Facelift No Sim Card on phone when connected to MMi via Bluetooth

[AntneeC]

Hi everyone

I picked up my brand new S3 Black Edition on Friday last week. I have the Tech Pack, so the Audi Connect services included for three years.

I have my Google Pixel 3 hooked up via Bluetooth to the MMI, and was playing some music over Spotify that wasn't downloaded to my phone. It only played two tracks, then went back to the first.

My wife took the phone out of the arm rest and looked at it, and there was no SIM found. My phone has NEVER said that.

Fast forward to this morning, and it's done it again. No SIM. I disconnected the Bluetooth from the MMI and it came back.

Now, when I paired the device, it asked if I wanted to use the SIM in my phone for the Audi Connect services, which I don't; the car has an embedded SIM for that already, right? I just want to use my SIM for whatever my phone is doing; making phone calls, receiving texts, streaming music etc.

Does anyone have any advice? I've had a look through the Bluetooth connection manager and nothing stands out. I'm hoping that someone has had the same problem and knows what I'm doing wrong.

Incidentally, I haven't added my own SIM to the MMI, and I haven't got the internal WiFi connected. I'm just trying to use my own SIM in my phone to download data to my phone, then use Bluetooth to transmit to the car.

Thanks all

 

[AlS3BE]

Sounds like you have RSAP enabled on your phone. Try turning it off on the phone.
RSAP is a remote sim over Bluetooth and essentially transfers the whole sim functionality over to the MMI and removes its from your phone without you having to remove the sim from the phone.

 

[AntneeC]

Thanks, AlS3BE, that makes sense. I can't see a way to disable rSAP, but I suspect that when I connected the phone, when the MMI asked if I wanted to use my phone for Audi Connect services, that it was probably in saying "no" that the MMI was authorised to take over from the phone's internal SIM?

The weird thing is that I've only spotted it happen a couple of times, even though I've been out in the car a few times with the phone connected. It's almost like it takes a short while before something decides to do this.

It's a bit frustrating, though. I don't want my phone's data to be sucked up by the car, and I don't want to have to get another SIM for the MMI, but by the same token I kinda need my phone's SIM to work

 

[AlS3BE]

The setting I would guess will be within Bluetooth profile or something like that.
RSAP has its benefits as something like the MMI will have internet access and use your sim and share your data across the Wi-fi. The Audi connect services can use the data too as previous generations of the MMI didn’t have a built in data sim.
Annoying thing about it is the way it takes over the sim. If you get a normal text messages it will go to the MMI and there will be no record of it on the phone. Doesn’t work with the online type messages as well.
You shouldn’t need a separate SIM card for your MMI as the new one has one built in sim to handle this and the only useful thing is online traffic.
Try googling how to turn it off. I’m a iPhone user so don’t have that problem.

 

[AntneeC]

I'm gonna try repairing from scratch and see if there was an option that I agreed to that I shouldn't have. Just reading up and it sounds like it may not be able to use my phone book if rSAP is disabled. I guess as long as I can use the Google Assistant still, I should be OK.

Thanks again. At least I have something to look at now

 

[AntneeC]

I've reconnected the phone from scratch. The MMI did ask me a question that, like a moron, I forgot to note down. But I selected the option that I think that I didn't select on Friday. A couple of minutes later my wife called me and it came through fine. After the call my Spotify continued to play, too. Maybe that's it. I should re-pair it again later and take a note of the option in case it trips anyone else up, too. Searching both in the forum and on Google didn't yield any answers for me, so hopefully this will help someone else, one day

 

[AlS3BE]

I've reconnected the phone from scratch. The MMI did ask me a question that, like a moron, I forgot to note down. But I selected the option that I think that I didn't select on Friday. A couple of minutes later my wife called me and it came through fine. After the call my Spotify continued to play, too. Maybe that's it. I should re-pair it again later and take a note of the option in case it trips anyone else up, too. Searching both in the forum and on Google didn't yield any answers for me, so hopefully this will help someone else, one day

My mate had an android phone a while ago on the a6 and it was when you connected the phone to the MMI the phone asks if you want remote access or something along those lines. It’s wasn’t in the MMI.
Saying that the older a6 had the last generation of the MMI that didn’t have the built in sim.

 

[AntneeC]

It was something like that, yeah. I'll re-pair it later and grab a photo if I can. Not that photos come out well...

 

[cuke2u]

All my android phones have never asked to be used for remote access with any Audi that has connect with a inbuilt Sim card. I guess this is why older generation mmi's without a Sim do...

 

[AntneeC]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This is the first Audi I've ever owned, and apart from a Kenwood system that I had in a Mk1 Seat Leon Cupra R, I've never even had Bluetooth in a car. I'm on the latest version of Android, what with the phone being the latest Pixel generation, and the car is 3 days old, so it has the latest software...

Seems to be working OK now, though

 

[AlS3BE]

All my android phones have never asked to be used for remote access with any Audi that has connect with a inbuilt Sim card. I guess this is why older generation mmi's without a Sim do...

Not all android phones has RSAP.
Think Samsung phases it out in the last few years as car tech has got a bit smarter especially now with CarPlay and android auto.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

the car is 3 days old, so it has the latest software...

I wouldn’t bank on that
My experience with Audi’s is it gets shipped out the door working not necessarily with the latest software. Latest doesn’t always mean best either. Like all software new releases fixes a problem but can create new problems.

 

[AntneeC]

I'll check the versions. I'm sure the dealership said that they'd updated it.

 

[cuke2u]

Not all android phones has RSAP.
Think Samsung phases it out in the last few years as car tech has got a bit smarter especially now with CarPlay and android auto.



I wouldn’t bank on that
My experience with Audi’s is it gets shipped out the door working not necessarily with the latest software. Latest doesn’t always mean best either. Like all software new releases fixes a problem but can create new problems.

Absolutely correct, cars never ship with the latest software or even the maps...