nc211

First off, sorry guys and gals for asking what has clearly been discussed before, but I got lost in the weeds on what exactly is the best way to integrate my phone into the car. I'm fine with paying for the MB OEM cable if that will allow the car's options to fully work / control the phone. But not sure if that's the case? My car came with a plug for the car at one end, and a ministereo jack on the other end. Didn't come with the 30pin connector for the older iPhone connections.

Is is there no difference between just buying the apple converter piece (30 pin to lightening) vs the MB cable, in terms of the car's ability to access and control the phone? I'd like to use the iTunes library on my phone, and see the option for my messages to be read to me while driving. I understand the USB port is nothing more than a charger port, so I'd like to use the actual data port in the armrest instead. Just not entirely sure which route (converter or MB cord) is the best for full control, or if any there is any difference?

Thanks!!

KEY08

I have all of those functions (play iTunes music, read my incoming texts, etc. ) all through the normal Bluetooth connection. What do you need a cord for? Not sure I follow you.

pjw1967

I bought a 30 pin to lightning connector adapter at Walmart for $30.00. Didn't see any difference in performance vs Bluetooth. Make sure to go to Setting/Bluetooth and then tap on the little blue i to the right of the word connected, and turn on Show Notifications. Thanks. Please please let us know if you manage to get texting to work with your iPhone6. It worked for me in my wife's 14ML350 last year but now it won't.

To KEY08...what car and what phone do you have? I have an iPhone SE with IOS 10.3.3. I cannot make texting work in the ML nor in the '14 GL450 I just bought. Driving me nuts.......thanks.

KEY08

I have an iPhone 6 and a 2014 E550, just like the OP is asking about. I get a faint beep when a text comes in. I then need to press the phone button on COMMAND to enter the phone screen and then scroll to TEXT and click. The pop up menu for reading the text then appears and I select that. It will read texts back that are miles long if necessary. This is all through Bluetooth. I think plugging the phone into a cord is a big waste unless you need to charge it. I don't understand why your iPhone is not working properly.

pjw1967

Thanks. The "product specialist" at my local dealer tried to tell me that Apple is no longer supporting text. He was a nice young guy and I'm an old grouch, but I didn't unload on him. I'll keep messing with it. If any other forum members see this post are are receiving texts, pls chime in with car, year, phone type and IOS version.

KEY08

You should find someone with a 6 or 7 iPhone and see if they can pair up and perform all of the functions including text read back. It could just be your iPhone SE that is the problem. I had an 18 year old high school geek hook up my phone at the dealer when I picked it up and it has been working flawlessly.

reckrab

I have a 2014 and an iPhone 6s that works for texts and phone over Bluetooth. Haven't tried music but I expect it should work

nc211

Thanks all, I didn't realize the part about turning on notifications on my iPhone, that might've done the trick!

So, from what I've been reading about the cable vs no cable, is things like video playback and album covers showing up on the command screen. Sounds like the cable is needed to do that?

pjw1967

For reasons known only to the gods, I got a text on the way downtown this morning. I selected read out and I'm still laughing. I could hardly make out any of the words. I sent an email to the product specialist to tell him it was working at least for now. He asked if I tried to use voice control to answer it. I can't get the voice control to change a Sirius station so I wasn't gonna frustrate myself any more. So let's see if it continues to work. Thanks for your responses. And no, I have no idea why it started to work.