ben senise

i think we may have a confusion of terminology going on here. arent's sync 2 and sync 3 two different products running on different hardware? i am under the belief that you cannot upgrade from sync 2 to 3 just by putting the files on a usb stick. i think my '16 edge had sync 3 with a version 2.x from the factory. then i updated the files to the lastest version of 3.x. is this what you're trying to do @T-MaxEnergi? if you're having problems updating from a USB stick, make sure you're using a USB 2, not USB 3 stick. yes, 2 is older but 3 doesn't appear to work well. there are many posts about that on this and other forums.

it's possible that your phone has a problem but i would still pursue the cable issue a tiny bit more. if i search for "approved usb-c cables" i find a couple of articles like: https://www.androidcentral.com/best-usb-c-cables-adapters https://www.androidauthority.com/best-usb-type-c-cables-682801/ there was a guy named Benson Leung, who i believe was a google engineer or something, who did research and testing on these cables since there were so many issues a couple of years ago. the most effective way of testing a system is to try individual components of a non-working system on a known working system. i.e. my system works so if we took your phone and plugged it into my system and it didn't work, then we can be pretty much certain that it's your phone. if it does work. then we take your cable and plug it into my car and use my phone. it would be ideal to find someone near you with a working system. might be difficult but it's a sure thing. i assume your old phone did not have a USB-C cable, right? the problem there is that you are trying a new phone and a new cable so we can't be sure of which one is causing the problem. if you do decide to swap phones, the pixel phones are pretty decent and there are some good deals on the 3 now since the 4 will be out in a few months. plus, being pixels, they run pure android and get updates immediately upon release. good luck. i know how frustrating these problems are.

i had connectivity problems with my Pixel 2XL and it turned out to be the cable. Even the one that came with the phone didn't work. there were quite a few discussions on the interwebs about many of the cables not being usable. your cable might be a charge-only cable. try searching for info on bad USB=C cables that don't conform to specs and find one that does. i bought one that was up to par and the problem was solved immediately. USB-C cables are not all the same.

i also have a '16 and that problem bugs me as well. i have found that if i manually turn off the unit by pressing the power button on the volume dial before shutting off the engine, it keeps its setting.

i think it's time to find a new ford dealer. this one is obviously not knowledgeable. the automatic wifi update does not work for many people so the only way to update is manually with a USB stick. yes, VIN is used to determine what hardware your car has and thus the appropriate version of software. if your car is 2017, then it is even newer than mine and I have v3. if you log onto that website i mentioned above, it will tell you if it has a newer version for you or not. it's that simple. have a look at that website.

that is very bizarre that you have no media tile. i just checked my car and actually turned off the gracenote info for local media because it was showing the wrong info for one artist. no big deal as i usually listen to spotify these days. you can do it yourself. get it from https://owner.ford.com/ be sure to use a USB 2 stick, not USB 3. yes, 2 is older but the 3 won't work for some reason. let us know how it goes.

are you aware that you can swipe left and right on the settings page with all the tiles? i have two pages, one of them with the "media settings" tile and that's where the gracenote settings are. also, v2 of sync3 is old. i have v3. maybe you should try and update your unit first. that might fix it.

what if your car doesn't have a modem? my sync shows gracenote info and my 2016 edge doesn't have a modem. and the OP states that their 2011 F350 shows the info and i would guess that it doesn't have a modem.

if the OP isn't connecting their phone and using data then maybe the gracenote switch should be off? my thinking is that if the gracenote choice is on, and sync can't get the info, it displays nothing. if it's off, then it will read the CD info. just a thought.

i think by "vintage" he just means the year, like wine. in any case, i have CDs from the very beginning and they have the album info on them. i think it was part of the standards for CD (orange book?) ford, or any other company for that matter, will always tell you that it's normal behavior because the agents are lazy forks and don't give a ship. i would imagine that the system in your car is the same as in other fords with sync 3 and it should show the meta data. there must be a setting somewhere. what do you see on the screen when a disc is playing? on a different note, why not just rip all of your CDs onto a USB stick? then you have all of them and don't have to deal with swapping physical discs and leaving them in a hot car.

yes, in theory you need that on for automatic updates but they are few and far between. better off just downloading the updates onto a USB stick and doing it manually.

what are the messages? if there's one asking you to connect to wifi, that can be turned off in the settings.

i wish i could help more but i think you're going to have to go to the dealer. if you just bought it used from a dealer, i would imagine that they have some sort of guarantee? good luck.

if the phone does not show as charging, then there's a problem. the way to test is to use a cable that is working on another charger or port, like on a computer. if the cable is working elsewhere, then it's the port on the car. perhaps try using another phone as well. i assume you're trying to pair the phone and sync. make sure bluetooth is turned on on both and then initiate the pairing procedure from sync. it should show on your phone under the bluetooth settings. you'll need to ok it. again, try with another phone as well to verify. re the headphone jack (AUX IN), make sure that the phone and cable work on another device. if they do, then it's sync that isn't working. have you checked the fuses? i don't know how the voice command is supposed to work in a 2015 car. i assume you've got sync 2?

are you sure that a 2015 model year should be able to stream from the phone via USB? i think that you can put a memory stick in the USB port and play from that. i don't us iOS but on my android, there is a setting for the phone to work in a mode that makes it behave like a USB drive turning it into a media source so you could use it like that. i think that will only allow you to play music files that are on the phone but not streaming services like spotify. another thing, can it stream via Bluetooth? i think that's the ticket. then you can control playback via the steering wheel buttons. plug it into the USB port for power so the phone doesn't discharge. hope that helps.