OK, this is a long post, but will help all of you having phone/Bluetooth issues with SYNC 3 and Samsung Android phones.
It all started when I upgraded from the Galaxy S5 to the S8+ in my 2016 Ford Fusion. Things seemed to work, but then I ended up trading in the 2016 Fusion for a 2017 Fusion. All of a sudden, my phone had issues making calls using the car’s audio system. Radio worked, songs from my phone could be played (only when the phone was plugged in, though). If I tried making a call without attaching the phone, I was told that Bluetooth was downloading my contacts and I should wait. However, the system previously reported my contacts had finished downloading. At one point, I monitored my contacts and saw that they were downloaded….only to disappear moments later! If I was already on a call prior to starting the car, the audio system picked it up, but then I had problems playing the radio or disconnecting the call. I could hang up using the phone, but the car would think I was still connected. Again, I then couldn’t play any music (radio or from the phone). Also, I wasn’t able to stop the Bluetooth service without first disabling it on the phone, turning the car off for a while and then start it so the phone didn’t connect. After playing around with my settings, resetting SYNC 3, re-pairing, trying all sorts of Bluetooth apps, etc… I even set SYNC 3 to automatically update and made certain it could access my home network to do so. I finally got it mostly working by tweaking the antivirus settings. At least that’s what I think did it.
After some time, the problem resurfaced and I was unable to fix it. I then upgraded to the Galaxy S10+, though I still had the symptoms above. Some other things I noticed: trying to play songs off the phone without physically connecting the phone didn’t work (it originally did with the 2016 Fusion and Galaxy S5). I also noticed that the audio settings (treble, bass and midrange) changed to some random settings if the radio was off. If I turned the radio and then viewed the settings, they were the ones I had set! In order to make a call, I had to tell Google to dial it, and then change the audio output to speakerphone. Very annoying, as the quality was less than adequate.
But fear not! I found the solution! As I mentioned, SYNC 3 was set to auto update. However, that does not read or mean auto upgrade. I checked my SYNC 3 version and it said 2.0, and reported that I was at the most recent version. Lies! I checked the MySync website and saw that they were at version 3. I initially gave the benefit of doubt and thought they might mean SYNC 3, not Sync 3 version 3.0. That was an error on my part. So I downloaded version 3, only to be confused about how to install it. Withough doubling the size of this port, I’ll skip to the conclusion:
• Use a new Scandisk Cuzer 64GB USB stick, by default it should be formatted as FAT32. Don’t listen to those articles that say to use exFAT.
• Download SYNC 3 3.0 from MySync and copy the extracted files/folders to the USB stick
• Create a folder on the USB stick with the same name as the zip file you downloaded, and copy the same extracted files there (I’m not sure which one is used for the update, but this worked for me).
• Put the USB stick in your cars USB port and start your car, or put it in after your car. I found it makes no difference
• Your system will automatically start upgrading. The initial stage takes about 20 minutes. It then states to restart your car, but the system reboots and continues anyway. After about another 15 minutes, it says the update is complete and will take effect when you restart the car.
The above procedure corrected virtually all of the issues I was having! The only issues that remains is the random bass/treble/midrange setting that appears when the radio is off. I don’t even have to plug my phone in to listen to the music on my phone! Admittedly, I haven’t yet checked turning off the car’s Bluetooth function to see if it does without first disabling it first on the phone and restarting the car.
So basically, it all boiled down to the fact that the SYNC 3 auto update feature only UPDATES the currently installed version, and does not upgrade to the newest VERSION of SYNC 3. Poor programming!
I hope this helps you, and good luck!
It all started when I upgraded from the Galaxy S5 to the S8+ in my 2016 Ford Fusion. Things seemed to work, but then I ended up trading in the 2016 Fusion for a 2017 Fusion. All of a sudden, my phone had issues making calls using the car’s audio system. Radio worked, songs from my phone could be played (only when the phone was plugged in, though). If I tried making a call without attaching the phone, I was told that Bluetooth was downloading my contacts and I should wait. However, the system previously reported my contacts had finished downloading. At one point, I monitored my contacts and saw that they were downloaded….only to disappear moments later! If I was already on a call prior to starting the car, the audio system picked it up, but then I had problems playing the radio or disconnecting the call. I could hang up using the phone, but the car would think I was still connected. Again, I then couldn’t play any music (radio or from the phone). Also, I wasn’t able to stop the Bluetooth service without first disabling it on the phone, turning the car off for a while and then start it so the phone didn’t connect. After playing around with my settings, resetting SYNC 3, re-pairing, trying all sorts of Bluetooth apps, etc… I even set SYNC 3 to automatically update and made certain it could access my home network to do so. I finally got it mostly working by tweaking the antivirus settings. At least that’s what I think did it.
After some time, the problem resurfaced and I was unable to fix it. I then upgraded to the Galaxy S10+, though I still had the symptoms above. Some other things I noticed: trying to play songs off the phone without physically connecting the phone didn’t work (it originally did with the 2016 Fusion and Galaxy S5). I also noticed that the audio settings (treble, bass and midrange) changed to some random settings if the radio was off. If I turned the radio and then viewed the settings, they were the ones I had set! In order to make a call, I had to tell Google to dial it, and then change the audio output to speakerphone. Very annoying, as the quality was less than adequate.
But fear not! I found the solution! As I mentioned, SYNC 3 was set to auto update. However, that does not read or mean auto upgrade. I checked my SYNC 3 version and it said 2.0, and reported that I was at the most recent version. Lies! I checked the MySync website and saw that they were at version 3. I initially gave the benefit of doubt and thought they might mean SYNC 3, not Sync 3 version 3.0. That was an error on my part. So I downloaded version 3, only to be confused about how to install it. Withough doubling the size of this port, I’ll skip to the conclusion:
• Use a new Scandisk Cuzer 64GB USB stick, by default it should be formatted as FAT32. Don’t listen to those articles that say to use exFAT.
• Download SYNC 3 3.0 from MySync and copy the extracted files/folders to the USB stick
• Create a folder on the USB stick with the same name as the zip file you downloaded, and copy the same extracted files there (I’m not sure which one is used for the update, but this worked for me).
• Put the USB stick in your cars USB port and start your car, or put it in after your car. I found it makes no difference
• Your system will automatically start upgrading. The initial stage takes about 20 minutes. It then states to restart your car, but the system reboots and continues anyway. After about another 15 minutes, it says the update is complete and will take effect when you restart the car.
The above procedure corrected virtually all of the issues I was having! The only issues that remains is the random bass/treble/midrange setting that appears when the radio is off. I don’t even have to plug my phone in to listen to the music on my phone! Admittedly, I haven’t yet checked turning off the car’s Bluetooth function to see if it does without first disabling it first on the phone and restarting the car.
So basically, it all boiled down to the fact that the SYNC 3 auto update feature only UPDATES the currently installed version, and does not upgrade to the newest VERSION of SYNC 3. Poor programming!
I hope this helps you, and good luck!
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