How can I fix Wi-Fi and CarPlay issues on iPhone 17 Pro Max?

17 pro not working on my 2025 Subaru Forrester wilderness with wired CarPlay. Worked fine with my previous iPhone 13 Pro. Friend plugged her older iPhone in and it worked just fine. Definitely an issue with 17 pro.

Same here, iPhone air, both AirPlay and CarPlay unusable as both Bluetooth and WiFi are randomly turned off and back on. Easily replicable by just waking the screen / locking / waking the screen. Apple Watch not a factor for me.

I’m having the same exact issue. My iPhone 15 pro worked flawlessly with CarPlay as soon as I switch to iPhone 17 pro, it disconnects after 3-4 minutes. I did almost all the troubleshooting I could think of. I think it’s a device defect on some iPhone 17 pro’s. This is the first batch after all.

I’m using high quality cables too and my cars firmware is up to date. Works with all my phones other than the 17 pro max.

VPN fix doesn’t work for everyone. In fact, a bug has been found in the N1 chip which is causing all of this. See the Reddit post that has discussed all of this. I’d link to it but I don’t know if it’s allowed.

I’m starting to think it’s an issue with car play crashing. When I’m driving with just music playing it doesn’t seem to disconnect at all had this several times yesterday then today I drove for about 40 minutes just on the main screen music playing and the map just showing where I am not navigating anywhere then I tested by setting the nav to where I was going and within a minute it disconnected I then reconnected left the nav off and was fine for the next 20 minutes till I parked up

I’m having CarPlay freeze issues with a USB-C wired connection, so it’s not just a wireless carplay issue. iphone 17 Pro Max, IOS 26, 2019 Cadillac CT6, wired USB-C connection. CarPlay contually freezes and disconnects every 1-10 minutes. I did not have these issues with my iPhone 15 Pro Max running IOS 26.

I have both the wifi and carplay issues.

My 17 pro is setup with the same settings as my 13 pro.

• yes I use a VPN (tailscale) to connect to home from where ever I am
• Wifi speed is (most of the time) half of my 13 pro reaches, when running a speed test simultaneously
• wireless carplay stops after 2~5 minutes
• wired carplay does seem to work
• I have a 5th gen Apple Watch

In the nicest possible way, Mercedes (or any other maker) isn't going to do anything and will point at Apple, Apple will point at the car and that's about where it ends. (I hope it really is a software issue and Apple fixes it quickly since I depend on CarPlay for Maps).

I've got an Apple Watch (series 10) and iPhone 17 PM. In one car I have wireless CarPlay built in which crashes constantly and I haven't yet tested the wired mode. The other car is Wired only (but has a USB Wireless carplay thing which also seems to crash a lot, but wired mode seem to work without crashing, although limited to a 15 minute drive a couple of times).

I have the EXACT same issue with my 17 Pro Max. I have submitted it via feedback and hit a rerun message that’s it’s a know issue with more then 10 reports submitted. Still haven’t figured it out. Driving my crazy!!!

My only counterpoint that it IS a hardware issue- CarPlay worked perfectly

with my 15 Pro Max and IOS 26. Introduce my 17 Pro Max, and CarPlay freezes/reboots every few minutes- with a wired USB-C connection.

I had the same issue and what fixed it for me was switching to the official Beats/Apple cable. Some of the third-party ones I tried turned out to be charging-only and didn’t support data transfer, which is essential for CarPlay. Once I swapped to the proper cable everything worked fine.

I just purchased the iPhone standard, not the Pro Max, and I'm having the same issues with Apple CarPlay. It starts, stays on for a while, the screen goes blank, tells me it can't connect. I check the Bluetooth, and everything is fine, saying it's connected. I turn off my car; start the car. It works or doesn't work. Whatever mood it wants to be in. I've had the screen freeze as well, and nothing works by touch. The whole thing is annoying.

Update!

To 4. With the new wireless Carplay adapter i have a stable connection. Also the wired connection for mirror function on Ottocast adapter is working without freeze etc. Whats wrong Apple ???

To 5. Deleting all VPN apps/profiles and plug in again a cable for normal wired Carplay also no solution. Still crash and freezes all the time

I got the 17 pro on launch day. Quickly set it up as I had a road trip the very next day. I haven’t noticed wifi issues but it does disconnect from the wireless CarPlay very often and usually at the worse times when I needed the directions most.

I am actually trying to see if it’s a Bluetooth issue so listening to music via a bluetooth speaker to see but I believe it to be an issue with the iOS 26 update and CarPlay update that is causing the disconnect issues.

Hoping Apple has a software patch here shortly.

Yesterday Apple released iOS update 26.0.1 claiming to fix iPhone 17(series) WiFi issues along with some other iOS bugs but…it DID NOT fix the CarPlay WiFi instability. I tried turning off Auto-join networks after initiating CarPlay thinking that the disconnects may be happening because the phone was trying to connect to the home wifi but no improvements. I feel that it certainly has got to do with WiFi protocol.

I am in touch with Apple Support. They keep saying that it might be problem of the car device. My only counter is that my iPhone 13 on iOS 26 works perfectly and for that matter even iPhone SE 1st generation. I had purchased my device through pre-booking (which I would never do in future now) on Apple online store.

What should I do to get a working replacement or refund?