iPhone 16 Pro Max not auto-connecting to car Bluetooth

If you just upgraded to a 16 Pro Max from another iPhone, you need to pair the new phone to the vehicle. Even if you have done this once, I would suggest that you remove the phone from the vehicle's list of devices, then turn off the vehicle. Then go into the phone and remove the car from the Bluetooth group and restart the phone. Then go ahead and go through the pairing process again to pair the phone to the vehicle. That should take care of it, clearing the device from the car and the car from the device and starting from scratch.

iPhone 16 Pro Max has bluetooth connectivity issues. It is affecting many, myself included. All my bluetooth devices are not recognized on iPhone 16, yet they are on my new MacBook Air. In other threads people have commented that Genius Bar experiences same issue. I am not aware of any known fix.

What's interesting to me is this:

1. I can manually pair my iPhone (a 16 Pro Max, latest iOS) to my car stereo's Bluetooth kit via Settings, and it streams music just fine — no dropouts, no skipping/stuttering, etc. — for as long as the car is running.
2. The phone and car will not reconnect automatically the next time I start the car, tho'. To stream music to the car radio, I have to first remove (forget) the car from my iPhone (16 Pro Max) Bluetooth settings, wait for it to reappear under "OTHER DEVICES," and return to Step 1.
3. If I remove the car from my iPhone's Bluetooth settings before starting the car but leave the Bluetooth settings on-screen when I start the car, however, I get this modal indicating the car recognizes my phone and wants to pair with it — and if I tap "Pair," the devices will pair successfully (but still won't reconnect automatically next time):

I don't think I've ever noticed this modal before troubleshooting this issue. I'm not sure what it means, but it seems to indicate to me that the problem doesn't lie with the car's Bluetooth kit recognizing my iPhone — it must be that, for some reason, the iPhone isn't recognizing and reconnecting to the car kit.

I have the 16 plus and have so many issues with it compared to iPhone 14 Pro got over Black Friday and only good thing is the color I wanted 😅 notttt impressed at all

I removed all old devices saved in the car and paired my new 16 Apple max pro without success. Only phone call option works, but music or podcasts have no connection even through a cable.

hope to see some software update soon to resolve this issue.

I’m having the exact same issue, my cars FM transmitter used to connect to my 13 pro as soon as my car was switched on, now I have to go into Bluetooth manually on my 16 pro max and do it myself. Absolute joke that I’ve just paid £1200 for a phone that works objectively worse than my 2 year old 13. Well done Apple!!!

The solution is to buy a new automobile. Take your iPhone to the showroom and when you find a vehicle that can connect and allow you to listen to music, you’re good.

This method will work, 100% guaranteed. You do not need to restart your device.

I’m being totally serious and my suggestion is sound. You’re only other choices are, no connection, or wait for Apple to address, which is effectively no connection.

I’m not breaking any rules. This is the only thing that works and you don’t have to reset your device or reset your car or any other silly workaround for broken functionality.

Everyone is welcome

Same issue. Upgraded from 14 pro and now have to manually connect to the FM transmitter whereas before it would do it automatically. Kind of a pain

It’s funny. But I love my 20 year old Land Cruiser. And with the price of new cars these days it’s bit ridiculous

If you are using a Bluetooth dongle, it probably is looking for your old phone. Check the manual for the dongle and see how to reset it to clear all pairings that may be in the memory and then go through the process to pair your new phone.

Since you are new to this thread, we have no information about your problem or what troubleshooting you have tried? What year and model vehicle are you trying to connect to? Are you attempting just to connect via Bluetooth, or are you trying to use CarPlay? You mention plugging the device in? So that makes me ask which you are trying to do.

Myself or any of my friends or colleagues have had difficulty with CarPlay or Bluetooth. Have you checked with your car's dealer to see if there are any updates to their system?

Thanks. Not sure how to clear things in those FM transmitter dongle