I have a 2018 Ford Fusion Energi that purchased new updated through years (including dealer upgrade 3g to 4g modem) and on latest sync update from Ford. Trouble I had 7 months ago was voice guidance when navigating would stutter and even stop at times making very annoying experience.
In frustration and seeing the newer 3.4 version of sync I figured it was time to update sync system to 3.4.150 (I think) and all went off perfectly and cured speech issues. At some point it seems the system self updated and went to 3.4.22110 but I started noticing the Fordpass and mobile phone apps had trouble connecting with Bluetooth and stopped even working.
I looked in system settings and now notice on mobile app tab enable mobile apps toggle grey and can only enable over USB. Don’t know why so figured I would update Sync to newest version on Cyan lab 3.4.22251 but issue remains even after 2 master resets in general tab.
Any reasons for this to happen? Not sure if this is normal as I could have sworn I could enable toggle before way back when, maybe can correct with Forscan? Something evil on Ford side since I also updated maps back 6 months ago and Ford sent “kill pill” to disable that and fordpass connectivity? Any insight would be awesome as this drives me crazy!
As far as I know, mobile apps depends on the phone really.
BUT, Ford is determined to kill them all.
So the higher the build you install the most issues you will have with those apps.
If you want them back, you can install 3.3 or an early 3.4 to see how they behave.
If you want to stay at a lower build, you need to disable auto updates.
So that is a normal thing then? I tried to use the ford alexa app it it does not connect which I know button would have to work to enable. Even the fordpass will not connect car to phone directly is that also planned?
Try what I’ve said, going back to a previous Sync3 version (without changing other components) is really easy. If it’s related to the Sync3 version, something will change for the better.
This appeared a few revisions ago and is intended. As @SaNdMaN has stated, Ford has begun to phase out the AppLink function and rely on developers to support (or not) Sync 3, just as they do for Sync 4. This is obviously not the best decision for the Sync 3 owners, but that’s what we’ve got. There is nothing in FORScan to fix this, it’s a Ford side thing.
The Alexa app and FordPass should work as long as the phone is paired via BT and the apps are launched on the phone. That’s the theory…
Since you have a 2018 Ford Fusion Energi you can just turn off automatic updates. You are probably not eleigible for map updates and since you updated to Sync 3.4 there will be no updates, since your vehicle is not eligible for those. Ford does not send kill pills, by the way…
If you need the latest maps you can use the Syn3 Updater to do that.
Edit: from Frankpjr below…
So I am currently at the 3.4.22251 sync 3 version and I tried to use the ford Alexa app and would not connect but I noticed that app was not up to date on phone. I updated the app and then tried connecting to car and low and behold it asked on sync screen did I want to enable app connection and soon as I did I now see the apps button in mobile apps tab is no longer gray and is now active. I disconnected app and toggle still “on”.
So, it does seem it still works through Bluetooth and toggle no longer “grayed out” on sync screen, maybe this would help others.
So I am currently at the 3.4.22251 sync 3 version and I tried to use the ford Alexa app and would not connect but I noticed that app was not up to date on phone. I updated the app and then tried connecting to car and low and behold it asked on sync screen did I want to enable app connection and soon as I did I now see the apps button in mobile apps tab is no longer gray and is now active. I disconnected app and toggle still “on”.
So it does seem it still works through bluetooth and toggle no longer “grayed out” on sync screen, maybe this would help others.
Thank you for the feedback, that’s consistent with my opening message that “mobile apps depend on the phone really”, makes sense an outdated app having issues.
But remember Ford is killing that integration, if you ran into issues it’s worth trying going back to earlier Sync3 versions to see how things were.