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Problems with AppleCarplay

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Old Jul 30, 2022 | 10:29 AM
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Problems with AppleCarplay

Hi everyone,

Went to run a few errands to day and my apple CarPlay was working fine. Came back to the car and now apple CarPlay not connect. It keeps telling me it needs activate Wi-Fi to connect to apple CarPlay. I deleted my iPhone and paired it again. I have the Bluetooth on and i even toggled it on and off again on my iphone. I deleted MBUX from my Bluetooth settings on my iphone by telling it to forget this device and then connected it again and it still wants Wi-Fi to activate apple car play.

Is anyone else having this issue? Any suggestions on how to fix it?

Thanks everyone for any help you can provide.
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Old Jul 30, 2022 | 02:00 PM
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I have not had this issue, but maybe you could try pairing a different iPhone, if possible, to try to isolate if the issue is with MBUX or with your phone?
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Old Jul 30, 2022 | 02:09 PM
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And, did you activate wifi on your phone? Carplay and Adndroid Play both need bluetooth and wifi connections because of bluetooth bandwidth limitations. Confirn on your phone that wifi is connected to your car. It's usually something like MBXXXX.
I know it was working but you have to confirm you have both connections.
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Old Jul 30, 2022 | 03:16 PM
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Originally Posted by Givmeabrek
And, did you activate wifi on your phone? Carplay and Adndroid Play both need bluetooth and wifi connections because of bluetooth bandwidth limitations. Confirn on your phone that wifi is connected to your car. It's usually something like MBXXXX.
I know it was working but you have to confirm you have both connections.

i will check next time i am out. I never had to do that before. Now I went to check it later this morning and it was working normally, but next time i will check to see if Wi-Fi is connected. I don’t think it is because my phone only showed 5g and no Wi-Fi connected.
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Old Jul 30, 2022 | 04:35 PM
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Originally Posted by Dstopsie
Hi everyone,

Went to run a few errands to day and my apple CarPlay was working fine. Came back to the car and now apple CarPlay not connect. It keeps telling me it needs activate Wi-Fi to connect to apple CarPlay. I deleted my iPhone and paired it again. I have the Bluetooth on and i even toggled it on and off again on my iphone. I deleted MBUX from my Bluetooth settings on my iphone by telling it to forget this device and then connected it again and it still wants Wi-Fi to activate apple car play.

Is anyone else having this issue? Any suggestions on how to fix it?

Thanks everyone for any help you can provide.
I've had this exact issue ever since I got my 2022 c 300!

Wireless CarPlay stops working and I get the same wifi activation message, which doesn't do anything. Only wired carplay until I remove the phone from the car's settings AND remove the car from my iPhone's CarPlay settings. Then when you plug it back in, it will ask if you want wireless CarPlay enabled on the phone. After hitting yes, it works for a while until it randomly doesn't. 2 months in and I've had to re pair 4-5 times.

For sure an MBUX issue as this problem has persisted throughout multiple iOS versions.

Last edited by 818benz; Jul 30, 2022 at 04:40 PM.
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Old Jul 30, 2022 | 05:36 PM
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Originally Posted by 818benz
I've had this exact issue ever since I got my 2022 c 300!

Wireless CarPlay stops working and I get the same wifi activation message, which doesn't do anything. Only wired carplay until I remove the phone from the car's settings AND remove the car from my iPhone's CarPlay settings. Then when you plug it back in, it will ask if you want wireless CarPlay enabled on the phone. After hitting yes, it works for a while until it randomly doesn't. 2 months in and I've had to re pair 4-5 times.

For sure an MBUX issue as this problem has persisted throughout multiple iOS versions.
thanks 8181benz!!! I did the same thing you did. Removed it from the car settings and my iPhones. It still asked me to activate it. Then went out a few hours later to check it again and it worked.

This was the first time it happened to me. So weird. The tech on this car is so buggy. It’s not the iphone for sure, it’s MBUX. I was going to just plug it in then realized it’s a USB-C connection. Mercedes does give you an USB to USB-C adapter adapter that I found in the trunk of the car.

glad I am not the only one this happened to.

thank you!!! Hope to see you driving around the 818 sometime!!
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Old Jul 31, 2022 | 12:39 PM
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Hello Dstopsie I have had my car since July 2nd and this problem has occurred multiple times. I believe it is a MBUX error. What I usually do when it starts acting up is turn the car off, open the door, then lock it, then I unlock car and turn it on most of the time that solves the problem for me.
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Old Jul 31, 2022 | 01:55 PM
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Originally Posted by _jwkid
Hello Dstopsie I have had my car since July 2nd and this problem has occurred multiple times. I believe it is a MBUX error. What I usually do when it starts acting up is turn the car off, open the door, then lock it, then I unlock car and turn it on most of the time that solves the problem for me.

hi

thank you for that tip. I will try that if it happens again. Yesterday I drove it several times around my neighborhood and it was working. I agree with you that it is an MBUX problem. I have had my car since May 20th and this was the first time it happened. It’s just annoying.

I really appreciate the reply.
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Old Jul 31, 2022 | 04:27 PM
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Just as a side note, I have an Android phone and it connects with Android Auto perfectly. Really works the same as Carplay does with an iPhone. My only issue is the car always seems to start with the phone as the audio source. Wondering if Carplay is the same and how to start with another source.
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Old Jul 31, 2022 | 05:55 PM
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Originally Posted by Givmeabrek
Just as a side note, I have an Android phone and it connects with Android Auto perfectly. Really works the same as Carplay does with an iPhone. My only issue is the car always seems to start with the phone as the audio source. Wondering if Carplay is the same and how to start with another source.
No, when CarPlay is working correctly all I do is start the car, enter my fingerprint and the car automatically goes to CarPlay.
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Old Jul 31, 2022 | 06:37 PM
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Originally Posted by _jwkid
No, when CarPlay is working correctly all I do is start the car, enter my fingerprint and the car automatically goes to CarPlay.

i agree when i start the car my car automatically starts up CarPlay.
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Old Aug 1, 2022 | 04:59 AM
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I’ve found holding down power key on central screen causes a reset and iPhone just pairs again wirelessly.

At least it’s something you can do safely while driving once you notice CarPlay never got started!!

I’ve had this problem 3 times in the week I’ve had this car.
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Old Aug 1, 2022 | 11:46 AM
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Can confirm what others are saying about needing both. Mine works on just bluetooth but not as CarPlay. Plugin your USBC cable if you don't want to mess with wifi, I think only options are USBC or connecting both wifi and BT.
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Old Aug 1, 2022 | 01:05 PM
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Apple Carplay as well as Android Auto are required Wi-Fi to be active on a car to work wirelessly. I use Android Auto and it works fine. Couple of times expirienced that Android Auto haven't connected (just BT audio) for some reason but it was OK during next ride. Haven't needed to repair.

Last edited by Serg675; Aug 1, 2022 at 03:12 PM.
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Old Aug 1, 2022 | 02:22 PM
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Originally Posted by Serg675
Apple Carplay as well as Android Auto are required Wi-Fi to be active on a car to work wirelessly. I use Android Auto and it works fine. Couple of times expirienced that Android Auto haven't connected (just BT audio) for some reason but it was OK during next ride. Naven't needed to repair.
i do see the MBUX in the Wi-Fi section of my iPhone, it’s not connected to it, but MBUX Does show up. It has been working so far. Even though it’s so buggy, pauses songs on its own, or turns them off from playing and then there are times when the CarPlay screen disappears altogether and shuts itself off.

I did find a you tube video on how to reset all the electronics in the car that another forum member here stated to do earlier in this thread. So others are having this issue to besides those of us on this forum. It’s
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Old Aug 2, 2022 | 11:58 AM
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Originally Posted by Dstopsie
Hi everyone,

Went to run a few errands to day and my apple CarPlay was working fine. Came back to the car and now apple CarPlay not connect. It keeps telling me it needs activate Wi-Fi to connect to apple CarPlay. I deleted my iPhone and paired it again. I have the Bluetooth on and i even toggled it on and off again on my iphone. I deleted MBUX from my Bluetooth settings on my iphone by telling it to forget this device and then connected it again and it still wants Wi-Fi to activate apple car play.

Is anyone else having this issue? Any suggestions on how to fix it?

Thanks everyone for any help you can provide.
Is it possible that your iPhone was still connected to a Wi-Fi network when you started your car?
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Old Aug 2, 2022 | 12:16 PM
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Originally Posted by jbnCH
Is it possible that your iPhone was still connected to a Wi-Fi network when you started your car?
It shouldn't matter. It uses Wi-Fi Direct connection. And smartphones can do both (Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Direct) at the same time.
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Old Aug 2, 2022 | 01:16 PM
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Originally Posted by Serg675
It shouldn't matter. It uses Wi-Fi Direct connection. And smartphones can do both (Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Direct) at the same time.
Operative word there is “shouldn’t“! From my iPhone I cannot immediately lay my hands on the relevant thread either here or at Macrumours.com but I think you will find that this is not (yet) applicable to most current models of iPhone and not every smartphone. Most recently my personal experience was with iPhone SE 20202: while still connected to the house wifi it would not connect on CarPlay.

Let the OP check if this might have been the case for them.
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Old Aug 2, 2022 | 02:35 PM
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Originally Posted by jbnCH
Is it possible that your iPhone was still connected to a Wi-Fi network when you started your car?

hi- it actually isn’t ever connected to any Wi-Fi network. When I open settings and go to wifi it says not connected. It’s always been that way since I started using wireless CarPlay on my 2022. I’m the MBUX shows up as an available Wi-Fi network but it’s not connected to it. It never has been in the almost 3 months I have had this car.
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Old Aug 3, 2022 | 12:22 PM
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Originally Posted by jbnCH
Operative word there is “shouldn’t“! From my iPhone I cannot immediately lay my hands on the relevant thread either here or at Macrumours.com but I think you will find that this is not (yet) applicable to most current models of iPhone and not every smartphone. Most recently my personal experience was with iPhone SE 20202: while still connected to the house wifi it would not connect on CarPlay.
If this is true then iPhone is sucks is what I can say . Have no problem like this with Android Auto.
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Old Aug 3, 2022 | 12:46 PM
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Now that I am watching closer, I've seen the same problem with Android Auto. I rarely use it and is more a bother than anything. I may just disable it until I need to use it.
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Old Aug 3, 2022 | 03:20 PM
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Originally Posted by Serg675
If this is true then iPhone is sucks is what I can say . Have no problem like this with Android Auto.
Actually after watching more closely I see that I was wrong. It doesn't connect to Wi-Fi and Android Auto at the same time. But I see that even when I'm in my garage and still connected to home Wi-Fi my Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 disconnects from home Wi-Fi and connects to car Wi-Fi as soon as Android Auto starts. So it connects to Android Auto right away.
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Old Mar 30, 2023 | 11:47 AM
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I experienced issues connecting my iphone with MBUX CarPlay and these few changes solved the problems for me.

- Disconnect VPN (I used to have it on all the times on my phone)
- on the iphone go to Settings-Focus-Driving and set Turn on Automatically + Activate with CarPlay switched on.

I did both at the same time so I need to try and see which one of those settings did the trick.
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Old Apr 23, 2024 | 06:50 AM
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Clear out the cache, re-pair all the connections.
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Old Feb 25, 2025 | 10:14 PM
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Just make sure you don’t have private relay (iCloud) on. If you do, then make sure to set the sub-menu option to “maintain general location” setting for iCloud private relay settings in the iPhones iOS settings.
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