iPhone WiFi Won’t Connect Automatically

[adamsocb]

I noticed an interesting condition. When I start my car with my iPhone inside CarPlay connects and works fine. However my phone does not automatically connect to the Corvette hotspot. The phone remains connected to the cell network at LTE or 5G.
If I go into the iPhone WiFi settings and connect to my car hotspot, it will stay connected until the next ignition cycle, but then again does not connect to the hotspot automatically on the next start. The only reason this matters to me is that I do not have unlimited data on my phone. I am paying for unlimited data on the car, so I want to use it. I have tried all of the car and phone settings to make sure all is set to connect automatically with no luck.

Has anyone else noticed this and if so, found a solution? I know the wireless CarPlay does strange things with Bluetooth and WiFi but at this point I can’t tell if this issue is with GM or Apple.
Equipment is:
2023 Z06 3LZ
iPhone 12PRO
iOS 16.4.1 (a)

I also have an Android phone and will try that to see if it has the same behavior.

Charles

[socarate]

This may or may not be related to your issue, but I have noticed the newest version of Android Auto requires a wifi connection to function, not just bluetooth. When I bought my new phone, it would connect to the wifi in my C8 for Android Auto. The problem with that is the phone is not able to get internet through the car's wifi if it is using the wifi for Android Auto. So I was having to use my phone's data to get internet for navigation on Android Auto instead of the car's data. I am in the same situation as you where I would prefer to use the cars data. I got around this issue by plugging my phone in to the car. The wifi can then be used to get internet data to my phone while Android Auto goes through the cable. Not ideal, but it is working.

Perhaps this is a different issue than what you are dealing with, but just figured I would mention what I have figured out for me in case it gives you any ideas on solutions.

[adamsocb]

May be related, but not quite the same. My iPhone works fine and uses the cars data connection after I connect to the hotspot manually. It just won’t connect automatically.

I tested my Android and it works fine. Connects to the car hotspot automatically and everything. I did one thing differently which was to pair the Android with NFC. I paired the iPhone manually. I will try unpairing the iPhone and re-pair it with NFC and see if makes a difference.

Goofy technology. 🤯

[adamsocb]

Now I know why I paired the iPhone manually. I found another issue with iOS: NFC pairing does not work with my iPhone.

I am fairly certain Apple is the culprit here. They have made me mad as usual. Apple iOS always thinks it knows best and breaks other implementations with their constant updates. I understand why GM is dropping Apple CarPlay in future vehicles.

I still have the original problem I posted. My iPhone does not connect to the Corvette hotspot unless I go into settings and do it manually.

I may have to go back to using Android as my primary phone. 🤬