Sloandrive

Picked up my 2017 Q7 exactly 1 week ago, and am completely in love. My first Audi, and a giant leap forward in technology since my last car.

I'm trying to figure out the most efficient way to link my phone with the Q7's features. I want to be able to talk to text, call through the car, and play music from Spotify on phone. (Apple iPhone SE) I have the Bluetooth link setup, and also can plug in through the USB port in the arm rest. (I also have a bunch of music through the SD card, which is great.)

But here's where I get frustrated--if I'm on Bluetooth, I can make calls but not send texts. I've tried editing the Bluetooth profile, and selected "Connect" for Messages...but it will not remain connected for Messaging. I also can't seem to bluetooth spotify to the car.

If I'm plugged in through USB, I can send texts, but get an error message about making calls ("Your iPhone is in CarPlay mode, so it is not possible to make calls via the MMI..."). It also only plays music from my My Music folder, and not from Spotify. (The phone speaker simultaneously plays a track from Spotify, while the MMI plays a totally different song over the car speakers.)

Any suggestions would be appreciated. My last car was pre-Bluetooth, so I'm playing catch-up on how this all works (but am generally tech savvy). Thank you!

alipor

You should be able to make calls in carplay while plugged in. If you load up spotify it should play music but you won't have much control over the app with out using your phone. I make calls and send text via carplay all the time. Before I got my Q7 the rental one I had, I used my sirius xm app to play music while plugged into the USB.

srbsq7

Hi Sloandrive,

Glad you're loving the car. There should be a Spotify app within CarPlay. I switched from Spotify to Apple Music for the tighter integration.

Have you tried using voice commands to send texts or make calls via Audi (bluetooth) or Apple Siri (USB)? Takes a little bit of getting used to but works well.

SYMAWD

You can text when just connected by Bluetooth. Just long press the voice command button and Siri will activate.

Sloandrive

Thank you all. I will try the long press to see if I can get the bluetooth to text connection to work. The dealer actually tells me that I CANNOT voice activate text through bluetooth, that it is only available through CarPlay.

SYMAWD

Yep, just long press, you'll hear the Siri tone, and then say "Text "exact name of a contact in your phone"". It will ask what you want to send and so on.

Cristagalli

An experience I found tonight. Using phone when I got in the car it changed automatically to bluetooth. The person on the other line could not tell a difference. Once I plugged in and it changed to the CarPlay, the other person said it sounded like I was on speaker phone. So in this limited experience the bluetooth was a cleaner and clearer connection.

Sloandrive

Thank you SYMAWD...the long press worked perfectly! I don't understand why the dealer kept telling me that it wasn't possible!?!?

And good to know, Cristagalli. I hate it when the person in their car sounds like they are speaking into a cave...it is also way more convenient to just throw the phone in a cupholder and rely on Bluetooth.

Appreciate the help!

YYCyclist

If you've activated "hey siri" you can tell your phone to do most anything while your iPhone is connected to power. This would allow you make calls or text whether in car play or MMI.