UPDATE: it’s been shared that turning off the internet access toggle in the expressVPN app’s network settings menu fixes the CarPlay connectivity problem, among other playback issues.
ORIGINAL POST: After upgrading to ios16, CarPlay would no longer connect while express vpn was connected. This issue was present in my iPhone XS after updating to 16 and is still present in my 14 pro.
When upgrading my iPhone XS to a 14pro and working through the new device setup workflow, expressvpn entered an endless loop of connecting and disconnecting preventing any Wi-Fi or cellular connection from establishing and preventing my backup file from downloading from iCloud to my new phone. When opening the settings app you could even see the vpn toggle animating back and forth on its own from connecting to disconnected. It required me to entirely remove the app from the “vpn and device management” section in settings to resolve.
While troubleshooting and searching for an answer I found others having similar problems but never with a clear statement of the root cause. I share this to make these bugs known to the development team and to other users experiencing these issues. Hopefully this helps someone out there. Happy to share more details about my experience here.
never used CarPlay but maybe it’s a LAN thing, there is a toggle in EV settings to allow/disallow local network usage when VPN is connected.
I did encounter all internet traffic dead issue but I did not notice the VPN switch in settings, initially I restarted the device to overcome it, but then I found all you need to do is try a VPN connection then it will come back to sense.
I just updated to iOS 16 and always have my vpn on. Never had an issue with CarPlay until the update. Contacted apple who said that my vpn prevents them from logging my data, so some apple features will be unavailable to me. They didn’t view it as a glitch. Seems like a feature they wanted included in the now iOS. My CarPlay is a black screen now unless I turn my vpn off.
Same issue here with my 12 and 14 after updating to iOS 16. Car won’t even recognize my phone with express VPN is on. Disconnecting the VPN doesn’t even work. I have to manually remove it entirely from my phone in the iPhone settings menu.
Thank you so much for this! Just this morning I began to wonder if it was expired vpn causing the problem and searched this to see if other had this issue too
So pissed I had to figure this out on my own. It’s been 5 months CarPlay wouldn’t work unless I turned my phone off and back on. I assume long enough to bypass EVPN from enabling yet.
Express should explicitly state these issues up front.
Super helpful. Thank you! I literally just got rid of my 13pro and got 14pro because of this. It has been driving be totally insane.
Much appreciation for your explanation.
For me CarPlay works when I turn off my express VPN. It will stay connected when I turn my vpn back on, but carplay will disconnect after a couple of minutes of me turning my vpn back on.
I’m having the exact same experience with my CarPlay and ExpressVPN. They replied to someone on Twitter and said they are aware of the issue so hopefully we will have a fix soon. I’m the meantime I guess we will just have to turn the vpn off in the car.