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Apple Maps Spoken Directions Over Bluetooth


CDew
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Have any iPhone 5/5s/5c owners tried getting spoken directions from Apple's Maps app over BlueTooth?

 

Apple added support for Hands-Free Profile (HFP) to their Maps app in iOS 7.1 which is supposed to allow you to get spoken directions over BlueTooth even when your receiver is set to something other than BlueTooth Audio.

 

I've tried getting it to work, but the setup isn't quite what's described in various tech blogs (e.g. 9to5mac, macrumors, etc). To enable it, they all say to pair your phone with MFT and start navigating in Maps. You then touch a part of the maps and a blue speaker icon appears at the bottom right. Touch it, and the Navigation Voice page appears, allowing you to set the volume for the spoken directions. There's an OUTPUT section with iPhone and SYNC. Below that is supposed to be a toggle for Allow HFP Prompts that allows you to activate the new feature. The problem is that I don't see the prompt. Apple support can't tell me if that prompt is only supposed to appear under certain conditions.

 

When navigating in Maps, each spoken step does indeed come through the car's speakers, but the first second or so are chopped off (e.g. "Turn left..."), which is kind of important. After each spoken step, I get a "Call ended" dialog. So I'm trying to tell if this is working as designed and is just a limit of the Hands-Free Profile, or if it's simply not working right.

 

Does anyone out there have any experience with this?

 

PS I have searched this, Apple's, and several tech forums and have not found any information.

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  • 2 months later...

Not your question, I realize, but I use Google Maps on my Android, so I can get spoken directions over the phone.

 

I've paired my Android with the C Max.  So if I want spoken directions through the car speakers (which is much clearer than the phone when there's road traffic), I just use the "bluetooth audio" command on the C-Max and whatever's on the phone comes over the speakers.  In this case, it's step by step travel directions. 

 

I like this better than in-car GPS since it means I can program the phone with my route before I even go out to the car.

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AudenHaoggart:  Get a free app in the playstore called Sync Destinations.  Once you have registered it with the, I think VIN, you have a menu of 9 options.  One of those options is Route Me To, then you can choose from my phone contacts, then you select the contact and it sends to your car the next time it is turned on.  I forget the exact sequence from the Nav on the C-Max but it allowed me to add those to my favorite destinations in Nav.  You can also choose to type an address and send it.  

 

Not that you need to, I also like Google Nav but am still giving the big screen nav a chance.

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Drew. Yes, I've gotten BT spoken directions on my IP5c. But, you need to do it on BT and not by USB. Also, each direction is treated as a phone call and that's why you get the Call Ended thing each time. The problem is that if you're doing a long trip, you will wear down your battery. That's why I'd like to be able to do it by USB. I do have an external battery charger thingy which I've used with my phone and then I can let it go by BT without discharging my phone.

 

BTW, when using Google Maps, I can sometimes get spoken directions over USB, but it's hit and miss. 

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