Funny, I never saw this prior to last week! I did recently update iOS, but to my knowledge, have not received any recent sync update (I've only had one since getting the truck in Feb). The black border seemed curious, but the bright spot for me is that in my case, its appearance seems to remove the rounded corners on the carplay display (which for some reason annoy the heck out me):



As with all the other "quirks" in the '21 infotainment system, it's hit-or-miss, and I'm never sure what display I'll see from trip to trip.

Regarding the connectivity issue, I agree with you that "forgetting" the network configs on both the sync and iOS ends and re-establishing them is a solid strategy. I am curious, however, what purpose app projection serves for someone who chooses to use the carplay interface... to me, it seems somewhat redundant(?). Perhaps there non-iOS (or non-carplay) apps I don't use that are sync-specific? When "playing around" with the app projection, I only recall seeing the standard spotify, pandora, waze, fordpass, etc.; all of which are available, and arguably more stable, via carplay.

I'm certainly not trying to be argumentative, I'm just curious if there are any advantages to using both sync apps AND carplay since they seem mutually exclusive in purpose to me...

 

But then wireless CarPlay does not work...

 

I think there's some misconception here regarding your phone's use of "wi-fi" for carplay connectivity. Yes, it technically uses the same connection protocol, but it's a proprietary connection. By that, I mean you should not need to consciously "connect" your phone to any specific wireless network in order to connect to carplay - once it's configured properly, the phone will connect without any interaction from you (think of it as a "hidden" wireless network of sorts). My suspicion is that what changed recently was that you set your truck to broadcast it's wifi access point and/or set your iPhone to connect to it. I recall connecting my phone to my truck's AP once before, and experienced the same carplay meltdown you are describing. Similarly, I have come to the conclusion (based on my personal experience) that the "carplay" and "sync4 Bluetooth" environments are pretty much mutually exclusive and do NOT play well together.

Before elaborating on that last sentence, my advice to you is this:
1. On your phone, "Forget" ALL wireless network(s) that have any relation to the truck.
2. On your phone, also "forget" the Bluetooth connection to the truck.
3. On your sync4 "Phone List", completely remove your phone.
4. Select "Add phone" on the sync menu, and do the pairing routine (a phone reboot is always a good idea in between). At some point, the iPhone should ask you if you'd like to enable carplay and take you through the initial setup again.
5. Once you're re-paired, you might need to return to your sync4 phone list and select "Connect to carplay" for your phone.

You should now have a freshly restored carplay connection, free of any interference caused by any additional wlan connections.

Now, regarding my theory on exclusivity between "Sync Bluetooth" and "CarPlay" environments: Based on my trial-and-error experience, I have come to the conclusion that this is a "one-or-the-other" situation. I have not found any way to use both, either simultaneously or on-demand. Keep in mind, these are MY names... I know it's a bit confusing since your phone is obviously connected via Bluetooth - what I'm referring to is the integration with the truck's "Phone", "Messages" and "Audio" screens, as well as wireless app projection. In my experience, NONE of these are functional while in the carplay environment. Essentially, I've found that in order to have a properly "functioning" infotainment experience, you need to commit to one of the following (while completely abandoning the other):

A) "CarPlay Environment"
- Texts, phone call and audio (excluding FM/XM) are exclusive to the carplay interface
- Contacts, phonebook & addresses remain on your device, accessible via siri
- Local audio content on your phone is accessible via the carplay audio apps (music, podcasts, audiobooks, etc), audio streaming is accessible via numerous apps (apple music, pandora, spotify, iheart, etc)
- Navigation remains selective - you can still use Sync4 nav instead of (or in addition to) any carplay nav apps

B) "Sync4 Bluetooth Environment"
- Texts, phone, and audio are accessible via the native sync screens
- Contacts, phonebook & addresses are (optionally) downloaded to Sync memory, accessible via sync voice prompts
- Local audio content on your phone is accessible via sync audio screen (once indexed), and any streaming apps are accessible via app projection (or by using iOS directly on the phone)
- Navigation is limited to the native sync4 or any nav apps that are compatible with app projection (Waze was the only one available when I last checked but there may be more now)

Personally, I went all-in for the carplay option. I'm sure there are many who prefer the alternative, and I'm certainly not suggesting one over the other, or implying one is superior... my point is simply that everything I have played with and tested in the 5 months I've had this truck indicates that, if you want a stable/reliable experience, you really need to choose ONE and run with it. Exclusively.

 

I agree with you as the way that it should work, as that is how it worked for the first 2-2.5 months of my ownership. My issue is that now it is connecting to carplay differently, without any setting changes in truck or phone, and requiring that direct connection.

I did forget all networks about a week ago but I will try again. Haven't had much extra time lately to monkey with the truck.

 

So I just did the quick forget all networks, bluetooth, etc and recompleted the phone setup. Everything seems to be OK as of now....I will say that after forgetting the truck's network, my phone was confused as to whether or not it was connected to that network...a little hard to explain but two different page views showed different results.

After doing setup, phone originally connected to bluetooth, then disconnected after I chose CarPlay (as I believe it should work). Once choosing CarPlay, phone shows connection to truck's network BUT does not show actual connectivity in upper right hand corner (that is different than behavior the last 2 weeks) Also important to note that I did not instruct phone to connect to that network or enter any password.


As long as CarPlay works properly and my phone can use cell data without a prompt at same time, I'm happy. I'll report back if anything changes or if I need to perform Airborne's reset (that is my next step if issue comes back).

I still am in agreement with Airborne that SYNC 4 (and other parts of this truck) have many issues.

 

Unfortunately, I cannot add to your helpful post but I am also having strange issues with wireless carplay that are frustrating. Most of the time on short drives, carplay works fine without any issues. However, inevitably after 30+ minutes on the road, carplay will not stay connected. Simply will disconnect and will not reconnect unless I shut the truck off and turn it back on. I have no idea how to troubleshoot or fix it because if I bring it to the dealer there is no way I'll be able to replicate what happens and honestly don't really know how to explain the problem. I can only hope that an OTA update will eventually make Sync4 more stable.

 

As a test, you should disable low data mode is iOS for the Pro # # # network as shown in the screen shot two posts above. Is that something iOS does on its own when the battery is low or the phone gets hot? Wireless CarPlay does make my iPhone 12 Pro warm to the touch. Maybe iOS on your device is entering a conservation state after x minutes of use and causing itself to drop connection. We should also disable low power mode in iOS for the same reason.

My wireless car play doesn't randomly disconnect but I already have all those options switched off. Another consideration is if your town has free wifi hotspots. The phone might be connecting to some in the background. A few years ago in my city, all the buses had free wifi and every time one drove by the phone would latch on to the access point and drop offline until I realized what was happening. I still have it happen at Starbucks every once in a while.

Just some food for thought.

 

I’ll revisit if issues come back…been working fine lately

 

Ive had my 2021 for about a month. CarPlay goes all squirrelly in the same place on the highway. Right near a tower. I’m not sure what this tower is but I assume it wreaks havoc with the Bluetooth connection. Sometimes it just stutters and others it completely crashes and will not reconnect automatically.

The system tells me that “Bluetooth is set to off” so I turn it back on. CarPlay will not reconnect until the system power cycles however I can play audio via the Bluetooth connection.

I’ve noticed the same issue in other places. When it acts up I can be sure that there is a tower nearby.

The second issue is if the phone is plugged in to charge and I turn the truck off and then back on. The system refuses to connect to CarPlay again until it’s power cycles with the phone unplugged.

it’s kind of irritating and unique to this truck as my 2017 chev never had the issue(though it didn’t have wireless CarPlay). I should also add that this is with two different phones. One being an iPhone 8 and my new iPhone 12.

 

Finally someone with a similar issue as I have. I haven't been able to pinpoint it to the Sync SW or my phone, because I'm busy driving through construction when it happens. For me I've only had it happen right at the MI / IN state line on I-69. It happens every time either going North or South. But this is the only place I have encountered it. It appears to be the Sync Carplay just quits or loses connection, but the phone itself seems to continue working. Would love to figure out some ideas to try to narrow down the issue.