I find CarPlay works most of the time, but still get the occasional disconnect and have to reconnect so trying to understand how it works.

If I disable Bluetooth on the iPhone then CarPlay won't connect. So it works via Bluetooth yes? But when connected if I look at the phone the wifi is always disabled - and when I try to enable it I get the message "Enabling wi-fi will disconnect CarPlay".

Why would that be the case if it connects via Bluetooth?

CarPlay initially connects via Bluetooth, but then uses WiFi for the actual connection.

FWIW iOS26 gives CarPlay a very nice interface.

17 hours ago, OccyVRS said:

CarPlay initially connects via Bluetooth, but then uses WiFi for the actual connection.

FWIW iOS26 gives CarPlay a very nice interface.

ok, but why when I look at the phone is wifi disabled and if I try to enable it I get the message mentioned above?

Also, as you seem to have some knowledge 😊 I got the "internet radio" working by tethering the car to the phone - but every time I leave & re-enter the car this is broken and you have to set it up again - any way to have it always on?

1 hour ago, chelon said:

ok, but why when I look at the phone is wifi disabled and if I try to enable it I get the message mentioned above?

I’m pretty sure that once CarPlay is active it is an exclusive WiFi link effectively disabling any other WiFi connection.

I, for example, can’t sync videos from my dashcam to the app if CarPlay is active; as soon as I disable it, all is ok with the dashcam sync.

Kinda frustrating….

This might be the root of the issue you have with tethering; I suspect CarPlay kicks in and kicks out the tethering. Never tried it so can’t be sure.

54 minutes ago, SteveTheElder said:

I’m pretty sure that once CarPlay is active it is an exclusive WiFi link effectively disabling any other WiFi connection.

I, for example, can’t sync videos from my dashcam to the app if CarPlay is active; as soon as I disable it, all is ok with the dashcam sync.

Kinda frustrating….

This might be the root of the issue you have with tethering; I suspect CarPlay kicks in and kicks out the tethering. Never tried it so can’t be sure.

Let me test it tomorrow by trying the tether with Carplay enabled also. But I suspect it might be a function of the iPhone since even when you tether the laptop to the phone then disconnect and try to tether later you always have to toggle the tethering off & on on the phone to get it to work.

2 hours ago, chelon said:

ok, but why when I look at the phone is wifi disabled and if I try to enable it I get the message mentioned above?

Also, as you seem to have some knowledge 😊 I got the "internet radio" working by tethering the car to the phone - but every time I leave & re-enter the car this is broken and you have to set it up again - any way to have it always on?

As above, your phone can only connect to one WiFi connection at a time. When you are connected to CarPlay, your phone cannot connect to anything else. It's one advantage of using wired CarPlay, for example, if you wanted to connect to your in-car hotspot whilst also using CarPlay - such as you are trying to do.

I'm not 100% sure what the internet radio is, but I know it involves using either the 3G/4G SIM in the car, or connecting it through your phone. Of course, you can't have your phone connected to that and the radio at the same time, which is why you're havintg this issue.

Two solutions - either use wired CarPlay and have the phone doing the radio, or keep using wireless CarPlay and get the car to use the SIM for the radio.

The 3G/4G SIM in the car - is that the one used in the emergency call system or is there another one?

Main reason I want internet radio to work is, you can store stations as a favourite alongside the trad radio stations, making all accessible from one screen (favourites). You cant seem to be able to add to favourites from apps like tunein radio etc.

So did a bit of testing over the weekend, findings:-

1. When you enable wifi via tethering to your mobile, Carplay disconnects...BUT it will then reconnect if you then manually enable it. So...you then have BOTH Carplay & tethering active at once.

2. If you then leave the car for a couple of minutes then re-enter the tethering will reconnect - but it seems to take about a minute to do so.

3. However if you leave the car then enter it say the next day the old issue of having to re-enable tethering on the iphone returns (is there a way to have it always on?)

4. As a side issue - the phone function on the car never used to display my contacts (until I created a few speed dials a week ago, its been ok since then....) until today, contacts all missing again. Then I found that I had to reconnect via Bluetooth and all contacts are there again. This seems to happen maybe once or twice a week. surely this shouldn't be happening?

SOOO many issues with this car...

Regarding #4, the iPhone can only connect to the car by Bluetooth OR CarPlay. So I guess when tethered it presumably Bluetooth connects to the car hence you see the list of contacts. Once you connect via CarPlay, then the Bluetooth drops and you lose the contacts list in the car.

The system ’assumes’ if CarPlay is connected then hands free calls are made by using Siri.

17 hours ago, SteveTheElder said:

Regarding #4, the iPhone can only connect to the car by Bluetooth OR CarPlay. So I guess when tethered it presumably Bluetooth connects to the car hence you see the list of contacts. Once you connect via CarPlay, then the Bluetooth drops and you lose the contacts list in the car.

The system ’assumes’ if CarPlay is connected then hands free calls are made by using Siri.

I'll do more testing but I'm pretty sure that's not how it works on my car - as the contacts list was never visible I've only been using Siri to make phone calls up until a week ago. Then just for fun I added a few Speed Dial entries to the basic car phone app...and hey presto all my contacts are there...even with Carplay connected....until the other day when I entered the car and back to square 1, for no apparent reason , I've not changed anything, I can only put this down to flaky Bluetooth (as experienced on every single one of the dozens of BT devices I've ever owned, which is why I'm not a fan).

On 22/09/2025 at 17:25, SteveTheElder said:

Regarding #4, the iPhone can only connect to the car by Bluetooth OR CarPlay. So I guess when tethered it presumably Bluetooth connects to the car hence you see the list of contacts. Once you connect via CarPlay, then the Bluetooth drops and you lose the contacts list in the car.

The system ’assumes’ if CarPlay is connected then hands free calls are made by using Siri.

Further testing complete Steve and apols, I think you may be correct re the info you supplied above - However...when you enable Carplay as you say the contacts list vanishes, but you can still make manual calls via the car app (the speed dial entries and contacts list disappear). So what is going on, it's like it's half connected

Also I'm now seeing a message on the dash "please connect a bluetooth phone" or similar - yet when you manually make a call this message vanishes (without you having to touch Bluetooth settings at all). Tres tres confusing...