How does the CX-5 handle multiple paired Bluetooth phones?

[133642]

My fiance and I are looking to buy a CX-5 Touring within the next week or two.

The dealer wasn't too clear when I asked this question, but maybe somewhere here knows first-hand...

How does the CX-5 handle multiple paired Bluetooth phones? For example, we each have an iPhone (I have a 4s and she has a 5c). If we were both in the car, what does it do? Does one phone take priority over the other or does it accept incoming calls from both? How does it decide which phone to play audio from? Any and all information would be greatly appreciated

 

[danieljw]

I have had multiple devices, including phones and tablets, paired but never needed to use them simultaneously. I suggest just going to the dealer, sitting in the exact CX-5 you're considering buying, pair both phones, and see what happens. I did this in every car I drove before buying the CX-5. It's no big deal to add/delete devices from car BT interfaces.

 

[deepfriedsushi]

The car's default automatic pairing is to pair with the device it last paired with. Not the first device on it's device paired list. So if the iphone 4s was the last phone it was connected to, it will connect with that one (for both phone and audio/music functions), when both the iphone 4 and 5c are present.

However, you can simultaneously use up to two devices, but for different functions. One device would be selected for only phone use (voice calls/text messages) and the other device would be used for audio/music streaming. This can be selected in the phone settings menu when both devices are in the car.

 

[trucx]

What he said I have a personal and a work phone and was hoping to have them both connected for calls like I do with my bluetooth headset, unfortunately only one at a time which you can see and change which one is selected from the bluetooth menu. As mentioned your audio streaming device and phone call device can be different.

 

[VictorZZZ]

you can't have two devices connected at the same time for the same function.

the audio system does two things: phone call and audio streaming.

you can have one phone connected for phone, and another phone connected for streaming audio. This works and I do it often. You just click on the bluetooth setup and you have a menu pop up where you can select the other phone you paired with.

But obviously you can't have two phones using the mic and speakers to call at the same time.

 

[133642]

Thanks for all the replies. It seems this is the standard for most cars with Bluetooth.

Just a few more questions:
1) Does the head unit display song information when playing through bluetooth audio? What about album art (not a big deal but something I've gotten used to with my 2012 Honda Civic)?
2) Are you able to playback audio from any iphone app as long as it's bluetooth compatible? For example: YouTube, Spotify, etc.
3) This might be a longshot, but has anyone had experience streaming music via iTunes Match from their iPhone? I have an iPod I plan to connect via USB, but this would be my backup plan until those issues (the loading and resuming playback issue everyone seems to be unhappy about) are resolved via the 'upcoming' update.

 

[ErgoZoom]

Thanks for all the replies. It seems this is the standard for most cars with Bluetooth.

Just a few more questions:
1) Does the head unit display song information when playing through bluetooth audio? What about album art (not a big deal but something I've gotten used to with my 2012 Honda Civic)?
2) Are you able to playback audio from any iphone app as long as it's bluetooth compatible? For example: YouTube, Spotify, etc.
3) This might be a longshot, but has anyone had experience streaming music via iTunes Match from their iPhone? I have an iPod I plan to connect via USB, but this would be my backup plan until those issues (the loading and resuming playback issue everyone seems to be unhappy about) are resolved via the 'upcoming' update.

1) Yes to info. No to artwork.
2) Yes. I do it all the time because I like LouderLogic as my music shuffler. Anything that can direct to Bluetooth streaming (phone-side) can use it. The HU doesn't care what the source is.
3) Yes. iTunes Match will work if you have a stable data connection. The HU doesn't care what the source is on bluetooth and the iPhone Audio utility player regards iTunes Match as just another repository of music.

 

[133642]

1) Yes to info. No to artwork.
2) Yes. I do it all the time because I like LouderLogic as my music shuffler. Anything that can direct to Bluetooth streaming (phone-side) can use it. The HU doesn't care what the source is.
3) Yes. iTunes Match will work if you have a stable data connection. The HU doesn't care what the source is on bluetooth and the iPhone Audio utility player regards iTunes Match as just another repository of music.

I like what I hear! Thank you ErgoZoom!

 

[danieljw]

I like what I hear! Thank you ErgoZoom!

Two small things:

First, album art over bluetooth hasn't been implemented anywhere yet, so don't count that as a negative against Mazda.

Second, about your second question, yes bluetooth will stream from any app that uses A2DP but don't always count on song metadata (song/artist/album) to be displayed properly. This depends on whether AVRCP from the app side is done properly. It can be intermittent.

 

[RedBaron]

OK, another general BT question... I just replaced my Mazda radio with a Kenwood. The new radio only lets you +/- the tracks, or up/down through the folders, one at a time. But does not let you "browse" the folders/tracks as lists.

Does the Mazda radio let you do that? Or is that not supported by any BT device?

 

[ErgoZoom]

I have never seen any BT HU allow you to browse through folders as a list. There isn't a list protocol in the bluetooth's AVCTP (control) or AVDTP (streaming) connection. If it treated it like a file/folder (so not audio streaming) with OBEX it could but I've never seen a HU treat the BT device like that.

 

[danieljw]

I have never seen any BT HU allow you to browse through folders as a list. There isn't a list protocol in the bluetooth's AVCTP (control) or AVDTP (streaming) connection. If it treated it like a file/folder (so not audio streaming) with OBEX it could but I've never seen a HU treat the BT device like that.

Yep.

 

[RedBaron]

OK, thanks to you both!

 

[chuyler1]

The car's default automatic pairing is to pair with the device it last paired with. Not the first device on it's device paired list. So if the iphone 4s was the last phone it was connected to, it will connect with that one (for both phone and audio/music functions), when both the iphone 4 and 5c are present.

However, you can simultaneously use up to two devices, but for different functions. One device would be selected for only phone use (voice calls/text messages) and the other device would be used for audio/music streaming. This can be selected in the phone settings menu when both devices are in the car.

I've got a 2013 CX-9 which I think uses the same software as the 2014 CX-5. I tried having two devices connected, an iPhone for phone functions and an iPod touch for audio.

Does it work? Yes.

Does it remember your preferences after you restart the car? No.

Every time I power cycled the car it would try to play music from my phone even though both were connected. I had to go into the BT menu and turn off the phone for audio and turn on the iPod for music. I tried it 3 times and gave up. I was hoping BT would be a solution for the issues with the USB/iPod connection not automatically resuming playback but no such luck.

 

[2015cx5sport]

I'm trying to get one phone to automatically connect for audio streaming, and the other to connect for phone calls. It always connects to one phone for both. Any settings I can change in the car or on the phones to help with this?

 

[esym]

As mentioned before, on startup, the previous phone is selected automatically for both phone and audio. And it starts playing automatically even if you don't have the music app running on your phone. If you change the setting to phone only, it will revert back to both on the next startup.

The system seems to default to the FM radio if no other source is present, so I'm using a little FM Transmitter/Bluetooth receiver to just play audio thru the system.

 

[Nelson de Leon]

I'm trying to get one phone to automatically connect for audio streaming, and the other to connect for phone calls. It always connects to one phone for both. Any settings I can change in the car or on the phones to help with this?

So you want 2 phones to connect simultaneously to a single Bluetooth stock Mazda receiver?