This issue has become both more frequent and more frustrating for me in the month or so that I've had my new truck. I've mentioned this several times in other sync related threads, but haven't really seen any others' observations of this happening, so I figured I'd start a separate thread in the hopes that someone may be able to offer any insight.

As the title suggests, the currently playing information often does not display in the side display panel when using CarPlay. This does not occur EVERY time I start the truck, but at this point, I'd estimate it happens 70-80% of the time, and when it does I've found no way to resolve it. These are some observations I've made:

• The CarPlay source does not matter; the "No Data" appears for Apple music, podcasts, audiobooks, Spotify, Pandora, etc. indiscriminately.
• When in the primary display screen, all CarPlay apps appear and function normally.
• The issue occurs when CarPlay is connected both wired and wirelessly.
• "No Data" will manifest immediately when the truck starts, and when it does, I've never observed it correcting itself on its own. Similarly, when CarPlay data does display, it stays on for the entire duration that the truck is running. It's basically a crap-shoot at startup, and whatever it decides to do is what you're stuck with for that entire ride.
• Push-button starting (vs. remote starting) does not seem to have any effect on the appearance of this issue. It's equally random in either scenario.
• When the "No Data" issue occurs, the "Now Playing" info on the 8" dash info center simply reads "Generic".

I know any third-party integration is bound to devolve into the Apple vs. Ford blame game, and while it's no concern to me which system is causing the problem, I've yet to find any useful info for troubleshooting either of them. As of the time I am writing this, I am running the most current versions of both Sync 4 (20262 r229) and iOS (14.4.1). I've done one total reset of the Sync system, as well as countless reboots of the phone(s). In the interest of troubleshooting (not assigning blame): I've connected my wife's phone (different model iPhone but same iOS version) and observed the same issue. That, along with the fact that CarPlay functions perfectly when in the primary display, would seem to indicate a "Ford issue". That being said, the fact that I have not found ANY other reports of anyone else experiencing this suggests it may be an "Apple issue" specific to my devices. Either way, I'm just flat-out stumped and out of ideas on how to identify what's causing this and/or how to prevent it from happening.

If it offers any clarification, my ultimate wish is to have CarPlay in the larger primary display with Waze or Apple maps running, and the "Now Playing" with basic pause/skip control in the secondary side display. I know this is possible, as I'm able to do it about 1 out of every 4 times I drive the truck. And yes - I am fully aware that CarPlay does offer a split-screen home page natively that does the same thing, but if we're being honest, I'm sure that massive 12" display was a big selling point of the '21s…. And any of us that have one paid a lot of cash to have it. Since I'm really not happy with the native Sync navigation (and never have been), and rarely if ever listen to AM/FM/Sirius, not having the second display show what it should sort of defeats the purpose of having it altogether (okay, that's admittedly a bit dramatic but my point remains).

I'm hoping someone here with some expertise in CarPlay, Sync, or both can offer some insight on what I can possibly do to troubleshoot further. I did talk to my dealer, but not surprisingly hit an immediate roadblock the second I mentioned Apple CarPlay.

Thanks in advance for any insights! Some example screens below…




Apple music displaying perfectly in the primary display pane.



When moved to the secondary side display, Apple music displays "No Data Available". Note: the playback controls DO still work.



This is what the "Now Playing" screen displays in the dash when the "No Data" problem occurs.



Just for reference, Spotify via CarPlay displayed on the primary screen...



...and Spotify showing the same behavior as all other CarPlay apps when switched to the secondary side screen.

 

Darn, that sucks! If I had to make a guess, and it's only that, I suspect an issue with how your phone and the truck "talk" about that side display. CarPlay is in essence just projecting a dashboard that is rendered first on the phone to the Head Unit. So like with a computer, if you have multiple monitors, the GPU does the rendering then sends the data to the monitor as to what pixel state to put in different parts of the grid that makes up the monitor (1920x1080 for example). The monitor simply takes that grid information and maps it to the pixel.

So with CarPlay, Sync 4 tells the phone what grid it can work with, so the resolution of the screen, and then the resolution of the side screen. Anyway, my guess since it's hit and miss, is sometimes Sync 4 isn't telling iOS the information it needs about the new display area it's transitioning to, so the phone can't build the image it needs to project to that part of the screen. Or it's sending that to the phone, but the joy of IT are race conditions, where sometimes the data arrives when the receiving device (the phone) can receive it, and sometimes it arrives just before or just after, and it just gets discarded.

In any case, my guess is it's more a Sync 4 issue than phone issue. I suspect on truck startup, there are instances where the truck sends the data to the phone before the phone has fully acknowledged the connection and started CarPlay. So it doesn't get the render information it needs for the side screen.

Curious if in your testing you tried putting the iPhone in Airplane mode so it can't communicate with the HU wirelessly, start the truck, let it all get going, then turn off Airplane mode and let it connect wirelessly if it will show properly on the first try.

 

On your phone have you tried deleting the car from your Car Play settings and reset it up?

On iPhone > Settings > General > CarPlay > Select whichever vehicle it is > Forget this Car. may also need to go into settings on Sync in truck and remove the iPhone device too.

Also, within those setting for the specific Sync attached profile/vehicle, do you have “Allow CarPlay While Locked” turned on?

 

Thanks for your thoughts! I can't say this is something that I've tried, but I certainly will as soon as possible. I have been playing around with different sequences, including having my phone unlocked, plugged in, and/or having audio apps open/closed prior to connecting. No obvious effect on the data display thus far, but airplane mode isn't something I had considered adding to the list of variables. Thanks!

 

I'm 100% certain I've removed and re-added the phone from the Sync side, but to be honest I'm not so sure I've tried it on the phone as you suggest. I'll definitely try to removing the config from the iOS settings first and, if necessary, from both systems at once, then set it up again "from scratch".

Yes, this is allowed in my iOS carplay settings. I've also removed my old truck and wife's honda from the phone, so the '21 is the only carplay connection stored.

Thank you for the suggestions!!!! There's an hour train ride between me & the truck right now, but I'll definitely share my results from yours and @vulnox 's strategies.

 

Thanks again @King216 and @vulnox for the thoughts. I tried your suggestions - although I didn't find a "solution" per se, I at least feel like I have some more angles from which to approach the issue.

- Using airplane mode did not seem to make any difference - after starting the truck, I disabled the mode and it went right back into its "No Data Available" state after reconnecting. I also played around with having Bluetooth disabled (as well as even having the phone powered off) prior to starting the truck but had no luck there either. It's a sound theory, but sadly did not seem to have any direct effect on the display issue.

- "Forgetting" my truck within the phone's carplay settings also yielded no joy. After re-connecting and seeing "No Data..." return, I repeated the process a second time, removing BOTH connections (Forgetting the truck on the phone AND removing the phone from the Sync settings). After restarting both the truck and the phone, the issue was still present.

Despite neither of these providing a "fix", they did give me another idea that MAY have shown some potential:

- This morning, I decided to try something similar to your suggestions above... with the phone already connected and CarPlay active, I went into the Sync settings for my phone and disabled CarPlay. After a few moments, I simply re-enabled it, without restarting or rebooting the truck/phone. After reconnection, the CarPlay data WAS visible in the side panel display (shown below).***

***I'm definitely not considering this to be a "solution" yet; It's possible (if not likely) that this was simply a coincidence. As mentioned, there are SOME times that the data does display properly on its own, but this was the first time I've ever observed it going from the "No Data Available" state to a properly working state without the truck having been shut off and restarted! Unfortunately, my train was just about pulling out, so I didn't have an opportunity to reproduce the process, but I can't help feeling that there may be a shimmer of hope for this to be a stable workaround. I will definitely repeat these steps the next time the issue appears and keep my fingers crossed that it wasn't just a fluke.

Thanks again for the brainstorming! I'll update once I've given this a few more test runs.



^ "Now Playing" info from CarPlay source displaying properly in the side display after disabling/re-enabling CarPlay in the Sync phone settings.





^ Accurate CarPlay data remaining in the side display with Waze (via CarPlay) maximized in the primary display pane - THIS is my desired configuration! =)

 

Woohoo! Glad it lead to possibly something of use. I saw on the dealer bulletin site that Ford worked with Google on a fix for the connection issues with Android Auto, so hopefully they are aware of this and working towards a similar goal.

 

Well, there you have it... I'm officially closing this case!

After disabling and re-enabling carplay within my phone's Sync settings, the audio info displayed normally for about 48 hours before I saw the "No Data Available" again. Once again, repeating the same steps corrected it instantly - that was Saturday morning, and it hasn't reappeared since.

Surely it's not the perfect solution, but it's one I can live with considering I've grown accustomed to Ford's "sooooo close, but not quite" infotainment offerings. It's still an undeniably massive improvement from the Sync3 in my previous truck, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that some of these issues get ironed out in future updates on the gen14.

Thanks again for the assistance!

 

Hopefully something we see them tune in a future OTA Update! Thanks so much for following up with what you discovered. I also use CarPlay and wireless CarPlay was (sad to admit) a big reason I wanted to move to the '21. So if I run into this I will have an idea of what to do when mine arrives if they haven't fixed it by then.

Thanks again!

 

Never apologize for wanting what you want lol! While it wasn't necessarily on my 'must-have' list, the wireless connectivity is a HUGE convenience and works remarkably well.

My stubborn insistance on having a floor/console shifter made shopping for my '18 so much more complicated than it needed to be. That being said, it's how I'm most comfortable driving and I wasn't going to compromise. As much as I loved that truck, I know that if I had "settled" for a column shifter it would have needled at me every time I got in it!

Best of luck with the new ride!