Siri issues after SYNC upgrade

[Steveromo]

By the way, there is a work-around to this... if you momentarily disable your bluetooth, you can use Siri and voice-texting as normal - the sound will come from the phone of course, not the car audio. Then re-enable bluetooth. The easiest way to do this is to swipe up from the bottom of the iphone screen, and unlight the bluetooth icon. After, to re-enable, do the same but you will also have to re-connect to the phone thru the Sync menu. Extra buttons to hit - while driving!!! So not a fix, but a work-around.

[berzerk_1980]

By the way, there is a work-around to this... if you momentarily disable your bluetooth, you can use Siri and voice-texting as normal - the sound will come from the phone of course, not the car audio. Then re-enable bluetooth. The easiest way to do this is to swipe up from the bottom of the iphone screen, and unlight the bluetooth icon. After, to re-enable, do the same but you will also have to re-connect to the phone thru the Sync menu. Extra buttons to hit - while driving!!! So not a fix, but a work-around.

Good idea. Or, maybe temporarily disable Bluetooth on the car instead, might be easier while driving.

[RockyC]

Good to know that I'm not the only one pulling my hair out over this nonsense. My 2015 Fusion with the base system (Sync with MyFord) is doing the same thing. I thought that it was an iOS issue. "Hey Siri" works fine, but the system never switches to the Bluetooth audio input like it used to, so Siri sits there staring at me all judgmental.

Either disable the functionality completely and let me use my iPhone's microphone and speaker, or put it back the way it was, Ford!

Is there a way to contact Ford to make them aware of the issue?

[RockyC]

So, having a live chat with Ford Assistance, and the operator, Deb, tells me that the feature that we all are trying to get working again was actually a BUG, which they corrected in the 4.6 update! Here is the chat log:

 

Please wait for a SYNC Agent to respond.

Deb says:
Hello Rocky. My name is Deb. How can I help you?
Rocky says:
Hi Deb. Not sure if you all are aware, but the SYNC 4.6 update breaks the Siri voice functionality in my Fusion with MyFord. Is there a way to downgrade to the earlier version?
Deb says:
I will be glad to look into this for you. Please stand by while I check the information.
Deb says:
Thanks for your patience! There is no way to go back to an earlier version. Siri was not a feature, it was a bug in some previous versions, and the software has been patched, so that bug can no longer be exploited.
Rocky says:
So, me being able to talk to Siri through my SYNC system was a bug??
Deb says:
For this system, unfortunately yes, the update to 4.6 corrected that bug. It was not originally meant to be a part of this system. My apologies for the inconvenience.
Rocky says:
Okay...so is there a way, other than disabling Bluetooth, for me to talk to Siri? Because when I'm connected, my iPhone is still listening for voice input via Bluetooth.
Deb says:
There is not a way to disable Bluetooth.
Rocky says:
I meant to turn off Bluetooth on my iPhone, not disable Bluetooth altogether. I have to turn off Bluetooth in order to talk to Siri, which kind of defeats the purpose of Bluetooth.
Deb says:
If your turn off Bluetooth you will not be able to use the SYNC system.
Rocky says:
...and now we're going in circles. Okay. Well, thanks anyway.
Deb says:
You're welcome! Do you have any other questions or concerns for me today?
Rocky says:
No.
Deb says:
Thank you for contacting Ford Motor Company. Please take a short survey to rate my service. Click on the small "X" in the top right hand corner to launch the survey. Have a great day Rocky!

[sped@centrum.cz]

By the way, there is a work-around to this... if you momentarily disable your bluetooth, you can use Siri and voice-texting as normal - the sound will come from the phone of course, not the car audio. Then re-enable bluetooth. The easiest way to do this is to swipe up from the bottom of the iphone screen, and unlight the bluetooth icon. After, to re-enable, do the same but you will also have to re-connect to the phone thru the Sync menu. Extra buttons to hit - while driving!!! So not a fix, but a work-around.

 

Microsoft Sync is an abomination. They should really not be allowed to have any business in car infotainment...

[NOTMY911]

 

Microsoft Sync is an abomination. They should really not be allowed to have any business in car infotainment...

 

 

They are not anymore. Everybody, starting for Sync3 in Ford/Lincoln, is switching to the Blackberry platform.

[333kenshin]

Yeah, this has been frustrating waiting for Ford to fix a problem they caused. I'll probably avoid anything with Sync in the future due to this nonsense. I was finally able to downgrade to 4.4 after finding a Good Samaritan who was posting videos about "siri works after downgrade to 4.4". File links are in the comments. They look generic because they worked on his F150 and my Fusion, both with Sync (no MFT). Had to Master Reset before Install Application but the downgrade took. Now Siri works again through bluetooth after long hold the iphone button.

 

No need for workarounds that would be dangerous while driving.

 

Ford Sync, you had one job.

[Steveromo]

SOLVED! I found a link in another post to a youtube video about this issue, and in the comments was a link to the files for an older version of sync - I think ver 4.3. Here is the link:

http://www.filedropp...421fpackagerev2

Before installing, I needed to do a system reset because it wouldn't allow me to install an older version until I did the reset.

NOTICE: I was able to download and unzip the files and place them in the right hierarchy on a flash drive, but I can't guarantee it will work for everyone.

After installing this I once again have Siri and voice control on my phone. I hope it works for anyone else who needs this. TIP: download the latest update from the ford sync website first so you have a backup in the event this fails. It worked for me but you never know.

Good Luck!

Edited June 14, 2017 by Steveromo

[RockyC]

I’m happy to report that the solution posted by Steveromo WORKED! I was able to downgrade my SYNC version and now Siri works like it used to!

[berzerk_1980]

All, I have discovered another workaround.

 

4.6 users, try this:

 

1. Allow your phone to connect via Bluetooth.

2. If you plan to use AppLink, connect your iPhone via USB as well.

3. Press the hard button on the phone to activate Siri.

4. Wait for Siri to to give you the "Some things you can ask me" screen, then press the little Bluetooth icon in the lower right corner.

6. If you are connected via USB, select "Dock Connector." If not, select "iPhone." Note that iPhone or Dock Connector may already be selected. This, I believe, is the cause of the "bug that isn't a bug."

7. You are now using the iPhone's microphone and speaker for Siri, and it will work as expected until your phone switches back to Bluetooth. This can happen for various reasons, e.g., if you get a phone call, switch your streaming source to Bluetooth, or one of your apps attempts to play audio as a Buetooth phone call. Then you will need to perform the process again the next time you attempt to use Siri.

 

@FordIVTeam, could you all please consider an enhancement request that Siri work smoothly when the iPhone is connected via Bluetooth? Bonus points for an option to let us use the steering wheel button to talk to Siri instead of Samantha. We really want this because it's so much safer to have Siri available to respond to texts, find apps, addresses, songs, etc. I'm sure this has been mentioned dozens of times, but a $150 radio from AutoZone can do this with no problem. It's very upsetting that our integrated system can't do it correctly.