Hints, Tips and Tricks
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 579
Likes: 114
From: Newark Valley, NY
I honestly don't know, I have the MFT with Navigation. I never use the Navigation and I have an iPhone lol. Mine is a '15 as well so mine isn't Sync3 either. I honestly don't know what I would want mine to do that it doesn't already. I had issues with Sync with the 4" screen I had in my 2013, the phone would connect via bluetooth automatically but the audio defaulted to 'line in' every time the truck was turned back on... Drove me bat**** crazy, it should default to whatever it was on last imo. But given that it still says Sync, I would imagine the Sync3 isn't worth a crap either as far as a $2000 audio upgrade feature. Maybe for the extra OEM functions, but I can't see it being worth $2K. Just my honest opinion.
However, there was a period of time I was ready to rip the factory system out and throw it in the river. I don't have nav so I figured I'd use an SD card I had laying around collecting dust for music, since I only have a card reader on 1 computer in the house. I think the system spent as much time indexing the card as it did playing music off it. While it did that voice commands were unavailable, it never played all the songs in 1 album sequentially (I would browse to an album, start playing it, then it would be off to a song on a different album like I had shuffle mode on, even though it was off). It would usually resume wherever it left off when I turned the engine off, but frequently it didn't matter. Shifting to reverse would make it jump to another random song on a random album as soon as the camera came on.
And of course I was unable to navigate back due to 1 of 2 reasons: 1. the camera was still on (i like the delay for parking) or 2. it was indexing again and I couldn't browse music files!I thought I had a away around that by using my phone and bluetooth since I could stream all the same songs off my home PC via subsonic, or use Pandora. But that option sucked too because the BT connection would drop every time I drove to the end of the driveway passed my house (maybe the Roku with BT in that room confused the phone and/or truck? IDFK). It would reconnect a few hundred feet down the road after messing with the phone some, but it also would act like it sent a pause command randomly despite not touching the phone or any controls.
I would hit play and it would usually resume again. WTFFinally, I moved all my music to a new USB drive and I upgraded from a Samsung Note 3 to a Droid Turbo 2. The USB drive seemingly solved all of my issues with the SD card. It still indexes occasionally, but it's quick and painless.
I find myself using BT less now that Sync plays nice with the USB drive, but the BT connection seems better with the new phone. So things are good now, but damn I was ready to replace the whole bloody mess a few months ago!
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 1,500
Likes: 204
From: Rockwall/Wichita Falls Texas
It's not worth $2k to me either. However, there was a period of time I was ready to rip the factory system out and throw it in the river. I don't have nav so I figured I'd use an SD card I had laying around collecting dust for music, since I only have a card reader on 1 computer in the house. I think the system spent as much time indexing the card as it did playing music off it. While it did that voice commands were unavailable, it never played all the songs in 1 album sequentially (I would browse to an album, start playing it, then it would be off to a song on a different album like I had shuffle mode on, even though it was off). It would usually resume wherever it left off when I turned the engine off, but frequently it didn't matter. Shifting to reverse would make it jump to another random song on a random album as soon as the camera came on. And of course I was unable to navigate back due to 1 of 2 reasons: 1. the camera was still on (i like the delay for parking) or 2. it was indexing again and I couldn't browse music files! I thought I had a away around that by using my phone and bluetooth since I could stream all the same songs off my home PC via subsonic, or use Pandora. But that option sucked too because the BT connection would drop every time I drove to the end of the driveway passed my house (maybe the Roku with BT in that room confused the phone and/or truck? IDFK). It would reconnect a few hundred feet down the road after messing with the phone some, but it also would act like it sent a pause command randomly despite not touching the phone or any controls. I would hit play and it would usually resume again. WTF Finally, I moved all my music to a new USB drive and I upgraded from a Samsung Note 3 to a Droid Turbo 2. The USB drive seemingly solved all of my issues with the SD card. It still indexes occasionally, but it's quick and painless. I find myself using BT less now that Sync plays nice with the USB drive, but the BT connection seems better with the new phone. So things are good now, but damn I was ready to replace the whole bloody mess a few months ago!
However, there was a period of time I was ready to rip the factory system out and throw it in the river. I don't have nav so I figured I'd use an SD card I had laying around collecting dust for music, since I only have a card reader on 1 computer in the house. I think the system spent as much time indexing the card as it did playing music off it. While it did that voice commands were unavailable, it never played all the songs in 1 album sequentially (I would browse to an album, start playing it, then it would be off to a song on a different album like I had shuffle mode on, even though it was off). It would usually resume wherever it left off when I turned the engine off, but frequently it didn't matter. Shifting to reverse would make it jump to another random song on a random album as soon as the camera came on. And of course I was unable to navigate back due to 1 of 2 reasons: 1. the camera was still on (i like the delay for parking) or 2. it was indexing again and I couldn't browse music files! I thought I had a away around that by using my phone and bluetooth since I could stream all the same songs off my home PC via subsonic, or use Pandora. But that option sucked too because the BT connection would drop every time I drove to the end of the driveway passed my house (maybe the Roku with BT in that room confused the phone and/or truck? IDFK). It would reconnect a few hundred feet down the road after messing with the phone some, but it also would act like it sent a pause command randomly despite not touching the phone or any controls. I would hit play and it would usually resume again. WTF Finally, I moved all my music to a new USB drive and I upgraded from a Samsung Note 3 to a Droid Turbo 2. The USB drive seemingly solved all of my issues with the SD card. It still indexes occasionally, but it's quick and painless. I find myself using BT less now that Sync plays nice with the USB drive, but the BT connection seems better with the new phone. So things are good now, but damn I was ready to replace the whole bloody mess a few months ago!
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 579
Likes: 114
From: Newark Valley, NY
https://www.f150forum.com/f118/how-a...-icons-344630/
Member
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 85
Likes: 12
From: Mid-MO
Just sort of gee whiz info, I guess, but thought I'd help with your confusion
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 579
Likes: 114
From: Newark Valley, NY
As far as this little bit goes, that's actually fairly normal for BT audio. When your phone disconnects from a BT audio device (headphones, speaker, vehicle, etc) it will pause your music source. The idea is if you're listening to music on say BT headphones, for instance, you power off your headphones at the end of your workout/run/whatever activity, the phone will pause the music instead of just carrying on and blaring whatever you were listening to out of its own speaker since it no longer has any other audio device to output to.
Just sort of gee whiz info, I guess, but thought I'd help with your confusion
Just sort of gee whiz info, I guess, but thought I'd help with your confusion
Your explanation would make sense if I wasn't driving down the road without a single other BT device within half a mile, and my phone wasn't lying in the center console with the screen locked.
Basically, if you're saying it's "normal" for it to drop a connection when the 2 devices are 12" apart and neither is being touched, then I say you're crazy. That's not acceptable.
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 1,500
Likes: 204
From: Rockwall/Wichita Falls Texas
Your explanation would make sense if I wasn't driving down the road without a single other BT device within half a mile, and my phone wasn't lying in the center console with the screen locked. Basically, if you're saying it's "normal" for it to drop a connection when the 2 devices are 12" apart and neither is being touched, then I say you're crazy. That's not acceptable.
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 579
Likes: 114
From: Newark Valley, NY
I'm starting to think newer phone = newer version of BT = better connection, but I haven't really used it enough to confirm.
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 1,500
Likes: 204
From: Rockwall/Wichita Falls Texas
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 579
Likes: 114
From: Newark Valley, NY