Good afternoon,

I have had a god search through previous threads, but can't really find a definitive answer

We have just picked up a new Giulia Veloce, the Bluetooth works perfectly, but for the life of me I can't physically connect the phone to get the Android Auto working

Which production year is your giulia ?
It it's an older model (2017 start 2018) it is not capable of AA/ACP

 

It's brand new

 

Good to know

Software is

MV-072.001.002
TV-072.001.002

It says there are no updates, although I'm assuing it would need to be connected via a USB to updatye?

 

Good to know

Software is

MV-072.001.002
TV-072.001.002

It says there are no updates, although I'm assuing it would need to be connected via a USB to update?

Currently, the only official way to update the infotainment firmware is via the dealer.... Maps you can do yourself ....
However, judging from your firmware version, you have the latest hardware and fairly recent firmware version capable of AA/ACP.
Could still be that it's not enabled though, you'd need your dealer to check that ....

 

Is your phone/cable working in other cars with AA/CP in dealer's showroom?

Do you have dual USB hub in armrest? its must. asking as it happened sometimes that ordered cars came from factory with some lacks - e.g. friend of mine ordered with ACC (And on the order it was this option) but got car without (just yesterday we retrofitted this) - at the end there are always people in the chain and people tend to do mistakes. There was a guy on this formum who shown pictures of blank/empty usb hub he got in his brand new car!

Other option is that AA is not activated in radio? Ask dealer to check your official sales codes assigned to your car, and also with their Witech2 OBD tool connect to radio (ETM) and see if the setting for Android Auto/Car Play is enabled there. If not, ask to enable, then close the car fully for a few minutes to force radio power down, and then if enabled it should work.

 

One more, do you have in Infotainment menu one setting which is related to Android Auto - it is about day/night colour schema. If so, then I guess you have it activated in radio at least, but may be hub or something with your phone/cable.

 

Thanks - yes, that is the only thing I can find in the menu (colour scheme)

I've tried multiple cables, including the original one from the phone and checked they all transfer data

Phone need tricking into not defaulting to charge only mode, but apparently that's an android feature on the latest version

It does have all the extra usb points and they all work (checked everything)

Closest I've got to it working was by restarting phone while connected via cable, it recognised it was connected to something - asked to allow transfer of data and started AA on the phone, but then nothing

Guess it's speak to dealer next, but judging by response of local dealership, I'll not hold my breath as they had no idea what I was talking about

 

:blabla::blabla::blabla:

Looks even better in an Alfa.

Andy

 

mine was a matter of plug it in, follow the instructions on the phone and away you go..... i use it every time i drive and it's indispensable for me.

So, it sounds like either there is a problem with the car or the phone

 

@SiG.Pesci best to try different phone at least to confirm if it is car radio side OK. i sniff problem is rather on your phone setup, maybe some developer settings would need change?

fyi with my phones it hapoens occasionalky that i need to reboot the phone as aa does not start anymore on the phone

 

Thanks - that's next course of action, need to borrow Mrs' phone and try that

I have found out that the latest version of Android need the settings changed manually via the developer settings to allow data transfer, which is a pain and it seems to keep returning itself

I'm starting to think I'm happy with the normal Bluetooth settings anyway - the fitted SatNav is fine, music from a memory stick and radio is more than enough (never listen to streamed music from any of the online services), and many of the other message services I'd switch off anyway as I view my time in the car as a break from clients contacting me (people always want to give you information you can't write down or remember, even when you tell them you're driving !!)

 

I’ve found the standard sat nav fine for normal use Andrew. I guess like me you make your own mind up on the route and just follow sat nav for the last few miles or awkward junctions.
The rather basic traffic reporting seems to work quite well, meaning at least you know when hold ups are likely to occur.

I have an old I phone permanently plugged in to the USB in the centre consol box under the armrest for media. But blue tooth works equally as well. I don’t see Auto/ CarPlay as a big omission from the earlier cars.

 

I tend to agree Ian - I have found that the standard sat nav seems to want to cut every single corner off routes, going through housing estates and taking country lanes to knock 100m off the route. Will play around with setting as I feel I have shortest route, rather than quickest - I only really use it to get an idea of what time I'm due places so far

We have all our music on a miniature USB stick that stays permanently plugged into the under arm rest plug - usually with the little'uns favourite disco hits CD on repeat !!

Remember when you could jump in a new car and just drive it - might have to retune the radio, but that was it

 

Like most satnavs you just need to keep an eye on what it’s doing.

One slightly annoying feature to me is the car is located at the centre of the arrow pointer, rather than at the tip of it where you would expect. I’ve taken the wrong road at junctions because of that.
Not having a map that stays north south orientated is a daft omission too, you can frig this by switching to browse map and zooming out a bit, but it’s stops route direction and doesn’t move the map with the car either. You would think writing the software to allow that would be simple and obvious. But it seems not.

Generally though the info system being basic means it’s simple. Having watched my Boss going through multiple on screen menus to switch his BMW into sport mode the other day, I appreciate the simple DNA dial a lot more!.

 

.....
Not having a map that stays north south orientated is a daft omission too, you can frig this by switching to browse map and zooming out a bit, but it’s stops route direction and doesn’t move the map with the car either. You would think writing the software to allow that would be simple and obvious. But it seems not.
....

you can also solve this bij switching to the 2D view. It is then dependent on the zoom level, which you can simply change by turning the big selection knob at any point during navigation. Below a certain zoom level, it's driving direction up. Zooming out, it defaults to North up.

 

Don't think it works unless you keep re-centering the screen. The car position eventually falls off the edge of the world as it were. The better systems keep the car central and let the map scroll in which ever direction the car is heading.

 

Nope, works perfectly. It's the mode I always use, as I actually prefer the 2D view. As said, keeps the car (more or less) central.

What you need is the 2D driving view, not explore map or anything like that

 

I'm onto my second Giulia, first didn't have AA. Music and Nav is fine without it IMHO

 

Just a quick update - android help online still thinks it's a cable issue, even bought another brand new data cable which made zero difference. Doesn't work with Mrs Phone or Android tablet either

I did get a call back from AR, but as I didn't know the chassis number off the top of my head, they hung up and never rang back

 

I've just had an email back off Huawei telling me it doesn't work, because my phone doesn't have Mirror Share / Mirror Link, which it does - and I'm sure I read it doesn't work via that anyway, it is purely through the USB

Can anyone confirm as I get a feeling I'm being fed a load

Also been unable to get Alfa to confirm if it works with my model of phone - customer service is as appalling as ever, live chat ended up being ended at their end as they wouldn't give me a straight answer

 

Don't know how up to date this is (it's dated Nov 2018), but there is a phone compatibility list... :
http://aftersales.fiat.com/eLumData/IT/83/620_GIULIA/83_620_GIULIA_603.93.261_IT_01_09.18_SI_CAB/83_620_GIULIA_603.93.261_IT_01_09.18_SI_CAB.pdf

 

Huawie...... no wonder... Trumps blocked it!, you should have known that Andrew

 

Just an update - after numerous calls to AR in Italy, 2 trips to the dealer for software checks, dozens of leads tried, I gave up....

But...............

Hired a FIAT 500 on holiday in October and plugged the phone in to charge and Android Auto sprung to life instantly

Came home, another trip to the dealer, who ,messed around with it and anounced it was the lead as one of the mechanics phones worked after trying it. Went back where they were very pleased with themsevles, even plugged the mechanics phone in to show it working.

I plugged mine in - nothing. Plugged it into a 500, worked straight away

So - no further forward and gave up

Just renewed phone contract yesterday - explained to EE what the issue was. They got me a couple of phone that they downloaed the app to and let me have a play around.

Only 1 or 3 brandnew Android phones actually worked. 2 x Huewai phones didn't, but a Pixel worked instamtly

So it seems the info of "any Android phone with v5.0 or above, the app and a data cable" is not true

So all up and running - Waze is really good for speedlimits and speed. The routes it and Google maps seem much more logical that what the inbuilt Sat Nav comes up with. It's a royal pain to try and get the Sat nav volume correct (eventually found the volume setting in the app, which is very well hidden) and seem to have lost the ability to have two different displays in the screen at the same time (was useful to have the Nav for speedlimites and the radio/music info at the same time)

 

I just got mine back from the dealer (Over 20 visits, numerous calls and visits form Italy) have they finally figured out what was wrong with mine. It was a wrong serial number added to an ECU from the factory settings. This has now been fixed and everything works for me now.
So now after 6 months of back and forth to the dealer have I finally gotten the car I wanted <3

I heard other cars in Germany is starting to pop up with the same problem and seems like this might have been a computer error on the factory line.

 

@Sig. Pesci have you tried maybe updating your infotainment to MV085.002.046? In my case update from MV059.xxx.xxx to MV080.xxx.xxx (new headunit) reslved 20-50% connection success issues (though all showroom cars with MV072 I tried in the time were OK 100% connection success on 3 phones. COuld be that version by version they did improved things.

 

Hi, that is one of the things they thought have fixed the issue.It has taken a new Google phone to fix it

I haven't had a look what the version number is, but I know it has been updated at least twice since I bought the car (brand new) 6 months ago

I also asked for the build date incase it was a pre-18 that had been sitting for months, but it's not - it was only a few weeks old when it was delivered

It's just really strange, that what seems to be a much less sophistocated system in the FIAT 500S works much better and seems to have more features (only had the car for a week in holiday) than the Alfa version

I have a feeling that as all these phones are the "lite" or "non-pro" versions of the phones (even the Pixel is the 3a which is a lower spec), they are missing vital bits of hardwear. I'm not into phones and only use the most basic features, they've alwyas been fine

I don;t need a mini-computer, the size of a small tablet in my pocket with a huge price tag.

 

What firmware do you have now in your infotainment?updates of infotainment are through USB, and dealers do not have access in general to these firmwares, it is only one version MV085 which was published by FCA to dealers within service news for issues with radio hangups or restarts, and that is one which leaked to the forum, so I doubt they were able to twice update. They might mezmerize you with connecitng Witech and updating other units, which have nothing to do with infotainment.
that 7 months ago you said you had MV072 (such never was available to dealer, it must been your original firmware, car manufacturing date more or less between Apr-Nov 2018?), if you still have it, it means it was never updated.

 

Final update - just had a follow up call from the totally useless call centre in Milan or Turin

"just checking if everything is working as we've not heard anything from the dealership"

"Well, they didn't actually fix the problem at all. It does now work, after I changed phones after trying a number of differeent brand new Android phones"

"Oh, that's good news...."

Despite over 20 years of continious Alfa ownership, sticking with them through thin and thin - I despare how someone used to brilliant customer service must feel

They 2 brilliant products with the Giulia and Stelvio - but they're service is crap

 

Had the same problem with Stelvio 2019 Model. No Android Auto connection with my Samsung S22.
Software was
MV-072.001.002
TV-072.001.002

updated to the latest using this guide https://www.alfaowner.com/threads/how-to-infotainment-updates.1185573/
and now it works like a charm!

 

Updated my 2019 Guilia to the latest infotainment version from this site and still, the phone will not connect to Android Auto. Some phones just are not compatible I guess.

 

Try a different lead. I would be very surprised if any Android phone that is running a recent version of Android won't connect tbh. In my experience it does seem sensitive to a dodgy lead.

 

no need to use MES there, this was for scenario in case you didn't have aa/acp as factory option, since was not mentioned in your earlier posts, nor that other phones work OK.

must be problem with your phone / settings /andrioid version / manufacturer applied limiations etc. did you google for this phone model if people have issues with it on other (any) cars?

 

I had a problem with a non-Alfa and Android Auto where it would start up ok but after 2 minutes the connection dropped with an onscreen error message about the USB connection not being compatible. I tried many different cables, including the phone manufacturer's charging cable with the same result.
Eventually I bought one of these cables from Amazon UK >>>

Afterplug Ultra Short USB A to USB C Cable [5.5 inch, 0.45ft], 10Gbps USB3.2 Gen 2 Speed for Portable SSD, iPhone 15 Plus Pro Max, Power Bank

.............and the system has worked perfectly ever since. Appears that the cable DOES matter!

Out of interest, the Apple Car Play has worked fine throughout with an Apple cable.

 

One thing that makes a massive difference to cable transmission speed/power and reliability is the length of the cable. Get the shortest cable you can. My 20cm long one charges my phone at 25W, nothing else does. And it will work much better than a longer one for data transmission. Get a cheap USB tester and then you can use that to work out if there are data issues.

 

The solution to this for me was a new phone. Nothing to do with the cable or system updates. Some handsets are just not supported.