iPhone does not connect to GO 620 for live traffic info via Bluetooth

[fred9x]

I have an iphone 5S with IOS 12.4.4. I learned here and confirmed with TT Customer Service about a year ago that that Apple software, ISO version 10? or later, will not connect to TomTom for live traffic with Bluetooth. Does anyone know if this problem has been fixed?

Instead of Bluetooth, I set up my iphone as a Hotspot and can get live traffic via WifI. What I don't like about this avenue is that the Hotspot feature on my phone increases my monthly cell phone bill by $10 a month. I don't need the Hotspot feature for anything other than my TomTom.

Thanks

 

[canderson]

The latest problem is with 13. iOS 12 seemed to work just fine with the MyDrive app running on the phone. If you're on 12, you may be OK. If you're on 13, you're in good company, and not just with TomTom users. Something fundamental got screwed up in the Bluetooth stacks with 13. Apple has tried a couple of patches since then, but no real solution.

 

[OnTrack Joe]

Problem with OS 13 failing to connect to BlueTooth continues to persist. Connection and traffic works only with Personal Hotspot but this annoying process requires continual reconnects often if I exit my vehicle and I am in a location wherein I am connected to a nearby WiFi(my house or warehouse). Personal Hotspot will not connect until I am a distance from my normal WiFi connections.

Plus, I do agree that Personal Hotspot connection on long trips tends to increase my phone bill and if I surpass the normal contract allotted time I am unable to use the Hotspot feature for several days.

The latest OS update from a few days ago((13.3.1) was another disappointment because it failed to correct the problem with BlueTooth connectivity.

Don't know who will be responsible for fixing this problem, but I know there must be quite a large number of people who are annoyed as I am about this problem!!!

 

[canderson]

A bit of news from 13.3.1. Your iPhone may well suggest that you "Share system messages" with your device. We know of one recent user's experience that resolved the connection issue this way. Something to try!

 

[OnTrack Joe]

Not quite certain what is meant by "Share System Messages" How to go about doing this on my iPhone?

 

[canderson]

Wish I had an Apple phone to tell you. The user's phone prompted him to allow that setting to be changed. I would guess that it can also be directly changed directly somewhere in the BT configuration settings as well, but don't know that for sure. Just passing on what I heard from another Apple user.
If need be, we can try to get information about where he located that configuration option.

 

[Chabon]

Wish I had an Apple phone to tell you. The user's phone prompted him to allow that setting to be changed. I would guess that it can also be directly changed directly somewhere in the BT configuration settings as well, but don't know that for sure. Just passing on what I heard from another Apple user.
If need be, we can try to get information about where he located that configuration option.

I spent a couple hours trying this today. No go for me. You can find the setting at the Bluetooth settings, pick the TomTom device, hit the little info info dot next to the device and you will see the toggle for the setting. Mine was already on by default.

 

[canderson]

Nuts. Well, it was worth a shot. Not sure why we had one user reporting success with that. Let me look to see if there were any other steps involved that were needed to make it work, but I don't think so.

Where did you find the setting on the iPhone?

I remember vividly a similar experience many years ago when a product I was working on underwent a change of Bluetooth stacks (essentially, all of the Bluetooth firmware from low level to profiles, etc.) that came from one company to the stacks that came from another. Fortunately, we were doing it to resolve issues (dropped connection issues, at it turned out!), so it helped us rather than breaking things! But that's when I realized that in spite of some fairly rigid specifications for how BT is expected to work, the adherence to them wasn't 100% uniform out there in the real world.

 

[Chabon]

You go to:
Settings
Bluetooth
Then click on the blue circle behind device name and the option appears.

Not all devices have the share system messages option. I use the Rider 550 and when you connect to MyDrive app you end up with two Bluetooth connections, one has this option, the other doesn’t use it.

 

[OnTrack Joe]

This last post sheds some light on a phenomenon that has been in existence for several years throughout various updates of the iPhone OS system but I never paid much attention to what any of it meant.

That is BlueTooth connection to the TT would always wind up with 2 separate "connected" indications and I never realized that when each "I" button was touched that it would result in 2 different windows with different types of information.

One of the windows, as indicated in the previous post points out that it will display the "Share Systems Notifications" and it shows that, in my case, that the feature is switched on.

But in spite of this new revelation and discovering this feature which I never knew existed, the BlueTooth still fails to connect to the TT and I am still forced to use "Personal Hotspot" in order to receive proper traffic and driving information.

 

[canderson]

I wonder if the 2 iOS BT connections indicate two different BT profiles -- one for the traffic data, and one for the hands-free option (audio).
That would actually be a good thing if it were true, as it would provide more accurate information about the nature of the connections.

 

[fed up TOM TOM]

am having same problem on Samsung S20 not connecting for traffic any ideas ????

 

[canderson]

No issues with my Samsung here. @fed up ... are you using the TomTom app on your phone with Bluetooth? My own experience shows that WiFi is a much more stable connection since there aren't any possible conflicts for the 620's and phone BT connection with a vehicle (e.g,.hands free), etc. Give WiFi tethering from your phone to your 620 a try instead. It just simplifies things a great deal.

 

[canderson]

Interesting bit of news regarding Apple's phones and iOS 14.6. From the release notes:

This release also fixes the following issues:
- Unlock with Apple Watch may not work after using Lock ‌iPhone‌ on Apple Watch
- Reminders may appear as blank lines
- Call blocking extensions may not appear in Settings
- Bluetooth devices could sometimes disconnect or send audio to a different device during an active call
- ‌iPhone‌ may experience reduced performance during startup