Bluetooth Does not connect with modern iPhones.

Jeepneyman

Why won't it work?

After a lot of research, I decided to step and go for TomTom Go Discover 7" rather than a Garmin set up. WHAT A MISTAKE! Sorry guys but judging by the hundreds of queries and comments on this theme (bluetooth won't connect with iPhone 11) its high time your technicians should have resolved this without any flickering or messing around. This forum isn't the easiest to use either!

This snag has been around for years and yet no clear responses from the top. I am so sad because my new kit was a gift from my wife. Sorry if no SOLID resolution by the time I awake tomorrow, the kit goes back for a full refund and real social media moan.

DougLap

Hi @Jeepneyman

In the IPhone settings go to the Personal Hotspot Setting and turn it On.
Go to Bluetooth in Settings
Turn on your GO Discover and go to Bluetooth in its Settings and Tap Add a Phone
Tap Go Discover at bottom of the Phone Bluetooth page when it shows it has seen the unit
Tap Pair On both Phone and TT unit when the requests appears.

At no time will you be asked for the Personal Hotspot Password but the option must be On along with the Bluetooth option when you are using the GO Discover.

Works on my IPhone 12 mini.

Doug

Elton

The Go Discover 7" is a fantastic piece of kit.
Connected via Bluetooth to my Apple Xr [hotspot on] it's absolutely the best satnav I have every owned.
My previous Go520 would not work behind my heated windscreen except in the corners which were far from ideal and impossible to change settings.
The Go Discover is particularly good navigating and routing through heavy roadworks with frequent [ever changing] queues. It's a joy to use. I'm still getting used to the colours used for routing but after 4-5 drives I'm liking it more and more.
Most complaints appear to be from users that have not set it up correctly with their phones rather than the unit itself ... persevere getting it right as the unit is very good indeed.

Jeepneyman

A sincere 'thanks' to DougLap who has restored my confidence in TomTom because my Go Discover is now working! It's truly a brilliant bit of kit, just as Elton attested too. Thank both of you for responding so quickly and helpfully. I was feeling quite defeated by the failures.

I can't help but wonder why TomTom haven't included this solution in the manual, which currently implies the headset requires either bluetooth or hotspot links. Given the warnings about hot-spot vulnerabilities, I reasoned Bluetooth was good enough especially as it had no problem 'seeing' the iPhone. I ought to have used my head and tried turning on the hotspot as an experiment. Oh well, c'est la vie!

Thank you again and my best wishes for your safe driving with TomTom!

DougLap

Hi @Jeepneyman

In the IPhone settings go to the Personal Hotspot Setting and turn it On.
Go to Bluetooth in Settings
Turn on your GO Discover and go to Bluetooth in its Settings and Tap Add a Phone
Tap Go Discover at bottom of the Phone Bluetooth page when it shows it has seen the unit
Tap Pair On both Phone and TT unit when the requests appears.

At no time will you be asked for the Personal Hotspot Password but the option must be On along with the Bluetooth option when you are using the GO Discover.

Works on my IPhone 12 mini.

Doug

Elton

The Go Discover 7" is a fantastic piece of kit.
Connected via Bluetooth to my Apple Xr [hotspot on] it's absolutely the best satnav I have every owned.
My previous Go520 would not work behind my heated windscreen except in the corners which were far from ideal and impossible to change settings.
The Go Discover is particularly good navigating and routing through heavy roadworks with frequent [ever changing] queues. It's a joy to use. I'm still getting used to the colours used for routing but after 4-5 drives I'm liking it more and more.
Most complaints appear to be from users that have not set it up correctly with their phones rather than the unit itself ... persevere getting it right as the unit is very good indeed.

Jeepneyman

A sincere 'thanks' to DougLap who has restored my confidence in TomTom because my Go Discover is now working! It's truly a brilliant bit of kit, just as Elton attested too. Thank both of you for responding so quickly and helpfully. I was feeling quite defeated by the failures.

I can't help but wonder why TomTom haven't included this solution in the manual, which currently implies the headset requires either bluetooth or hotspot links. Given the warnings about hot-spot vulnerabilities, I reasoned Bluetooth was good enough especially as it had no problem 'seeing' the iPhone. I ought to have used my head and tried turning on the hotspot as an experiment. Oh well, c'est la vie!

Thank you again and my best wishes for your safe driving with TomTom!

DougLap

Hi @Jeepneyman

Glad you are sorted.

Doug

HansV740

Even with mobile hotspot on, the Tomtom keeps flashing an error screen about bluetooth tethering not working. Then the screen disappears, says BT is connected, error screen reappears, etc. It goes on and on like that. The iPhone says the Tomtom is connected. The Mydrive app says there is an error in the connection. No updates available on either the Tomtom nor the iPhone…

IndigoJo

I'm having the same problem as HansV740 with my new Go Expert 7in which I bought yesterday. Will connect, but even with "personal hotspot" switched on, it keeps flashing up the "cannot connect Bluetooth tethering" error message and then flicking back to the Bluetooth devices list and then back to the error. I also have MyDrive Connect installed and it won't recognise that it's already connected; it just puts up the instructions and waits for me to follow them.

At the moment, my TomTom lists my phone as paired but not connected, while my phone (an iPhone 11) shows the sat-nav as connected.