Sprint, then checked the 'Connects via USB' box and in the 'Choose a manufacturer' there are zero choices.

If I use Sprint>'USB Charging' boxes I get zero further choices.

If I just use Sprint>Apple, I get a list of 13 phones, I chose > iPhone 4 w/IOS 7.1.1 > this chart appears:

...

 

Nothing about USB so I suppose all these tests were done via Bluetooth, correct? The latest iPhone IOS is 7.1.2 and is not shown on the Chart.

 

From my S/A and your advice I am convinced that Sync and Apple iPhones via USB are not a good option.

 

The system was designed to index and play music from media players, USB flashdrives, and/or SD cards. Soft resetting the media player (in this case, the iPhone) periodically will help prevent indexing issues. It isn't necessarily required, it's just my recommendation. As a plus, the soft reset will also improve the Bluetooth connection.

 

There are a few iPhones that have been confirmed to support this feature, but they do not have the carrier listed on our chart. This is why you didn't see any pull up.

 

If you don't mind having fewer voice command options, Bluetooth audio is definitely the way to go for iPhone users :).

 

Kim

[corncobs]

If you don't mind having fewer voice command options, Bluetooth audio is definitely the way to go for iPhone users :).

 

Kim

I'm not so sure about this because the quality isn't all that great and the biggest issue for me is volume level.

It's much lower than playing from the SD card for example if I would have to guess the volume is about 30 - 35% lower.

[acdii]

Sound quality over BT is no where near as good as USB. It sounds muddied, and loses its clarity since BT can only stream at a low bitrate where BT USB can stream at full bitrate the music playing is generated at. That and I use the USB to also keep the phone charged while streaming.

Edited August 11, 2014 by acdii

[FordIVTteam]

I'm not so sure about this because the quality isn't all that great and the biggest issue for me is volume level.

It's much lower than playing from the SD card for example if I would have to guess the volume is about 30 - 35% lower.

Sound quality over BT is no where near as good as USB. It sounds muddied, and loses its clarity since BT can only stream at a low bitrate where BT can stream at full bitrate the music playing is generated at. That and I use the USB to also keep the phone charged while streaming.

 

Those are both valid points, corncobs and acdii. In the end, it really depends on the preference of the owner :).

 

Kim