Is the wireless charger working for anyone?

Hey guys, I got my 2023 Prime this weekend and have tried the wireless charger with my iPhone Xr (yeah… old), and I report the same, that the phone get uncomfortably hot on a lengthy drive, and doesn’t seem to really pick up much charge, but rather hold steady. (Of course, also annoying that CarPlay doesn’t seem to indicate the precise battery % aside from the very imprecise battery bar - maybe I can ask Siri?). In the 2 days I have had the car, I haven’t noted the before/after charge or tested for a pattern. I have an ESR “kickstand” case, which is medium thickness and works fine with other Qi chargers.

I figure the heat must be slowing/stopping the charge… has anyone tried some sort of DIY cooling to help this? I was thinking of maybe one of those USB powered micro desk fan or something, maybe plug into the USB in the console and aim at the charging slot? Not sure if one exists that is small enough and strong enough to make a difference though (and also not look terrible). Curious if anyone has explored or tried something like this?

I wouldn’t be surprised if Toyota enhances this design in a future model, maybe incorporate some fans or cooling in the design (and hopefully it may be backward compatible…. Or perhaps this may be an aftermarket opportunity ).

 

Wireless charger is worthless. Surprised that on a $40k Prius they would knowingly sell you a defective charger that does nothing more than cook your phone. I’ve tried different positions, taken the case off. I’ve had several instances where the phone has become so hot it disconnects from car play and malfunctions. Disappointed given the design more of a microwave hot pocket than a charger. Hopefully Toyota comes up with a fix for it.

2023 Toyota Prius Limited
IPhone XS Max

 

I prefer to describe it more as a “toaster” than a microwave, due to the design… unfortunately it is a little too similar to a toaster.

 

Wireless charger works fine for me (samsung), but works intermittently with iphones (probably the fat camera bump.)
Mostly I'm worried about how hot it gets. After a bit of driving, it can sometimes be so hot that the phone is laggy and the camera refuses to turn on due to overheating. Surely that can't be good for the phone, no?

 

Works fine for my iPhone 12 Pro Max. Yes the battery gets warm. It will do that with any wireless charger.

 

I have a 13 Pro Max wearing a UAG real carbon fiber case. Hopefully I have the same good results when I pick my prime up in a week or so.

 

I had to take my Otter Box Defender case off for the charger to work. It was getting beat up anyway. I ordered a new thinner case so hopefully, that will allow it to charge.

 

Gotcha..yeah, the UAG carbon case is I’d say half as thick as the OtterBox defender which I used to run on all my phones prior to this one. Hope it works.

 

I believe the heat problem gets bad when you're using the phone to stream using Android Auto or CarPlay while also charging. When I'm using CarStream through Android Auto, I find the phone gets quite warm just on its own. Then you add charging onto that while trapping it in a tightly enclosed space, and it's no surprise the phone overheats.

So charging on its own: probably no problems.
Charging while using a low-CPU app on the phone: might be problems
Charging while using a high-CPU app on the phone: almost certainly problems

Obviously the correct solution will be for Toyota to add active ventilation to the charger in subsequent years, but that doesn't help us. I'd recommend just keeping a USB-c cord in the armrest or hidden compartment and do the charging that way when you want to stream at the same time.

 

If it didn't drain while in use, it did charge ya know....

 

Disable fast wireless charging? Is this an android only thing?

I’m not sure I recall ever seeing that setting in my iPhone (13 Pro Max)?

 

I guess it's an Android-only thing.

 

i have a 13 pro max as well, and i cannot get it to charge in any of the cases ive tried. i bought 3 new ones that were so slim they seemed pointless and still nothing. meanwhile my sister's 12 pro charges fine (in the same case as one of thes i tried) and my bf's galaxy s23 charges through an otterbox defender. most of the people i have seen with this issue are using a 13 of any size. typically im good about charging and dont need it, but wireless car play seems to be annihilating my battery. 20 minute drive this morning with waze and audible running, screen off, in my pocket used 12% of my battery.

 

Have you tried using the charger without a case?

 

I just tried with my iPhone 15 Pro in an Apple clear case. The charge was about 55% when I started charging. About 25 minutes later, I arrived home and removed the phone from the car. The phone was warm, not hot, and the charge was about 67% (I used CarPlay navigation during the trip, but no other phone functions. When I checked the battery settings, it noted that the phone had stopped charging due to heat issues.

I plan to travel a bit next week and can experiment with charging via the built-in Qi charger in the slot or using a USB-C cable connected to a port in the console box. I'm curious if that might also have heat issues due to the lack of ventilation in the slot.

 

Had the car 3 days. That said, the charger worked for both my husband's Samsung 10e and my Samsung galaxy 20. Both were in the 70% range in and fully charged within a couple of hours. We were using Android Auto one direction and the built in gps + Sirius (trial period on that one). during the return home. The phones were warm when we removed them from the charger. I WILL figure out this audio system eventually.

 

Were the phones in cases?

 

My S20 is in an Otterbox Defender (without out the cover, and my husbands 10e is in a generic soft case (soft plastic of some sort). We had to slide them a bit to find the sweet spot, but both worked fine.

 

Mine works fine. iphone X with thin case.
I tend to forget it when I leave however, so I just use the cable mostly

 

We have the flat one in our HyCam, and call it the black hole because we always forget to take it in the house.