Cortana + connected to bluetooth receiver = no work

[dkp23]

Anybody having this issue. So i was in my car (parked not driving) and i wanted to get directions to somewhere just to test it out. So i hit the search button and hit the microphone button and says listening, i say my thing and it doesnt take. Now my phone is connected to my bluetooth receiver in my car. So after about 5 minutes of frustration, turning off cortona, resetting my phone, turning cortana back on, tried and still didnt' work.

So i decided to disconnect my receiver, but still have bluetooth on and tried, still didnt work. So i turned off bluetooth completely and it worked. I turned on bluetooth back on and it didnt work again. So i came to the conclusion that if your phone is connected to a bluetooth device (or just a bluetooth stereo receiver in my experience), cortana can not receive your voice input. Anybody else have this problem?

The weird thing was, when i came home and still had bluetooth on, but not connected to anything, cortana worked. For some reason when i disconnected my receiver in my car and still have bluetooth on, it didnt work so not sure what the difference is there.

What i do know is that when my phone is connected through bluetooth to the receiver, cortana could not take my voice commands. It just says listening and then turns off.

Anybody else?

 

[elyl]

Tested Cortana in my car, her voice came through the car speakers fine, and she heard what I said via the car's microphone just fine (my phone was in my bag in the back of the car).
No problems here. Lots of cars have different Bluetooth implementations, though, and some work better than others. This is not a new problem.

 

[JoaoCSM]

Tested Cortana in my car, her voice came through the car speakers fine, and she heard what I said via the car's microphone just fine (my phone was in my bag in the back of the car).
No problems here. Lots of cars have different Bluetooth implementations, though, and some work better than others. This is not a new problem.

My lumia 920's cortana also work well in my car. How did you activate cortana if the phone was in your bag?

 

[dkp23]

Tested Cortana in my car, her voice came through the car speakers fine, and she heard what I said via the car's microphone just fine (my phone was in my bag in the back of the car).
No problems here. Lots of cars have different Bluetooth implementations, though, and some work better than others. This is not a new problem.

Hmm, i had thought maybe cortana would go through my speakers as well and i just talk to my mic, but still didnt work. Tried putting the receiver in aux mode, bt audio mode, not sure what other modes. But didnt work.

how did you activate cortana hands free? dont you need to hit the search button and then the microphone btton?

 

[rgc6789]

Yep, I'm having the same issue. I drive a Kia Optima, who's software is Microsoft, but she can't hear me. Also, I was wondering if there was a way to by-pass the car's voice search for Cortana? The one thing I didn't try was to remove the pairing and set it up again to see if that helps.

 

[safesax2002]

how did you activate cortana hands free? dont you need to hit the search button and then the microphone btton?

You don't have to make it a 2-button press. Just hold the search button down for a couple seconds to activate Cortana.

To activate Cortana in your car without having your phone readily available, you would press your speak button or something similar. Just like pressing the button on a BT headset.

 

[alvarezjpr]

I'm having issues also in my car. I have a 2013 VW Jetta and before wp8.1 I had no problems. Now the car system voice (not Cortana) doesn't recognize my command for making a call and tells me to try different commands blah, blah , blah. The other thing is that when I receive a text, Cortana comes up through the system just fine and asks me if I want the text read or ignore it. Here it follows my commands with no problem. My guess is that the problem is a combination of wp8.1/Cortana and maybe the car not having the firmware to deal with Cortana. Any suggestions or ideas will be greatly appreciated.

Edit: Ok, working now. Forgot that I did a clean install of wp8.1 and i did not download the phonebook to the car the first time I paired the phone after it. What an *****!

 

[brandon_powell]

Go to your Bluetooth settings and tap advanced. Then check the box that says something like "use alternative Bluetooth connection" once I did that's mine worked fine.

 

[alvarezjpr]

Go to your Bluetooth settings and tap advanced. Then check the box that says something like "use alternative Bluetooth connection" once I did that's mine worked fine.

I actually have that option checked because that's how it worked pre-wp8.1.....I'm actually going to check tomorrow what happens if I deselect the option....

 

[Lost_Cosmonaut]

Cortana was awesome in my SYNC-equipped Raptor today. Every time I got a text message she popped over my speaker and asked if I wanted it read to me, and then have me the option of replying, no fuss no muss. Really impressed.

 

[zomechin]

I noticed that while using my Jambox bluetooth speaker Cortana's voice recognition is significantly lower in quality. She almost gets everything wrong.

 

[Sean McDougall]

Hi, I have noticed exactly the same problem with Cortland and my TomTom hands free car kit since upgrading to Windows Phone 8.1 developers preview.

History: bought the car kit and note that it worked perfectly with my Nokia 525 running Windows Phone 8. For instance, I could press the menu button to trigger voice commands, then say "phone Joe Brown mobile" or "start Co-Pilot". Both would work fine. Call quality was great. I could speak as normal from my usual driving position,

Since upgrading to Windows Phone 8.1 it is as if the microphone has been completely degraded. Pressing the menu button does activate Cortana, but the only way to get a response after that is to lean right into the microphone and SPEAK LOUD AND SLOW. When Cortana responds, she sounds very quiet and the crackle is like she is using a walkie-talkie from 10 miles away. She then gets it wrong nine out of ten times.

By contrast, Cortana is GREAT when the phone is being used away from the car. For instance, "Next time I am home remind me to water the garden", "Wake me up at 7am tomorrow" or "Play some rock music". It also understands "Drive home", opening Co-Pilot automatically.

I am also hearing the kind of dit,dit,dit interference that old phones produce when positioned next to speakers. This never happened pre-upgrade.

To clarify: clicking "Choose an alternative Bluetooth connection method" makes no difference.

Speculations:
- Microsoft and TomTom need to replicate the problem
- Hopefully it is fixable via a Bluetooth option rather than a firmware upgrade and new cradle purchase.

 

[go1020]

Having similar issues: I can talk to my car through the in-built system and call numbers, but when I long press search to activate Cortana, she doesn't get any of it. Looks like she's not receiving any input.

Update: I opted for the option under advanced Bluetooth settings and Cortana can hear me over car's Bluetooth when I launch her through the phone. Unfortunately my car does not support press and hold to activate her.

There is a firmware upgrade available though (called Siri eyes free) for my 2013 Honda Accord. Not sure if it will work with Windows Phone - I hope it does.

 

[Garrymp]

Anybody having this issue. So i was in my car (parked not driving) and i wanted to get directions to somewhere just to test it out. So i hit the search button and hit the microphone button and says listening, i say my thing and it doesnt take. Now my phone is connected to my bluetooth receiver in my car. So after about 5 minutes of frustration, turning off cortona, resetting my phone, turning cortana back on, tried and still didnt' work.

So i decided to disconnect my receiver, but still have bluetooth on and tried, still didnt work. So i turned off bluetooth completely and it worked. I turned on bluetooth back on and it didnt work again. So i came to the conclusion that if your phone is connected to a bluetooth device (or just a bluetooth stereo receiver in my experience), cortana can not receive your voice input. Anybody else have this problem?

The weird thing was, when i came home and still had bluetooth on, but not connected to anything, cortana worked. For some reason when i disconnected my receiver in my car and still have bluetooth on, it didnt work so not sure what the difference is there.

What i do know is that when my phone is connected through bluetooth to the receiver, cortana could not take my voice commands. It just says listening and then turns off.

Anybody else?

I have the exact same problem. Same symptoms. That is why I am here. I have an Icon. Interestingly, I have had the same problem trying to use Cortana in my work van that does not have Bluetooth. I jack the phone into the auxiliary input to the radio. That worked fine with my old Droid but not Cortana. I've been wondering if the focus of the microphones is canceling me out as noise? Cortana works great when I'm not in a car. Have you found out anything useful?

 

[rickhan]

Same problem with my BlueAnt ST-3 and my 2007 Camry. Sometimes it hears me, but doesn't even remotely recognize any contact name that I want to call.
Old version worked very well for hands free calling.

 

[Mac Johnston]

I am having similar issues with Cortana and not being able to have her hear me via Bluetooth. Now I can no longer stream music as my stereo only allows me to connect for voice. Anyone having this issue?

 

[go1020]

Update: I opted for the option under advanced Bluetooth settings and Cortana can hear me over car's Bluetooth when I launch her through the phone. Unfortunately my car does not support press and hold to activate her.

There is a firmware upgrade available though (called Siri eyes free) for my 2013 Honda Accord. Not sure if it will work with Windows Phone - I hope it does.

 

[RoarinRow]

Over the last 2 days I notice that my car receiver connects to my phone as if it is on a call. When I start the car, the stereo picks up the phone, then silence. No music from my stereo. It shows me a screen on the stereo that it is connected to the phone and the timer is on as if I'm on a call. I click X to cancel on the stereo screen, then I hear music for the first time. Then when I am driving, the cell phone icon blinks again as if I have a call on hold or something. Very strange.

As far as Cortana, It does work about 80% of the time, meaning it understands what I am saying. Other times I have to repeat myself, yelling, 'read it!' or 'send it!'.

 

[thinkzig]

I have a Clarion CX501 receiver and a Lumia Icon. I can only engage Cortana by hitting the search button on the phone then clicking the microphone. There is no button on the receiver that automatically turns on Cortana, unfortunately.

That said, here's the trick I've finally figured out to get Cortana to hear me via the bluetooth mic once I've hit the search button on the phone.

1.) Click the Microphone button.

2.) Note that the screen say listening.

3.) Look at your receiver. In my case, there is like a 5 second delay or so, and the receiver acts like it is making a call, but the call is to my Icon.

4.) After that 5 seconds or so, I'll see a timer start counting on my receiver like I'm actually on a call, and I'll hear a beep in the speakers.

5.) If I speak once I'm on the fake "call" to my own phone, then Cortana can hear me.

Not sure if this will work for everyone, but it's worth a shot.

Good luck.

 

[wackykhaki]

Similar issues. If my phone (Samsung) is locked I cannot launch Cortana from my phone through voice by pressing my Bluetooth speaker button (although I could do it prior to my 8.1 upgrade). However, if my phone is unlocked, voice works fine and Cortana can hear my instructions without launching from my phone. Why should it make any difference whether my phone is locked or not?