Iphone question.

There are some prerequsites: (a) your Prius model must have a bluetooth audio capability. Not all models come that way. Check the panel in the car's display to see if there is a tab for BT (Bluetooth audio) when you click the audio button on the side of the display to turn it on. (b) your iPhone needs to be a model which has bluetooth (I have a iPhone4 which has - I believe the 3s do as well but I am not sure) and the bluetooth facility needs to be turned on, on the iPhone

Next you need to 'pair' the two together. That is done by putting the phone into 'discovery mode' so the car can find it. Putting it on the bluetooth screen which has been turned on should do it. Then in the car, depending on which model you have, go to the bluetooth option, find the phone and pair the two using "0000" as the code (or something like that if that does not work).

Now every time you turn on the car, if the iPhone bluetooth is turned on, it will automatically be connected.

The final part of the equation are your apps. If you have iOs 4 or below, your iPhone "ipod" app will play music through the car speaker. On iOs 5.0 and 5.0.1 its called the "Music App". For iOs 5 and 5.0.1 only, when you play the music app, the music "ID tags" will also display on the car display (but not iOs 4 or below). The tags will automatically advance with the music as long as you don't have tags where the field values are identical.

Other apps also have bluetooth ability to play audio - most notibly "Pandora" and "Skype" (the audio part). I also use TuneinRadio which streams live radio stations through bluetooth. Pandora & TuneinRadio (as long as the radio station supplies it) will display ID tags as well.

Remember that bluetooth audio is NOT the same as the bluetooth phone.

If your car does not have bluetooth audio and the option is too expensive to add through Toyota, then there could be a 3rd party enhancement though I don't know what it is (since I have the Toyota option) and someone else here will have to help out.

Joel

 

BT audio streaming is part of the nav system.

 

As joelirwin mentioned: BT-phone and BT-Audio are separate Services. They use different MAC adresses and PIN-codes (ie. I can connect my iPhone to BT-phone and the wifes iP to BT-Audio ! surprisingly it only works in the right connecting sequence( 1. phone 2. audio)
I own a EU Gen3 (Nav)
regards T

 

correct me if I'm wrong but I don't BT-Audio streaming is available on none nav JBL.

 

See post #3.

 

You can also do BT Audio Streaming on any Prius by adding the Blu Logic system. This also provides BT phone and BT audio, but not at the same quality level: it uses front speakers only.

 

For those not familiar with Bluetooth, the most important thing to remember is that Bluetooth is implemented by devices through the use of one or more 'protocols'. There are currently 29 agreed upon/standardized 'protocols'. So, for example, the protocol used to do communicate phone conversations and phone related data between mobile phone and cars kits is called "Hands Free Protocol" or HFP. Smartphones like iPhones and Droids have 'apps'. Some of these are standard apps provided with the phone such as the iPhone "Phone" app. Such apps will allow a smartphone user to communicate with the car through HFP by using microphones in the car and the car speakers to have a phone conversation (as these car devices are 'peripherals' to the car kit which has implemented HFP). However, there are also 3rd party apps that can also reside on the smartphone that can support Bluetooth through the HFP protocol - take the Skype app, for example. You can have a phone conversation using Skype the same way you can with the standard smartphone phone application. The important thing to remember is that SOFTWARE implements these 'protocols' - meaning that your app (whether it be the standard one or third party) must implement/support the matching protocol on the other end for there to be communication. So for example, while the recently announced "Bose Soundlink" battery operated speaker (which I own), has 'bluetooth' capability, the Skype app will not support this speaker (i.e., you can't use the Bose to play the voices in a phone conversation) since the Bose speaker does not support HFP.

The second bluetooth protocol of interest to us would be Advanced Audio Distribution or "A2DP". This profile defines how high quality audio (Stereo or mono) can be streamed from one device to another over a Bluetooth connection. For example, music can be streamed from a mobile phone, to a wireless headset, hearing aid & cochlear implant streamer, or car speakers.

In the Prius, if you purchase the navigation system (I think), you get an A2DP protocol implementation. This means on your audio screen you will see a tab for bluetooth audio. When you choose this tab, if you have a recognized smartphone and an A2DP supported app, then you will be able to stream audio to your car speakers. You will also see the ID tags if the app and phone support sending that information. On the iPhone, for example, the standard "iPod" (iOS 4) or "Music" (iOS 5) can stream music to the Prius. Similarly the "Pandora" app supports A2DP. Note also that smartphone A2DP implemented apps will stream to the Bose Soundlink speaker since that speaker supports A2DP (and not HFP).

This is a very brief introduction to the two basic Bluetooth protocols which have been implemented by the Prius (which implements some others but this is a good start). Remember that "Bluetooth support" does not mean that any bluetooth device can talk to any other - they have to both support the "protocol" in question which allows for specific types of communication and interchange.

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth_profile"]Bluetooth profile - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame] will provide a bit more detail and discussion of the 29 adopted bluetooth profiles.

 

A bit more information:
* Confirming that HFP protocol takes care of calling
* Confirming that A2DP takes care of high quality music playing (lower quality is HSP - HeadSet Profile)
* Another protocol, AVRCP, is needed for remote control of playback, and is also the protocol that potentially shows song name/artist etc. (T see song/artist, the phone/iPod needs AVRCP 1.3, which is available on iOS 5, and not at all on Android)

For what it is worth, Blu Logic supports calling and music/app play. It has no access to the head unit screen so you would not see song/artist info.