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Taxer

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 2, 2007
12
0
I have been able to search my iPhone phonebook in my car (a Mercedes C300) via Bluetooth till now. I installed IOS 7 and have updated it to 7.0.2 (the current build). Now when I give the verbal command "Find Name," the response is "The phonebook is empty." I deactivated my iPhone on the car and deactivated the car on the iPhone and then reconnected them. The problem persisted. Has anyone else encountered this (or a similar) issue? Any solution? Thanks.
 
I have been able to search my iPhone phonebook in my car (a Mercedes C300) via Bluetooth till now. I installed IOS 7 and have updated it to 7.0.2 (the current build). Now when I give the verbal command "Find Name," the response is "The phonebook is empty." I deactivated my iPhone on the car and deactivated the car on the iPhone and then reconnected them. The problem persisted. Has anyone else encountered this (or a similar) issue? Any solution? Thanks.

try restarting your phone. My VW Touareg does that sometimes too.
 
still not working

Thanks, Armen. Tried that and still not connecting to contacts.
 
I have been able to search my iPhone phonebook in my car (a Mercedes C300) via Bluetooth till now. I installed IOS 7 and have updated it to 7.0.2 (the current build). Now when I give the verbal command "Find Name," the response is "The phonebook is empty." I deactivated my iPhone on the car and deactivated the car on the iPhone and then reconnected them. The problem persisted. Has anyone else encountered this (or a similar) issue? Any solution? Thanks.

Folks had similar issues with iOS 6 because the car hardware needed an update. Might be the case now also
 
I have a ford explorer, but had the same issue where the phone was connected but after the update to iOS 7 the phone book was empty.

I was able to get it restored by disconnecting both (forgetting the device/car), and then reconnecting. The phone book was downloaded again and everything is working.

Know it is a different brand of car, but that might work.
 
The fix failed for me

Thanks for that suggestion. I tried that approach (uncoupling the phone at both the iPhone and auto) with high hopes. Disappointment.
 
I have a 2011 C350 and iPhone 4 with 7.0.2 and "Find Name" and "Dial Name" will only search contacts that have been manually loaded into the car's phonebook. For me that hasn't changed since the prior version of iOS. I even had to go back to my old Motorola Razr to upload contacts one at a time into the car.
 
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Your car does not auto-download the phonebook each time it connects ?

When connected, go into your phone's Bluetooth settings, tap the bluetooth connection to your car, allow permission to download the phonebook.
 
Your car does not auto-download the phonebook each time it connects ?

When connected, go into your phone's Bluetooth settings, tap the bluetooth connection to your car, allow permission to download the phonebook.

Edit -- see posts below -- it only searches the car's phonebook and will not search the iPhone contacts or allow the iPhone contacts to download.

Original post:
I'm not sure exactly what it is doing and will have to spend some time playing with it. The thing I did find out is that it doesn't change the list of contacts that are displayed in the car's phonebook display but it will find and call contacts that are in the iPhone Contact list but are not displayed in the car contact list.

Rather than downloading the phonebook I'm thinking of deleting all of the contacts I manually entered to the car a couple of years ago and just let it use the iPhone contacts. I don't really care whether or not they are in the car's phonebook as long as I can use the car's voice commands to make the calls.
 
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I have Ford Sync.
It auto downloads all my contacts instantly as the phone connects (permissions set to on in Bluetooth settings).

So everything in the phone is available to handsfree in the car.
 
Your car does not auto-download the phonebook each time it connects ?

When connected, go into your phone's Bluetooth settings, tap the bluetooth connection to your car, allow permission to download the phonebook.

I modified my original post above. After some further testing I realized it is still only searching the car's phonebook and not the iPhone contacts. I went into the phone's settings for the bluetooth connection to the car and there is no ability to allow permission to download. The phonebook automatically downloads on my wife's new Ford Fusion but not on the 2011 Mercedes which is a bit obsolete in the technology department.
 
I have been able to search my iPhone phonebook in my car (a Mercedes C300) via Bluetooth till now. I installed IOS 7 and have updated it to 7.0.2 (the current build). Now when I give the verbal command "Find Name," the response is "The phonebook is empty." I deactivated my iPhone on the car and deactivated the car on the iPhone and then reconnected them. The problem persisted. Has anyone else encountered this (or a similar) issue? Any solution? Thanks.

What model year is your C300?
 
Model year

FoxFifth -- My car is a 2012 C300.

Re Mercedes updating its firmware, do you know if they can do that automatically and remotely or must I bring the car to the dealer for this?

Thanks.
 
The 2011 C350 will only call numbers in its phone book and will not download numbers from the iPhone. Next time I go in for service I'm going to see if they can update it. As far as I'm aware the only update you can do yourself is for the maps. That is for a substantial fee from a DVD. Ford on the other hand allows update downloads to USB from their website.

Edit: I just checked the Mercedes website and it states the the 2011 C class will not import contacts from an iPhone and will not use the contacts on the iPhone. That changed in 2012 model year where it should display the contacts from the iPhone memory. No mention of any update for the 2011 but I will call them. Ford is making them look bad!
 
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