This is all new to me, as my last car was a 2005 and didn't connect to my phone at all. I am a proud, but confused new owner of a Prius Prime premium. I have a OnePlus One? phone. When I connect through Bluetooth the phone functions seem to work fine. Bluetooth will play through the car sound system if i play something on my phone, but no way to control it or select from my phone, is this correct? I have to control from the phone? When I connect with USB, it will charge, it it doesn't seem to do anything else As far as audio, USB is still greyed out, so I can't play audio through USB, right? USB port is just for charging? Can you help explain or point me to a resource that explains how these work? Thanks! Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
Congratulations on upgrading to PRIME. I am not an expert in any of Prime's feature, and I am also fairly new to all those techy things for my previous Prius was Gen3 Two without many of options. One thing I know for sure is USB works with MP3 files. If you store your MP3 formatted audio files (such as music) in USB thumb drives, you can connect to the USB port to play music files (or any other audio) through car audio system. This feature was present in Gen3 Prius even in Two trim. I have never tried connecting my android phone through USB, but I understand USB port also work with iPod music player. Via Bluetooth you can use many of Phone functionality using the Car system both on the steering wheel buttons and on the LCD panel, but I am not sure about the music player functionality. I am sure others who are more familiar than I will chime in.
Congrats on your Prime! I'm a recent new Prime owner, too. I have an iPhone 6, so can't speak specifically to how your Android works, but the USB definitely plays music in iOS. I keep all my music on an iPod Shuffle to free up space on my phone, and that plays fine, too. Bluetooth via iOS lets you use the on-screen controls for various streaming apps, including those not part of Entune (TuneIn radio, for example).
Welcome. Your best resource to "start with" is your manual. Yes, your manual. Seriously, read through it. Then check this site and look at the compatible phones section. See if yours is listed.
Thanks for the reply. I have checked that site before I posted this question. My phone is not listed, (its not a major name brand, and the brand is not even listed) but it paired successfully and the phone functions work well. I don't want to use the Entune apps because I don't need to use that much data. I can't tell if its working properly because I am unclear on what it is supposed to do. I guess that is my question. How is the bluetooth pairing for audio supposed to work? How about if I plug my phone into USB port? Is it just for charging? Or is it supposed to do anything else?
Since you phone is not on the comparability list, anything we tell you may be wrong. Entune is the basis for the whole interface, not just the apps. Everything you're asking is based on assumptions that your phone will be able to do what we're describing. Chances are, it won't. You really do need to read your manual. I could type 8 pages here or you could read what is already there. Most of your questions are in the manual. I'm not trying to be rude, but I can tell from your questions, that you have not read the manual. Please meet us half way and we'll bend over backwards to help.
What it's supposed to do could be phone-dependent. Again, I can tell you that on an iPhone (or any other iOS-based device, such as my Shuffle), the USB port is more than just charging - it transfers data (e.g., music), as well. Can't imagine why Android devices wouldn't do the same, but I've seen stranger things.
I really have read the manual. I promise you. I was hoping I actually have read the manual, before I posted, and again this morning, and again now before I replied. It does not answer my questions -- Regarding USB it says "Open the cover and connect a device. Turn on the power of the device if it is not turned on." Then "select 'USB' on the 'select audio source' screen. Since that is greyed out, and there is no other information given about what type of device, that's where my question came in. As far as Bluetooth, it shows many features that I don't see. The manual says to select 'Bluetooth" and then talks about all the various controls, which I don't have. I can't control any of the audio via the car, only via my phone. I understand that this may be because my phone is not listed as compatible, but I was hoping perhaps in the forum someone else might have the same type of phone and be able to offer advice. Or maybe there is something else I'm missing as far as settings, since I have never connected a phone to my car in any format before. Again, I'm sorry it doesn't appear that way to you, but I have read the manual, my questions were not addressed. If there is somewhere else that addresses these more specific questions, please point me in that direction, but what I'm seeing didn't match what's in the manual.
Fair enough. Thanks. It's referring to a USB thumb drive. You can play music from a properly formatted USB thumb drive. An example is a MP3 file. SOME phones can be connected via a USB cable and act like a media player, but only a media player via USB. I can't tell you if your phone can or not. That tells me that you phone is not recognized. If you went through the Bluetooth pairing process to tie your phone and the car together and you still see nothing then it's your phone. Not much can be done for that. It's not compatible. IF your phone was compatible and it was properly paired via Bluetooth with the vehicle, you could see your phone's contacts list on the Entune screen, make calls, etc.
Thank you for the reply. I can see the contact list, get texts, make calls, but Bluetooth only seems to play when I control it through my phone I can choose Bluetooth from the car menus, but there is nothing shown inside. Do they have to be in a particular directory? Stored a certain way? Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
That's the phone's incompatibility with the system. I don't think you phone will work for music since it didn't find any. So a USB thumb drive (or an iPod) is your choice. For music, on a USB thumb drive, it has to be formatted FAT 16/32 and contain MP3, WMA, or AAC format files. There can only be 255 files (songs) max in each folder for a max 9,999 folders on the drive, and a max of 9,999 files (songs) on the drive.. You can play the music from an iPod if you have one. They work great.
Bit old bur quite relevent for my current open question. My Gen3(Prius)/Gen1(PHEV) USB connected iphone is not delivering the phone sounds anything expect Phone calls(may be blutooth connected already?) and Apple Music (old iTunes). How to get all of my iPhone audio is delivered to the car audio system with connected USB port? Thanks
