Having had 4 296s on extended test drives and now having taken delivery of my own, they all suffer from the same wireless phone charging issue. I get messages saying 'Foreign object detected on pad' (or similar) on the dash, and the phone only intermittently charges. This is the same with all 5 cars and with iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPhone 15 Pro Max. The iPhones are never in a case and work fine on other wireless charge pads. Moving the phone around the pad doesn't seem to help. Is anyone else seeing this, or is it user error? If it, what is the solution?
I have the same issue since day one - hoping for a solution during the next annual service in May… Good to know that I am not the only one…
I don't have my 296 yet, but have had a few cars with wireless charging pads and found that even those that do charge my phone don't seem to charge it as fast as other wireless charging devices. I think the simplest solution is below. Forgive the tongue in cheek.... Image Unavailable, Please Login
It makes complete nonsense to have wireless CarPlay if the iPhone needs to be plugged in to charge. This is the first car I have had this problem with. Very disappointing.
I don't disagree, I have just found that my wireless chargers in BMW family member's MB and other cars don't charge the phone very quickly. The exception is my wife's Range Rover, but I find that the phone has to be in the right area to charge and it's a PITA to get that "spot". Alas, my experience with exotics (no Ferrari yet) is that if you want something that works well with mass market technology, you'd do better with a Toyota for those sorts of things.... For quite some time, my I Phone 11 wouldn't even connect to my McLaren 570 (after the I phone 10 was fine). McLaren kept saying it was an Apple problem, which I didn't believe (neither did others on the McLaren Life forum who had the same issue). Lo and behold, two software updates later and it started working fine. I guess McLaren owners aren't too high on the list of Apple's priority....
Seems to work better (but still not perfectly) if I put some weight on top of the phone. I usually put my wallet on it and I think I see the foreign object message less often.
I have had zero issues with mine. I have a 15 Pro Max with an Apple leather case. Charges like a champ every drive.
I have a 296 GTS on order but my Tesla Model Y has this same situation. I found that if I turn my iPhone 15 Plus phone 180 degrees on the charging pad it charges correctly. It appears the battery charge point is in a different location on some iPhone models. Again, I have not tried this on a 296 but worth trying it.
I have not experienced a problem using either 14 or 15 Pro with my 296 GTB and now GTS. I do agree with @cmargosi and the same is true in my daily where I tend to use a cable in the specific CarPlay USB port for a faster charge.
That's encouraging. It can work then. Maybe I'll get the charge module changed when it goes in for service.
I solved this problem in my GTB after lot of trial and error. For my iPhone 14pro with a Torres case, the sweet spot to place the phone is right in the middle of the charging pad. However, when driving spiritedly, if the phone moves back or front ever so slightly during acceleration or braking, the link is lost and I have to move the phone back to the center. Doing this while driving has become second nature now. So how did I find the sweet spot? I figured the charging pad takes a couple of seconds to recognize the MagSafe area in the iPhone and establish a charging connection shown in the dashboard with that concentric circles icon. I started at one extreme and moved it in steps, towards the other extreme while giving the phone several seconds in each position to try to sync up. Once I identified the right spot, I took it off and placed it back multiple times to ensure it was not a fluke. I can now place the iPhone perfectly atop the right spot every time. Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
Thanks for that. I believe that the problem stems from the charge mat being flat but the iPhone, because of the cameras, is angled away from the mat and the charging coil. Just bad design really. Every other wireless charge device I have does not need to take account for the cameras and works faultlessly.
Just picked up my 296 GTS and had the same 'Foreign object detected on pad' problem. I also couldn't find how to connect carplay wirelessly and only through the cable. With the cable I find after an hour or so carplay freezes and I have to disconnect and reconnect the phone (very annoying) 1. Could somebody share how to connect to wireless carplay? (not sure if I need a software update) 2. Anyone else experienced the same issue with carplay freezing after some period of time? Thanks!
You'll need to pair 'a new phone' in settings on the dash first. Then make sure Ferrari 296GTS appears in your CarPlay list on your iPhone and that you have enabled CarPlay use for that device. It should then connect wirelessly automagically.
