Wondering how to connect iPhone to Pioneer Bluetooth, keep reading!
To connect an iPhone to an older Pioneer radio you would need lightning to USB cable since the first-time Bluetooth connection requires a hardwired connection first.
With newer Pioneer radios everything happens wirelessly through the settings.
Let’s learn more about the types of Pioneer radios and what’s the difference in Bluetooth:
How to Connect iPhone to Pioneer Bluetooth In Easy Steps?
Pioneer Bluetooth radios can be both old and new. They have distinguishable features and you can tell the difference easily by looking at the following characteristics:
Old Pioneer Stereo
It has physical buttons, with a small digital display that doesn’t support touch-screen technology. Wide front side with the circular volume button.
New Pioneer Stereo
It has power/forward buttons on the side, a large display, and touch-screen technology. Big and wide displays such as multimedia.
After properly identifying the type of your Pioneer radio, move on to the correct step guide and follow the instructions to get the radio paired to your iPhone.
We will first begin with hooking up an old Pioneer radio to your iPhone:
How To Connect Old Pioneer Radio To iPhone?
The old Pioneer radios require a few extra steps to establish the Bluetooth connection!
Step #1 Start The Stereo
The first step is to turn on your Pioneer car stereo. If already attached to your car, you will just have to push the front face of the radio inwards to attach the device to the power socket.
That will turn the radio ON. One thing that all Pioneer Bluetooth stereos have in common is lightning.
When connected to the car and receiving power, they will light up almost in an identical way (most commonly in blue light) so you can tell that they are working.
In case the Pioneer radio is not connected to the card, you’ll need to take the body part out and connect the power cables to the vehicle.
Once ready, proceed with the next step.
Note: If your radio can’t be pushed in to be turned on, press the SRC/OFF dash control buttons to power up the radio.
Step #2 Turn On iPhone Bluetooth
The next step is to turn on your phone’s Bluetooth. In order to make your Pioneer car radio pair with the mobile unit, your iPhone must also be searching for connections.
That will only work by turning on the Bluetooth feature on the iPhone, which can be found in the settings.
If you haven’t yet turned on your iPhone’s Bluetooth, do it the following way:
- Power on your iPhone.
- Open the Settings tab.
- Press the “Bluetooth” tab in order to access it.
- Tap the gray slider on the top to turn green.
- The Bluetooth on your iPhone is now enabled.
Tip: Disconnect your iPhone from all other connected devices for a smoother connection with the Pioneer radio. Later you can renew all other Bluetooth connections.
Step #3 Acquire USB To Lightning Cable (First-Time)
To make your Pioneer radio recognize the iPhone, it must be connected with a cable for the first time.
Once connected with a cable, your Pioneer radio is going to establish a permanent wireless connection for that iPhone device and as long as the Bluetooth is toggled on, they will be able to connect.
Since iPhones use a lightning cable port, you will need a lightning-to-USB cable.
You will only need a cable for connecting old Pioneer radios that don’t have a USB port.
Once you have the required cable, proceed with the next step to complete the setup!
Tip: Make sure that the lightning-to USB cable you’re using is functional.
Step #4 Physically Connect iPhone To Pioneer
Your next step is to get your iPhone and the Pioneer Bluetooth connected together.
Once you have the cable that matches the ports on your mobile device and the radio, you will have to locate the USB port on your Pioneer device and open its latch.
The port is located on the right end and has a little latch that can be opened easily!
Here’s how to physically connect your iPhone to the old Pioneer radio in easy steps:
- Open up the USB latch on your Pioneer radio.
- Connect the USB end of the cable to the radio.
- Plug the other end of the cable (the lightning port) into your iPhone.
- Wait for your Pioneer Bluetooth radio to recognize the connection.
Note: It may take a couple of seconds for the radio to recognize your iPhone and prompt the connection. Be patient and don’t disconnect the phone.
Step #5 Accept Bluetooth Request
And the final step to getting your old Pioneer radio connected is to accept the prompt that the radio has sent.
Once it has recognized the connection, it will ask whether you want to perform a Bluetooth pairing with the connected device.
To complete the connection, use the Volume button and press it on the left side.
This will get your iPhone connected and now you can disconnect the cable!
Tip: Disconnect the cable only when the Pioneer radio displays “Connected”.
How To Connect New Pioneer Radio To iPhone?
Unlike owning an old Pioneer radio, using a newer model (multimedia) stereo will enable you to perform Bluetooth pairing completely wirelessly.
This means that you wouldn’t have to connect a cable to the radio for the first time connection. It all happens like a charm!
Here’s how to connect iPhone to Pioneer Bluetooth (touch screen) radio:
Step #1 Turn On The Pioneer Radio
In this step, you will have to make sure that the device is turned on.
For complete and easy accessibility, the multimedia has to be installed in your car and connected to power.
The new multimedia radios will automatically power once you turn on the car’s gauges.
Once the display of the multimedia is lit, move on to the next step!
Alert: With some vehicles, you might need to start the car for the radio to start working!
Step #2 Go To Bluetooth Settings
Your next step is to navigate to the Bluetooth settings of your Pioneer radio.
Since you can use your fingers to navigate the device, it will be easy to quickly locate the setting you need.
Here’s how to open your Pioneer radio’s Bluetooth settings in easy steps:
- From the home screen, open Settings.
- Go all the way down through the side menu.
- Reach the Bluetooth icon on the first row of the side menu.
- From there, press the “Connection” button on the top.
Note: If you still haven’t turned on your iPhone’s Bluetooth, do it at Settings > Bluetooth.
Step #3 Connect With The iPhone
To get your iPhone hooked up to the touch-screen Pioneer radio, you must press on your iPhone’s connection in the Bluetooth tab of your Pioneer multimedia radio.
If your iPhone’s Bluetooth is turned on, a connection should appear that has something similar to “iPhone” or has a reference to the device’s model.
A single press should get the radio connected to the iPhone.
Note: If the Bluetooth connection fails, ensure you’re standing close enough to the radio.
Test The iPhone To Pioneer Connection!
Once you see “Connected” in the iPhone’s Bluetooth menu, you can be confident that you did things right.
Another sign that everything went smoothly would be the little Bluetooth sign on the Pioneer radio screen. The little Bluetooth sign appears on both old and new units.
To test the connection, turn the volume up and play some music on your iPhone!
The music should sound from your car’s speakers and you can now adjust the music settings on your Pioneer radio to match your taste.
In addition, you can use Siri to change songs and basically bring up anything on the playback for greater safety while driving.
Auto-Connect?
Older Pioneer radios will automatically connect to the last device that was connected.
Newer Pioneer radios have an option “Visibility” that has to be set to YES in order for the device to connect to your iPhone when the Bluetooth is turned ON.
Note: With older Pioneer radios, when another device connects to the radio you would need to connect back to your iPhone manually.
Read Next: How To Get Siri To Talk When Plugging In Charger?
Quick Recap:
Thus, to connect iPhone to a Pioneer radio you need to know whether your radio is older (no-touch screen) or new such as multimedia. From there you would either need lighting to a USB cable for older models or only your iPhone.
Final Thoughts:
Here we’ve learned how to connect iPhone to Pioneer Bluetooth.
The connection will remain strong as long as your iPhone is within the vehicle and will automatically connect when the Bluetooth is ON.
In case you’ve got problems with connecting your smartphone to Pioneer radio make sure to read the complete fix guide about this problem
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