When iphone is bluetooth connected to SYNC system SMS alerts are mute

[pcweber]

When i get in the car and the phone auto connects to SYNC the BT phone works perfect. I find I miss SMS text messages. Have realized it is because after I connect my phone no longer alerts audible.nor does the SYNC system. Any tips?

[KenZ]

When i get in the car and the phone auto connects to SYNC the BT phone works perfect. I find I miss SMS text messages. Have realized it is because after I connect my phone no longer alerts audible.nor does the SYNC system. Any tips?

 

Not sure if this addresses your exact situation....    You did not say if you were plugging in your phone to the USB for power purposes.

 

When you plug in your phone to the front USB port in the armrest, the phone thinks you are using the car audio system and pushes all the phone sounds thru the car audio system.  I don't see a way around this.   If you change your car audio source to USB - you will get the phone sounds thru the MKZ sound system.  So you have to listen to music off your phone - iheartradio, itunes, etc.   Plius the alert should pop up on the sync screen.  The BT phone works in this mode and will mute the music when you get a call, etc.

 

or

 

If you plug in your phone to one of the back seat USB ports, it doesn't know it is plugged into an audio system and the sounds will come off the phone itself as expected.  You will not get the alert on the sync screen, just on the phone.   It may also work that way with the USB port in the front bin.  But the port in the armrest definitely tells the phone it is connect to the car audio system. 

 

If you are not plugged in to the USB port, the text message sounds should still come thru the phone.

[JHVJXN]

Mine has never worked with an iPhone getting text messages. However when I've had an android it has worked with Sync

[KenZ]

Mine has never worked with an iPhone getting text messages. However when I've had an android it has worked with Sync

 

My 2013 MKZ with Sync 2 originally did not work with iPhone text messages.  About a year after I got the car, there was a Sync update that made it compatible with iPhone text messaging.   My 2017 with Sync3 also works with iPhone text messaging.

[pcweber]

not plugging the phone in, just allowing it to connect via Bluetooth to the system.

[pcweber]

I will also say if I choose the phone as the audio source via entertainment and listen to the mesic files from my phone or watch a youtube video and hear the audio via the SYNC system and get a text it will lower the music volume and play the SMS/ text alert sound. But if I am on FM radio the phone nor SYNC make any noise. Again, not plugging the phone in, just allowing it to connect via bluetooth.

[KenZ]

I will also say if I choose the phone as the audio source via entertainment and listen to the mesic files from my phone or watch a youtube video and hear the audio via the SYNC system and get a text it will lower the music volume and play the SMS/ text alert sound. But if I am on FM radio the phone nor SYNC make any noise. Again, not plugging the phone in, just allowing it to connect via bluetooth.

 

In this case, connected via BlueTooth and telling Sync to use the audio from the phone, it is the phone lowering it's audio and playing the it's (the phones) text alert thru the car audio.  The car actually is not doing anything.  When you have FM playing, the car audio is in control and ignoring sounds from the phone via Bluetooth - although you may be able to hear the text alert tone from the phone itself..  

 

If connected to the car via USB, the car sends an alert (quite a different tone) when a text is detected on the phone, places an alert message on the Sync screen and gives you the option of listening to the message via Sync or calling it up on the Sync screen.   Sometimes, it is quite funny to listen to the messages and the way the computer lady interprets some of the text.