Last month, it was reported that iOS 17.1.1 broke in-car wireless charging for a number of GM drivers with an iPhone 15. In today’s release notes for iOS 17.2, which will be released to everyone next week, Apple says it has solved this problem…hopefully.

A fix for GM drivers

Following my report last month, GM acknowledged the problems in a statement to The Verge. “We are aware of this concern and are investigating. There’s nothing we can confirm at this point,” a company spokesperson said.

Here’s what Apple’s release notes for iOS 17.2 say: “Fixes an issue that may prevent wireless charging in certain vehicles.”

Unfortunately, there aren’t any additional details about the scope of this fix. Apple doesn’t specifically mention that iOS 17.2 addresses the problem for GM drivers, but that feels like a safe assumption to make.

This is the second time Apple has had to address issues in iOS 17 specifically affecting in-car wireless chargers. iOS 17.1.1, released at the beginning of November, included a fix for wireless charging and NFC problems affecting BMW drivers.

iOS 17.2 is currently available in beta for developers and public beta users. It’s expected to be released to the general public in about a week.

iPhone 15 wireless charging apparently broken in many GM cars with iOS 17.1

While iOS 17.1.1 last week was released to fix iPhone 15 wireless charging problems for BMW drivers, the same can’t be said for GM drivers. A number of GM drivers have taken to Reddit and other online forums to report that they are unable to wirelessly charge their iPhone 15 in their car after updating to iOS 17.1.

iPhone 15 wireless charging problems: BMW first, now GM

After mounting complaints, Apple finally acknowledged a bug impacting wireless charging for iPhone 15 users in some BMW cars last month. In these instances, the problem would also temporarily disable NFC features of the iPhone 15, such as Apple Pay. Apple rolled out a fix for BMW wireless charging issues as part of iOS 17.1.1 last week.

In the meantime, however, GM drivers say that they are no longer able to use their in-car wireless charging pads to charge their iPhone 15 after updating to iOS 17.1. There are a number of complaints from GM drivers on Reddit, GM forums, and Apple’s support forums. These issues, however, don’t appear to impact NFC features.

It’s not immediately clear how widespread these problems are, nor is it clear which specific GM cars are affected. There are complaints from Bolt drivers, Silverado drivers, Sierra drivers, and more scattered across the web.

GM drivers say that last week’s iOS 17.1.1 update did not fix their wireless charging problems, nor does the current iOS 17.2 beta cycle. Two different GM drivers say that they spoke to Apple about the problems, and Apple told them to talk to GM about it. The key, however, is that wireless charging for these people worked prior to updating to iOS 17.1, so it’s clearly something tied to that update.

Based on these bizarre wireless charging problems that have affected GM and BMW drivers, paired with experiences using in-car wireless chargers, Starting to question the usefulness of wireless charging in cars. It clearly seems to be a fickle solution in a lot of cases, even though there are some convenience benefits, particularly if you have a car with wireless CarPlay.