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2021 AT4 Apple CarPlay & WiFi connection issue?

Wormydog1724
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Wormydog1724 Enthusiast

Wormydog1724

Posted
Posted (edited)

I have a 2021 Sierra AT4 with Apple CarPlay (iPhone 11 Pro Max)

 

I purchased the GMC/AT&T WiFi data package once my trial ended.

 

On a trip this past weekend the Apple CarPlay worked great, wirelessly which I guess is a new feature for the 2021 Sierra.


The WiFi also worked great as my kid's iPad and my wife's computer both did fine on the 5 hour trip through New Mexico without ever losing connection.

 

The issue I think I'm having is my phone being connected to the truck via Apple CarPlay, then it isn't connected to the WiFi.


I know this because I like to listen to Pandora stations and there are plenty of deadspots on the drive where I lose cell service and the Pandora quits, but the iPad and computer still had plenty of service when connected to the truck's WiFi.

 

Also the little WiFi symbol wasn't showing a connection on the phone or on the CarPlay screen.


My phone is Verizon and the truck is AT&T, maybe not important other than Verizon losing service in rural NE NM and evidently the AT&T service is better through the truck.

 

On the way home I screwed around with disconnecting my phone from the truck, disabling CarPlay, forgetting the WiFi on my phone and trying different orders of reconnection.


I finally achieved connection with CarPlay AND my truck's WiFi with my phone, confirmed from NOT losing Pandora through the same deadspots and on the CarPlay screen it showed the little WiFi connection symbol.


However this morning when i get back in my truck I'm connected only to the CarPlay, not the WiFi.


Having to disconnect and forget every time is going to be a major PIA. 

 

Has anyone else experienced this or have a solution?

 

Tonight I will mess with it some more and figure out exactly what I have to do get both connections, maybe there's a shortcut I can figure out.

 

Edited by Wormydog1724
jnissen Enthusiast

jnissen

Posted
Posted

I don’t think the 2020 versions allow for WiFi CarPlay so consider yourself lucky!

I bet the issue is your phone is connected to Verizon when you hop into the truck. Does it find and connect to the WiFi OK? I’d fully expect if the phone is on the internal WiFi it should connect. The only gotcha is if you plugged in the phone to charge. I believe CarPlay will always default to a cable connection. See if there are any CarPlay options to select order of connectivity.

PBrown1 Enthusiast

PBrown1

Posted
Posted

The 2020 has Wi-Fi but not wireless Carplay. I opted not to pay for Wi-Fi and use my cell phone hot spot if I want Wi-Fi in the truck. I have Verizon and find it's coverage has been very good. You may wish to contact Verizon to check your phone for the latest tower and firmware updates. I suspect that since you are using two cell carriers (cell phone and truck each have their own cell carrier per your note) that both will experience dropouts separate of each other. I bet that Verizon will , at times, work where AT&T drops out.

RNAV Enthusiast

RNAV

Posted
Posted

So here's how wireless CarPlay works.  TL/DR: It operates via a discrete wifi; your phone cannot be connected to two different wifi networks simultaneously.

  • Turn truck on
  • Phone pairs to truck via bluetooth
  • Truck sends bluetooth signal to phone saying, "Bro, why don't you go over here and join my discrete wifi.  Don't tell your friends tho."
  • Phone connects to truck's discrete wifi; Apple CarPlay operates over this discrete wifi
    • Phone does not display a wifi signal at all
    • Discrete wifi (i.e. CarPlay wifi) and the truck's 4G LTE WiFi are two separate networks
  • Phone displays the cellular data network to which it is connected.  Your cellular data network is how your phone gets data, and in turn, how any services work (i.e. streaming content, such as Pandora) on CarPlay.
  • You can't connect to your truck's wifi and run wireless CarPlay simultaneously because your phone can only be connected to one wifi network at a time.

Some thoughts.  First, your truck's wifi is basically a cell phone data plan turned into a hotspot.  So, it'd be like using your cell phone to create a hotspot, then connecting all your family's devices to that hotspot.  Know what'll happen?  All your devices will have slow data, because they're going through only a single hotspot which has limited bandwidth.  If your devices have their own cellular data plan, they'll be much faster using that versus all connecting to the truck wifi.  You should really only use the truck's wifi for devices that don't have cellular data.  Second, even if you could connect your phone to your truck's wifi AND run CarPlay simultaneously, you wouldn't want to due to limited bandwidth (see first thought).  

  • Thanks 1
Wormydog1724 Enthusiast

Wormydog1724

Posted
  • Author
Posted

First, my truck is 2021 and has wireless CarPlay.

 

I screwed around with the connection orders and now it has solid connection using Apple CarPlay while also being connected to my truck's AT&T WiFi.

 

It's not about having fast or slow internet, it's about having internet at all. I live in BFE and drive 5 hours through even worse BFE. My phone loses connection maybe for an hour all together where my truck's WiFi doesn't.

 

Thanks for the "help", I think, but I got it figured out.

 

 

Wormydog1724 Enthusiast

Wormydog1724

Posted
  • Author
Posted

For those wondering,

 

I disabled CarPlay through the truck settings, forgot the trucks WiFi on my phone, restarted my phone, connected to the truck WiFi, connected to Apple CarPlay, restarted the truck.

 

I'm not sure if all of that was necessary but the phone now automatically connects to the truck's wifi and apple carplay every time.

 

I think I may have connected to carplay before setting up my wifi and maybe that was causing the issue from the start, I really don't know though.

 

Again this is a 2021 Sierra 1500 AT4

  • Like 1
Mercracing Enthusiast

Mercracing

Posted
Posted
For those wondering,
 
I disabled CarPlay through the truck settings, forgot the trucks WiFi on my phone, restarted my phone, connected to the truck WiFi, connected to Apple CarPlay, restarted the truck.
 
I'm not sure if all of that was necessary but the phone now automatically connects to the truck's wifi and apple carplay every time.
 
I think I may have connected to carplay before setting up my wifi and maybe that was causing the issue from the start, I really don't know though.
 
Again this is a 2021 Sierra 1500 AT4

I’ll try this today and see if it works for me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  • 1 month later...
JSilvey New Member

JSilvey

Posted
Posted

Is your wifi setting on your phone set to Auto-Join for the truck's wireless network?

redwngr Senior Enthusiast

redwngr

Posted
Posted

Wireless AA/CP availability also depends on which 2021 audio is ordered -- and of course the phone must also support it (my truck can do wireless, my phone does not...)

 

    7" IOR and 8" IOR audio have wired AA/CP capability


     IOS  and  IOT audio have AA/CP wireless (and wired) capability    

Transient Senior Enthusiast

Transient

Posted
Posted
Wireless AA/CP availability also depends on which 2021 audio is ordered -- and of course the phone must also support it (my truck can do wireless, my phone does not...)
 
    7" IOR and 8" IOR audio have wired AA/CP capability

     IOS  and  IOT audio have AA/CP wireless (and wired) capability    
I thought IOR was only 7", IOS and IOT are 8" and IOT has factory navigation, and the wireless AA/CP is called IOU.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

redwngr Senior Enthusiast

redwngr

Posted
Posted (edited)
7 hours ago, Transient said:

I thought IOR was only 7", IOS and IOT are 8" and IOT has factory navigation, and the wireless AA/CP is called IOU.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 

IOR can be 8", according to the order guide. 

7' seems to be in lower trims, 8" higher trims (which also seem to usually have upgrade option) 

 

From the order guide:

 

IOR    Audio system, GMC Infotainment System with 7" diagonal color touch-screen, AM/FM stereo with seek-and-scan and digital clock, includes Bluetooth streaming audio for music and select phones; featuring wired Android Auto and Apple CarPlay capability for compatible phones    
 

IOR    Audio system, GMC Infotainment System with 8" diagonal color touch-screen, AM/FM stereo with seek-and-scan and digital clock, includes Bluetooth streaming audio for music and select phones; featuring wired Android Auto and Apple CarPlay capability for compatible phones  

 

IOS    Audio system, Premium GMC Infotainment System with 8" diagonal color touch-screen, includes multi-touch display, AM/FM stereo, Bluetooth streaming audio for music and most phones; featuring wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay capability for compatible phones, advanced voice recognition, in-vehicle apps, personalized profiles for infotainment and vehicle settings
 

IOT    Audio system, Premium GMC Infotainment System with Navigation and 8" diagonal color touch-screen, includes multi-touch display, AM/FM stereo, Bluetooth streaming audio for music and most phones; featuring wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay capability for compatible phones, advanced voice recognition, in-vehicle apps, personalized profiles for infotainment and vehicle settings. Includes greater memory.
 

Edited by redwngr
Transient Senior Enthusiast

Transient

Posted
Posted
IOR can be 8", according to the order guide. 
7' seems to be in lower trims, 8" higher trims (which also seem to usually have upgrade option) 
 
From the order guide:
 
IOR    Audio system, GMC Infotainment System with 7" diagonal color touch-screen, AM/FM stereo with seek-and-scan and digital clock, includes Bluetooth streaming audio for music and select phones; featuring wired Android Auto and Apple CarPlay capability for compatible phones    
 
IOR    Audio system, GMC Infotainment System with 8" diagonal color touch-screen, AM/FM stereo with seek-and-scan and digital clock, includes Bluetooth streaming audio for music and select phones; featuring wired Android Auto and Apple CarPlay capability for compatible phones  
 
IOS    Audio system, Premium GMC Infotainment System with 8" diagonal color touch-screen, includes multi-touch display, AM/FM stereo, Bluetooth streaming audio for music and most phones; featuring wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay capability for compatible phones, advanced voice recognition, in-vehicle apps, personalized profiles for infotainment and vehicle settings
 
IOT    Audio system, Premium GMC Infotainment System with Navigation and 8" diagonal color touch-screen, includes multi-touch display, AM/FM stereo, Bluetooth streaming audio for music and most phones; featuring wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay capability for compatible phones, advanced voice recognition, in-vehicle apps, personalized profiles for infotainment and vehicle settings. Includes greater memory.
 
https://www.infotainment.com/blogs/news/gm-infotainment-rpo-codes

GM Infotainment RPO Codes

Have you ever wondered what all those 3-letter RPO codes are that are listed on your vehicle's build sheet? Take a moment to educate yourself on the latest & greatest RPO codes pertaining to the 2018+ GM infotainment system.
IOR Audio system, 7" diagonal GMC Infotainment System, includes multi-touch display, AM/FM stereo, includes Bluetooth streaming audio for music and most phones; featuring Android Auto and Apple CarPlay capability for compatible phones
IOS Audio system, 8" diagonal GMC Infotainment System, includes multi-touch display, AM/FM/SiriusXM stereo, Bluetooth streaming audio for music and most phones, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay capability for compatible phones, advanced voice recognition, in-vehicle apps, personalized profiles for infotainment and vehicle settings
IOU Audio system, 8" diagonal GMC Infotainment System with Navigation, includes multi-touch display, AM/FM/SiriusXM stereo, Bluetooth streaming audio for music and most phones, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay capability for compatible phones, advanced voice recognition, in-vehicle apps, personalized profiles for infotainment and vehicle settings
1 - Included and only available with (Y29) Infotainment Package I.
2 - Included and only available with (Y3I) Infotainment Package II.
IOT Audio system, 8" diagonal GMC Infotainment System with Navigation, includes multi-touch display, AM/FM/SiriusXM stereo, Bluetooth streaming audio for music and most phones, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay capability for compatible phones, advanced voice recognition, in-vehicle apps, personalized profiles for infotainment and vehicle settings. Includes greater memory.



Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

redwngr Senior Enthusiast

redwngr

Posted
Posted

2020 truck audio rpo descriptions don't include wireless wording, since it the feature was added in 2021. 

 

Truck order guides don't show IOU (which also doesn't show 'wireless')


 

  • 2 months later...
suess13 Enthusiast

suess13

Posted
Posted

I have similar issues with my Tahoe,seems like it works fine if the att hotspot is active but not if your not paying for it,

 

would be nice to have apple car play and cellular connectivity at the same time

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