Siri and making calls in the car

[zhenya]

One of the things I have been most excited about with the Apple Watch is for use in the car where it means that I largely don't have to pull my phone out of my pocket in order to have access to music controls, messages, etc. However this morning I tried to make a call in the car which worked, except that even though my phone was attached to my stereo and playing music, the Siri request was handled entirely on the watch - it didn't pause the music and it didn't route the call through the stereo but kept it on the watch. This is not at all the behavior I would want or expect. Is there any way around it? Does this also mean that I can't answer an incoming call over the car stereo without pulling out my phone?

 

[Gav2k]

Strange, if I use my watch it's all routed through the hands free. What car/stereo do you have?

 

[zhenya]

It's a Grom aftermarket system in this car. I have systems in a couple of other cars that I have not tried yet, but when I searched this issue I found a number of other people complaining of it but no solutions. Do you have to pair the watch with the car or anything? Or does it just work?

 

[Gav2k]

It's a Grom aftermarket system in this car. I have systems in a couple of other cars that I have not tried yet, but when I searched this issue I found a number of other people complaining of it but no solutions. Do you have to pair the watch with the car or anything? Or does it just work?

I just paired the phone and it all worked.

 

[Newtons Apple]

I agree with the other poster and when I make a call it defaults to the car system unless I hit the "Use iPhone" button on the iPhone screen.

 

[waw74]

it's been a while since i've used a bluetooth, i think there's an output option, when you click the speaker button.

maybe try making a call from the watch, then on the phone select your car as the output, and the see if it remembers for your next call.

it could just be since the watch is the newest device, so that's what it's defaulting to.

 

[zhenya]

Well, I've tried it in another one of my cars as well and the behavior is basically the same - and this is on a new Toyota with good modern bluetooth support. If I initiate the call from the watch with the phone still in my pocket the call is made on the watch not on the phone which is connected to both the watch and the car. At least on the Toyota there is a button that comes up on the cars screen that lets me transfer the call from the watch to the car stereo system, but it does not seem to default there.

On the other car as soon as I interact with the phone app on the phone itself the call re-routes to the car stereo system but it will not do so unless I take the phone out of my pocket and open the phone app.

The simple solution to this would seem to be to use the Airplay icon that is available in the glances menu and doesn't seem to do anything. I'm a little frustrated with how the watch seems to be a mirror of some things on your phone and handles other things on its own and it's not exactly clear which way any task is going to go - and there is no power to control that as the end user.

 

[zhenya]

I agree with the other poster and when I make a call it defaults to the car system unless I hit the "Use iPhone" button on the iPhone screen.

Is that the case even if the phone is in your pocket and you haven't interacted with it at all since starting the car?

 

[IphoneIssues]

One of the things I have been most excited about with the Apple Watch is for use in the car where it means that I largely don't have to pull my phone out of my pocket in order to have access to music controls, messages, etc. However this morning I tried to make a call in the car which worked, except that even though my phone was attached to my stereo and playing music, the Siri request was handled entirely on the watch - it didn't pause the music and it didn't route the call through the stereo but kept it on the watch. This is not at all the behavior I would want or expect. Is there any way around it? Does this also mean that I can't answer an incoming call over the car stereo without pulling out my phone?

Did you select the option to answer the call on the phone? I think you swipe up, on the watch, when the call is coming in, and the option is there, along with the option to send a text.

 

[zhenya]

Nice suggestion but testing that in the house at least that just puts the call on hold while it rings the phone. You have to physically interact with the phone to actually take the call. There is also no such option when you initiate the call from the watch.

 

[convergent]

Nice suggestion but testing that in the house at least that just puts the call on hold while it rings the phone. You have to physically interact with the phone to actually take the call. There is also no such option when you initiate the call from the watch.

But if you have the phone paired with the car, it will go to the car. You don't have that in your house rest.

 

[zhenya]

But if you have the phone paired with the car, it will go to the car. You don't have that in your house rest.

Nope - same behavior. When I select 'answer on iPhone' it puts the watch call on hold and then rings the iPhone. I have to answer the call manually.

 

[jasie02]

Did you Bluetooth AW to car, or just iPhone to car?
Does your car BT support multipoint mode, if yes, did you BT both iPhone and AW?
Try with BT AW to car instead of iPhone if your car only support singlepoint mode.

Added: It behave this way because there is no way Siri know you are in the car.
You could be at home with iPhone audio streaming to BT speaker, and if you answer call on the AW, it will want to answer with AW's tiny speaker, if you want it to BT to something else, use AirPlay button if you AW has BT setup to other BT speaker, unless AW already BT to Bt speaker.

 

[zhenya]

I have not connected the AW to the car. It sees the car Bluetooth but won't connect. Not sure if this system could connect to both devices at the same time.