CarPlay and myChevrolet App Issues

[rcrcr]

Love the Bolt, but having a few specific issues.

Apologies for combining them into one thread, but it is not 100% clear to me which of them (if any) are related to one another. Anyway, hopefully Chevy can chime in here to help me identify how to troubleshoot each, and whether they need to be addressed separately, or in tandem with one another.

I will try to describe as best I can, though if additional detail is needed to clarify, I am happy to elaborate on request.

ISSUE 1

When my iPhone is connected to CarPlay, but CarPlay is not being used to play audio, the Bolt infotainment system constantly flaps back and forth between CarPlay audio and Bolt radio. The flapping is somewhat irregularly timed, but happens constantly on an interval of about every 20-50 seconds.

This is problematic for several reasons. First, if I was intending to simply use CarPlay in silence (for Maps or whatever), I am interrupted frequently by the radio coming on every 20-50 seconds every time the audio source flaps from CarPlay to Bolt Radio. Or conversely, if I was wanting to listen to radio and use CarPlay (for Maps or whatever), then I am interrupted by silence every 20-50 seconds every time the audio source flaps from Bolt Radio to CarPlay!

Also problematic is that every time this flapping happens, a visual banner appears at the top of the infotainment screen indicating that the audio source has changed. This is highly distracting, particularly when I am using the screen for CarPlay maps.


ISSUE 2

The Key Fob features in the myChevrolet iOS app (door lock/unlock, precondition, etc) no longer work remotely. When I first got the Bolt, as I recall, this worked fine. I was able to use these features remotely over Wifi, and I assume that the server backend for the app successfully contacted the Bolt over its OnStar 4G link to reach it. Now these featurss only work if the iPhone is within Bluetooth range of the Bolt. (To be clear, by "not working", I mean that thw buttons are greyed out and cannot be pressed on the app.) So currently, if the iPhone is not in Bluetooth range of the Bolt, or Bluetooth is disabled on the iPhone, these Key Fob buttons are now always greyed out in the app.


ISSUE 3

In the myChecvrolet iOS app, the "Approach Detection" feature (Bolt lights illuminate when I approach the vehicle holding my iPhonez) initially worked great. But now, for the past several weeks, it no longer seems to work at all. By "not working", I mean that the feature is definitely enabled in my app, and Bluetooth is definitely enabled on my iPhone, but nothing ever happens when I approsch the vehicle.


Any advice on picking apart these issues and solving them would be very much appreciated! Generally though, my experience with the Bolt has been very positive.

 

[stevewa]

Your 3rd issue may be related to the one I've seen.

From time to time any custom settings I've made in the car menus (under "Vehicle" in settings) revert to their defaults. Specifically I've got passive door locking enabled as well as rear wiper on reverse. There are others, but these are the two I've noticed most often. From time to time they go from "enabled" to "disabled" and the only correlation I can see is that it may be connected with OnStar access to the car, either to precondition when not in BT range, or when the monthly checkup runs, or most recently when I called OnStar and they ran remote diagnostics for a "service soon" light.

It looks like OnStar is doing something to change in-vehicle settings when it "talks" with the car. This is bad because it changes the expected behavior of the vehicle, and in the case of things like doors locking could be a safety or theft-prevention issue.

 

[ChevyCustomerCare]

Love the Bolt, but having a few specific issues.

Apologies for combining them into one thread, but it is not 100% clear to me which of them (if any) are related to one another. Anyway, hopefully Chevy can chime in here to help me identify how to troubleshoot each, and whether they need to be addressed separately, or in tandem with one another.

I will try to describe as best I can, though if additional detail is needed to clarify, I am happy to elaborate on request.

ISSUE 1

When my iPhone is connected to CarPlay, but CarPlay is not being used to play audio, the Bolt infotainment system constantly flaps back and forth between CarPlay audio and Bolt radio. The flapping is somewhat irregularly timed, but happens constantly on an interval of about every 20-50 seconds.

This is problematic for several reasons. First, if I was intending to simply use CarPlay in silence (for Maps or whatever), I am interrupted frequently by the radio coming on every 20-50 seconds every time the audio source flaps from CarPlay to Bolt Radio. Or conversely, if I was wanting to listen to radio and use CarPlay (for Maps or whatever), then I am interrupted by silence every 20-50 seconds every time the audio source flaps from Bolt Radio to CarPlay!

Also problematic is that every time this flapping happens, a visual banner appears at the top of the infotainment screen indicating that the audio source has changed. This is highly distracting, particularly when I am using the screen for CarPlay maps.


ISSUE 2

The Key Fob features in the myChevrolet iOS app (door lock/unlock, precondition, etc) no longer work remotely. When I first got the Bolt, as I recall, this worked fine. I was able to use these features remotely over Wifi, and I assume that the server backend for the app successfully contacted the Bolt over its OnStar 4G link to reach it. Now these featurss only work if the iPhone is within Bluetooth range of the Bolt. (To be clear, by "not working", I mean that thw buttons are greyed out and cannot be pressed on the app.) So currently, if the iPhone is not in Bluetooth range of the Bolt, or Bluetooth is disabled on the iPhone, these Key Fob buttons are now always greyed out in the app.


ISSUE 3

In the myChecvrolet iOS app, the "Approach Detection" feature (Bolt lights illuminate when I approach the vehicle holding my iPhonez) initially worked great. But now, for the past several weeks, it no longer seems to work at all. By "not working", I mean that the feature is definitely enabled in my app, and Bluetooth is definitely enabled on my iPhone, but nothing ever happens when I approsch the vehicle.


Any advice on picking apart these issues and solving them would be very much appreciated! Generally though, my experience with the Bolt has been very positive.

Hi rcrcr,

No need to apologize, it's completely fine! In an effort to better assist you, I'll respond to your concerns as you outlined them below.

Issue 1: When you have a moment, could you send me a private message outlining the mobile device you're using and clarify which background apps you're running when the audio "flipping" happens?

Issue 2: We recommend reaching out to our OnStar team specifically to have the app Key Fob issue looked into. This is certainly not standard operation for your myChevrolet app and our OnStar Technical Team can help get this sorted out. If you'd like for me to connect you with this team, please include your OnStar account number within the private message you're sending me.

Issue 3: Please verify once more that Approach Detection is enabled and make sure the myChevrolet app is running when Approach Detection functionality is desired. If your app is running, and Approach Detection is enabled, but nothing continues to happen, please let me know. I can make the appropriate parties aware at that point.

Kind Regards,

Amber G.
Chevrolet Customer Care

 

[rcrcr]

Thanks so much, Amber. I did just PM you as requested.

In case it is helpful in the future to this public thread, here is a (somewhat less detailed) copy of my private response to you:

Issue 1: The mobile device I am using is an iPhone 7. I am currently running the latest released version of iOS, which is 10.2.1 (build 14D27). As you probably know, in Apple iOS, background processes by apps are somewhat restricted, but it is possible for apps (within certain limitations) to sometimes process work in the background when they are not the foremost app. The problem answering your question is that it is not easy for me to say which apps may have been performing background process and when. I can say that I don't run any apps on the iPhone which I consider to be unusual, or which I know to be designed to have consistent or heavy background demands. I can also say that this issue (flapping audio source) has been consistent and frequent across multiple days, so it's not like it was clearly caused by something the phone (or a particular app) was likely doing on a single day. I am happy to dig deeper into troubleshooting this in a methodic way if needed, as I do consider it a fairly troublesome and persistent issue, so if your teams need more methodic testing, I am willing to be help with that, to the extent I can be. One last thing I will mention for now on this topic is that I own a set of Apple AirPods, and they are paired to my iPhone. I always carry these AirPods in my pocket. Now, to be clear, these AirPods have never been in use while I have been sitting in or driving the Bolt. So, it is possible (even likely) that this is a red herring and that AirPods have nothing to do with the Bolt issue I am reporting, but I do point it out on the slim chance that it is one piece of circumstantial info that might be useful to someone trying to find a common factor in reproducing this Bolt issue.

Issue 2: One new piece of information: The key fob features _do_ seem to work remotely if I use the OnStar iOS app. But as I originally described, they do _not_ work remotely from the myChevrolet iOS app. In the myChevrolet iOS app, these features only work within Bluetooth range (as I originally described).

Issue 3: Are you saying that the "approach detection" feature should only be expected to work when the myChevrolet app is launched and running in the foreground and the phone is awake? I wouldn't have expected that to be the case (as that wouldn't be a very handy feature), but unless I misread your response, it seems like that's what you might be saying. If you can clarify this one, that would be great.

 

[ChevyCustomerCare]

Thanks so much, Amber. I did just PM you as requested.

In case it is helpful in the future to this public thread, here is a (somewhat less detailed) copy of my private response to you:

Issue 1: The mobile device I am using is an iPhone 7. I am currently running the latest released version of iOS, which is 10.2.1 (build 14D27). As you probably know, in Apple iOS, background processes by apps are somewhat restricted, but it is possible for apps (within certain limitations) to sometimes process work in the background when they are not the foremost app. The problem answering your question is that it is not easy for me to say which apps may have been performing background process and when. I can say that I don't run any apps on the iPhone which I consider to be unusual, or which I know to be designed to have consistent or heavy background demands. I can also say that this issue (flapping audio source) has been consistent and frequent across multiple days, so it's not like it was clearly caused by something the phone (or a particular app) was likely doing on a single day. I am happy to dig deeper into troubleshooting this in a methodic way if needed, as I do consider it a fairly troublesome and persistent issue, so if your teams need more methodic testing, I am willing to be help with that, to the extent I can be. One last thing I will mention for now on this topic is that I own a set of Apple AirPods, and they are paired to my iPhone. I always carry these AirPods in my pocket. Now, to be clear, these AirPods have never been in use while I have been sitting in or driving the Bolt. So, it is possible (even likely) that this is a red herring and that AirPods have nothing to do with the Bolt issue I am reporting, but I do point it out on the slim chance that it is one piece of circumstantial info that might be useful to someone trying to find a common factor in reproducing this Bolt issue.

Issue 2: One new piece of information: The key fob features _do_ seem to work remotely if I use the OnStar iOS app. But as I originally described, they do _not_ work remotely from the myChevrolet iOS app. In the myChevrolet iOS app, these features only work within Bluetooth range (as I originally described).

Issue 3: Are you saying that the "approach detection" feature should only be expected to work when the myChevrolet app is launched and running in the foreground and the phone is awake? I wouldn't have expected that to be the case (as that wouldn't be a very handy feature), but unless I misread your response, it seems like that's what you might be saying. If you can clarify this one, that would be great.

Hi rcrcr,

I just wanted to close the loop and let you know that I did respond to your private message. I look forward to your response there so we can get everything sorted out!

Amber G.
Chevrolet Customer Care