RNS315 Bluetooth Music Issue

[michaelthomson1]

Hi everyone, I've recently taking ownership of a 2014 Passat Executive. An amazing car so far, its fitted with the rns315 which connects to my phone no problem, can make calls ect, but it has a problem playing my music, some days it'll work no problem and play just fine but turn the car off to pop into the shops and come back and it won't work? Can sometimes sit for 30mins before a journey trying to make the music play, does anyone have a fix for this, is it a common problem? Any helps much appreciated

Thanks

[SAABDude]

I have exactly the same problem re the bluetooth connection for media / audio. Phone connection for calls and contacts is fine but media audio mostly won't keep the connection (when it does connect the audio and track control functionality are all fine including steering wheel controls). So the basic bluetooth connection works - just intermittently. Seems to mainly affect Samsung phone / RNS315 combination in my 2014 Passat Exec. I have an old Nokia Lumia 735 which connects fine. But 2 of my recent Samsungs have both struggled in the same way (tried the usual deleting the bluetooth pairing and re-creating but no permanent fix). The same Samsungs have no problem connecting their media audio to other bluetooth devices (bluetooth speakers for example). Would love to find a proper fix.

[SAABDude]

I think I might have found a solution for this - not perfect but seems to do the trick (at last). As mentioned before, whenever I got into the car with a Samsung phone, (latest is A52 5G on Android 12 but seems to be any Samsung I've tried) it would connect straight away for calls and contacts no problem - totally reliable. However the connection for media audio has always been hit and miss (90% miss to be honest). When you try to move the slider on the phone (under bluetooth settings for that particular bluetooth pairing) for the media audio to the right to select it (it was normally unselected despite being connected ok for calls and contacts), it just bounced straight back to the left - i.e. not making or holding the connection for media audio - very frustrating. Nothing I seemed to do on any Samsung phones made a lasting difference. I could use an old Nokia 735 and that would connect perfectly first time, every time - so clearly the VW bluetooth had everything needed for calls and media audio (a common query re exact hardware in the car). The Samsungs would also connect no problem to other bluetooth devices - earphones, speakers etc. so there didn't seem to be any major issue with the bluetooth on the Samsungs. That only leaves one possibility - some small incompatibility between Samsung phones BT and VW BT that stops them auto-pairing for the media audio, but only the media audio - thus bugger all chance of ever finding a total fix unless Samsung or VW decides to investigate (not holding my breath for that one....). Anyway - to the "solution" - which seems to be working 100% for me - over the last week anyway (which is 100% better than previously).

1. Turn on the ignition and the VW stereo / headunit (RNS315 in my case).
2. Make sure phone and VW are bluetooth paired as normal - no need to delete or re-pair (as is often suggested as a fix) if the calls and contacts connection is ok (or just re-pair if not sure). You should see confirmation of the connection in the MFD in the centre of the dashboard.
3. Turn off bluetooth on the phone - down swipe on the home screen should show the BT logo - just hold it for a couple of seconds to turn BT off on the phone.
4. You should now see a message in the MFD telling you there is no phone connection.
5. Now turn on bluetooth on the phone – just press once on the BT icon again. That should bring up a list of all BT devices that your phone is paired with (VW, headphones, speakers etc.).
6. Select your VW connection (mine is just called VW Phone).
7. In a second or two, the phone will say it is connected for Phone and Contacts and then a second or two later it confirms it is connected for Media Audio too!! They seem to confirm separately which might give a clue that it is 2 separate processes going on and thus how it is possible that one can work ok but not the other.
8. The BT connection seems to be stable from thereon – for calls, contacts and media audio – until next time the phone is disconnected from BT / the car.
9. All phone media audio is then routed via the car / speakers including music apps, sat nav (I tried Google maps) etc.. So perfect including partial music muting when Sat Nav voice output was active.
10. So once you’ve confirmed that this works, the only thing you need to do each time you get in the car (or want media audio) is to turn the phone BT off then on again and select the VW BT connection on the phone. Then just select BT as the audio in option on the headunit.
Hope this works for others too – let me know. Cheers.

[Terailover]

Thanks so much for this. Excellent answer to an issue I've had since I bought my Passat a few years ago.
Well done!

I think I might have found a solution for this - not perfect but seems to do the trick (at last). As mentioned before, whenever I got into the car with a Samsung phone, (latest is A52 5G on Android 12 but seems to be any Samsung I've tried) it would connect straight away for calls and contacts no problem - totally reliable. However the connection for media audio has always been hit and miss (90% miss to be honest). When you try to move the slider on the phone (under bluetooth settings for that particular bluetooth pairing) for the media audio to the right to select it (it was normally unselected despite being connected ok for calls and contacts), it just bounced straight back to the left - i.e. not making or holding the connection for media audio - very frustrating. Nothing I seemed to do on any Samsung phones made a lasting difference. I could use an old Nokia 735 and that would connect perfectly first time, every time - so clearly the VW bluetooth had everything needed for calls and media audio (a common query re exact hardware in the car). The Samsungs would also connect no problem to other bluetooth devices - earphones, speakers etc. so there didn't seem to be any major issue with the bluetooth on the Samsungs. That only leaves one possibility - some small incompatibility between Samsung phones BT and VW BT that stops them auto-pairing for the media audio, but only the media audio - thus bugger all chance of ever finding a total fix unless Samsung or VW decides to investigate (not holding my breath for that one....). Anyway - to the "solution" - which seems to be working 100% for me - over the last week anyway (which is 100% better than previously).

1. Turn on the ignition and the VW stereo / headunit (RNS315 in my case).
2. Make sure phone and VW are bluetooth paired as normal - no need to delete or re-pair (as is often suggested as a fix) if the calls and contacts connection is ok (or just re-pair if not sure). You should see confirmation of the connection in the MFD in the centre of the dashboard.
3. Turn off bluetooth on the phone - down swipe on the home screen should show the BT logo - just hold it for a couple of seconds to turn BT off on the phone.
4. You should now see a message in the MFD telling you there is no phone connection.
5. Now turn on bluetooth on the phone – just press once on the BT icon again. That should bring up a list of all BT devices that your phone is paired with (VW, headphones, speakers etc.).
6. Select your VW connection (mine is just called VW Phone).
7. In a second or two, the phone will say it is connected for Phone and Contacts and then a second or two later it confirms it is connected for Media Audio too!! They seem to confirm separately which might give a clue that it is 2 separate processes going on and thus how it is possible that one can work ok but not the other.
8. The BT connection seems to be stable from thereon – for calls, contacts and media audio – until next time the phone is disconnected from BT / the car.
9. All phone media audio is then routed via the car / speakers including music apps, sat nav (I tried Google maps) etc.. So perfect including partial music muting when Sat Nav voice output was active.
10. So once you’ve confirmed that this works, the only thing you need to do each time you get in the car (or want media audio) is to turn the phone BT off then on again and select the VW BT connection on the phone. Then just select BT as the audio in option on the headunit.
Hope this works for others too – let me know. Cheers.