Here is how to use Cortana in your car with Bluetooth

If your car has Bluetooth and you have just updated your device to Windows Phone 8.1 GDR1, you need to head over to your car right now and try this out. Update 1 has added a neat little feature that lets you activate Cortana directly from the voice command button on your steering wheel. Such a tool is useful for finding local eateries, gas stations, parking, or just looking up information while driving and avoiding getting a ticket.

How do you set it up? Read along and follow the steps.

To get started, turn on Bluetooth on your Windows Phone. Go to settings -> Bluetooth -> On
Pair your car to your Windows Phone device via Bluetooth. There's no universal way of doing this, so you may have to check you car manual
Once connected, it appears Windows Phone adds Cortana to the phone book (If not, you can create a Cortana entry with the dummy phone number '555-555-9876')
Now all you have to do is tell your car to "Call Cortana" using the voice command button on the steering wheel. It may be different on your car. On the car I tested, I needed to add Cortana as a speed dial
Go ahead and ask Cortana for anything that you've normally asked her

That's it! Try this out on your car and let us know if it works!

Thanks for the tip, Aaron H. and Alienhead95!

Mark Guim

Mark Guim is Video Editor at Windows Central. He switched to Windows because the MacBook Pro isn't Pro enough. You can follow him on Twitter at @markguim.

233 Comments

@_@
Okay...
On my Durango, it was already connected to Cortana before the update. Clicking the phone button on my Durango already activates Cortana. I will try it today to see what has changed, if anything. Hopefully it hasn't gotten worse as dialing Cortana requires extra steps per this video. Before, the phone button in the steering wheel acted like holding the search button on the phone.
Okay, not my car, but my plantronics Bluetooth headset lit me up today. Used to say..."incoming call, answer or ignore". Phone was in my pocket so no way of knowing who it was or how to answer. Have to answer every call professionally. Today..."incoming call from 'Jane Doe' answer or ignore? Hallelujah, thanks, Cortana for letting me know who's calling. "Answer.......what's up Jane?
Hello. Can you please tell me the model of your headset? It seems you have a voice activated Bluetooth headset
It's the plantronics legend. About $100. Good battery, and works with my Nokia icon really well. not fully voice activated, I have to push a button to activate Cortana. Incoming calls voice prompt me to answer or ignore though. Pretty handy, even more so now that Cortana announces caller name.
I have one of those headsets... They are awesome for noise suppression too! Will try it right now ty :D
What happens when you call Cortana when you are using HereDrive? Does it divert navigation away from the screen? And if it does, when you are done with Cortana, does HereDrive load right back up?
Navigation will continue to operate in the background, and you will receive voice navigation prompts if you have them turned on. But you will have to manually hit the back button on your phone to return to HERE Drive when you are finished.
There is a standard Bluetooth Handsfree command for the car to tell the phone to start speech recognition. It sounds like the Durango supports that command. So you can continue to use that Durango button to start Cortana just as you always have. The new Cortana contact phone number is there for cars which do not provide the user with any UI to send the standard command to start speech. So long as those cars allow the user to dial phone calls, the users of those cars will now have a way to tell the phone to start speech recognition.
Seems neat.
Only thing I have to do is buy a car now, which will not be that soon :3
Hahahahah +Hyundai Getz
Greece and Hyunday are synonyms.
roflmao be real proud of your sissy car that you can brag about it.
Lol get a Prius
I tried but I can't... Bcoz car owner didn't let me to touch his car... Feeling sad :-p
I wanna buy a car but I only have 600 us in my bank account. Fucked up.
You can just but an after market stereo. Most of them today have Bluetooth included. This trick works on my pioneer that is four years old, so it should be a breeze with a newer deck.
+bicycle
lol they need four wheels otherwise they be falling off and adding to the road kill
Yeah I wish I had the buttons on my steering wheel
Tried this on my car last night. It works great. Unfortunately, my car disables phone calls while Bluetooth streaming is in use, so I have to switch to a different mode before calling Cortana, and then switch back to Bluetooth streaming when she's done. But that's my car's fault.
How did it work in those situations where Cortana said to unlock the phone?
In that case, I have to pick up my phone and unlock it.
I don't know that it's any more "convenient", but it's definitely safer to do. When I am about to get into my car, I just open "Settings" - "Lock Screen" and turn off the password. Its a little tedious I know, but at least Cortana won't ask you to unlock your phone first while driving your car. And it's pretty simple to just add your lock back on the phone when you get out of the car.
Try using the setting to connect for speech in an alternate way. I think it is for situations like yours.
Nah, it's the way my car's bluetooth system works. Nothing to be done about it. I'll be sure to choose a car that doesn't have this problem next time.
What kind of car do you have? I'll be buying a new car soon and want to make sure I don't get one of those.
That's effing awesome. To bad I am stuck with the HTC 8x problem
Yyyeepppp.
Me to. it's being on my nervs. Hope Ms push the follow ship of the 1020 fast. My contract is at it's end of next week. hope they solved it before friday.
Yeah, pretty cool. I'm stuck with an 8X also - so NO CORTANA FOR ME... I am getting very fed up with HTC always being the runt of the litter. It's been over 3 months and still no firmware update and nothing to enable Cortana (by providing a US phone language option). Whenever you ask them "when?" they just repond "we don't divulge that information". Grrrr. Phone still works fine though, so can't complain too much. You know, first world problems and all that drama...
A.W.E.S.O.M.E
Can't you just tap the search button, or long press the Bluetooth call answer button, and activate Cortana, without the extra steps?
Depends. On my car, it seems to use the phone's mic instead of the car's if I do it through the phone, making Cortana useless (you'd have to yell on the highhway to do a text message). The call button on car kits merely activates the phone call procedure, not the phone itself. So it looks up you contacts. If Cortana is not in the phonebook, your Bluetooth is useless for using Cortana. Now, Cortana gets routed through my Bluetooth for both speaker and mic, all with a button push from my thumb, while still on the wheel.
Daniel, do we still have to connect "in a different way" inside Bluetooth settings? Got the same car as you.
Have not verified that yet. Will do soon though.
Get this for ANY car with an aux jack then long press to activate Cortana through Bluetooth. The aux receiver has a built in amp so the sound is loud via Bluetooth, like a BOSS... http://amzn.com/B004CLYJ2I
Thanks, that looks fantastic!
Doesn't count if you are using a Taxi Daniel
I tried, looks like I still have to check that box.
It's there on my Ativ S with 8.1.1. Things have definitely changed with the bluetooth stack as I used to have to check that box and after Update 1 my phone won't connect with it checked.
May have to repair your phone. Mine only does a phonebook download once when a phone is first set up on the system.
Same with my car. Exactly what I was hoping for and glad I didn't have to wait longer...especially when I saw Blackberry had the same feature (with a different fake phone number).
I have a voice activiation button, in additon to the phone button on my BMW (2014). I can long press that to bring up Cortana to text or call. Only problem I have run into is if I lock my phone with a code, she asks me to unlock my phone before I can ask for anything. I've had a few Siri lovers impressed with the functionality and accuracy of the system.
I have this problem too, Shane. I was hoping Nokia would add a feature to their Wireless car charger with NFC that would allow the phone password requirement to be disabled when its tapped.
Did you see the other article today that you can use cortana with the phone locked?
Yes, and that article came after this one. I hadn't tried it locked after I updated. I'll give it a go tomorrow.
I have always had the ability to access the voice system on my Jaguar XF, even before I had cortana. It did require me to say the long winded command "phone dial handset name" which activated any phones voice recognition. I did have an issue with locked phones a while ago but went away with one of the older updates. Not sure why your BMW is different. I wonder if the reason has to do with the fact the my car has an older bluetooth standard.
Does this dummy number thing only work in the USA? I tried setting it up in Australia, and it actually tries to call the number, and fails as it's obviously the wrong format for our networks.
You can, but this allows you to activate it without having to move your hands off the wheel, which is a nice feature.
Not all cars' Call Answer buttons work in this fashion. This is for cars (like mine) that just have their own independent phone books and the only way to interact with Cortana is to make the car think it's making a phone call. It's a super clever workaround.
Some cars do that. I can do that on my bt head phones...
...
What's weird on my aftermarket stereo is that when I get directions it just pauses my music but doesn't talk unless it is a long direction command. That happened since 8.1...
I noticed that in my car also. Navigating using here drive, and listenting to a music stream at the same time worked perfectly before, and now it doesn't. I get a long BLANK pause in the middle of music, which is where its supposed to be giving me the voice direction. Worked fine before 8.1 update.....:( Sucks!!!
Interesting, is your head unit aftermarket? We should take this to the forum.
This has started happenning in my car as well. A blank pause but no directions unless it's a really long direction instruction in which case I hear the last few words of it.
Yeah I have this problem too. It's not my car, it's 8.1 and bluetooth. I travel a lot and use rental cars and rely on navigation to get me where I need to go. Since upgrading to 8.1 DP I've run into this now on every rental car. I had hoped update 1 would fix this, but not so far. Hoping Cyan on my 1020 will do the trick. I should try my 520 with Cyan and 8.1.1. Just thought of that.
Nope. I rolled back my 520 to cyan and updated to gdr1 doesn't work on that or my 1020 either...
Ok looks like we need to bring this to MS' attention.
Check the volume setting on your phone. This used to happen to me until I remembered that the voice instructions volume was controlled by the setting for "Media and Apps", not "Ringer and Notifications". At work I often have only the river volume up high enough to be heard thru the speakers of my car when I leave.
I'll try that later today. You might be right, although, I highly doubt I had it set to 0 for every single time I went to use Here Drive, and was streaming music.
From what I've been observing in WP7/8 directions/voice commands (TellMe) all went through the music connection (When your unit had both media/voice capabilities)
8.1 decided that voice commands should go through the voice/call connection. The silence appears to be the delay in a BT device switching sources.
The only workaround I have found is simultaneously connecting your stereo and a second BT device that will handle the voice prompts. This could be a BT headset or, in my case, my BT capable CB radio. Which is kind of cool with HERE Maps. Over the CB feels like Cortana or HERE Maps is coming from outside the car.
You can (that works on mine) but the disadvantage is you take your attention away from the road to reach for your phone. It's much safer to have a way to activate Cortana from the steering wheel.
I found out in my car, that if that hold down the "answer" button it'll trigger Cortanna. Didn't work in the wife's car but it worked in mine.
I'll have to try that!
Yea turns out my car doesn't do that.
What is your car?
Sweet! Now if only I had a car lol
This makes me want to have a car more than the fact that it can take me places
I wish this could be used to play music through the bluetooth. I have a bluetooth adapter right now, so that takes up my bluetooth usage with my car. Need a universal solution for everything :(
I may be misunderstanding your situation, but it sounds similar to my own. I use the cars built in bluetooth function for handling phone calls and now Cortana, then I have a separate Bluetooth reciever for handling audio playback plugged into the Aux in on the stereo. My phone manages to keep both connections open at the same time, I just have to go to the advanced options and tell WP to use a different device for speech. This makes WP start a phone call to my car and use it's mic/speakers for speech applications instead of trying to use the BT device plugged into the aux in, since that doesn't have a mic.
This works great in my car, the only thing i didnt like is, i had to have my phone visible to know when cortana was ready, it didnt have an audible chime to let me know it was ready, and i usually keep my phone in my pocket while driving
not a single Nokia Lumia has worked with my car's HU for phonebook access (alpine iva-w505 with KCE-400bt) all other WP, android and IOS devices do though. Granted, I can make call via voice, and answer calls, so it's not a total loss.
I just need a car with Bluetooth. OMG I want to buy a car with this features!!! Lol
It works for me. Only problem is the Honda system makes you almost unneccessarily confirm everything. *Press button* "Call Cortana" "Do you want to call Cortana, please press the talk button and say yes or no" *Press button" "Yes" "Calling Cortana" Then it connects. Still, at least I can navigate to somewhere without taking my hands of the steering wheel and that is nice.
LOL yea, I'd be really annoyed at that
There's no way to put it in "simple" mode? My Ford Sync in my F-150 has a way to change it to simple mode where it barely prompts you at all. Once I figured out how it all worked, I put it in simple mode to avoid all those prompts.
Nothing in the owners manual. I'll dig through some menus later on and see if I find any options.
Funny this was posted, because I was wondering the other day if there was a way to do this (pre Update 1). It's not too hard to reach and grab my phone, hold the search key and say "play song Illumination Theory" but it requires reaching for my phone and losing focus. Freakin' awesome.
I saw you have a Ford with My Ford Sync. Does this work on it? I figured it should since MS made both systems.
Sweet...ThaNX!
I'm in the market for a car...post the makes and models you folks are using with Cortana.
Personal: 2013 Toyota Corolla with Bluetooth/Touchscreen/Cortana Personal: 2012 Nissan Altima with AUX/Cortana Colledge owned: 2014 Civic Hybrid with Bluetooth/Touchscreen/Cortana (just like the car's dashboard pictured in this article)
2013 Honda Accord EX-L
2014 BMW 328i GT with Tech Pkg.
i made Cortana button/preset 1 this morning. it's faster to press that than to work through the terrible BMW speech interface.
2011 Honda CR-Z EX
Any Ford with Sync will work. I've tried it on 3 models; 2010 Fusion w/ standard Sync, 2013 Flex w/ My Ford Touch, and a 2015 F-350 w/ standard Sync.
It didn't work with my 2010 fusion+hybrid Sync and 1020 Black 8.1 U1 preview. When I say "call Cortana" it places the call but the call disconnects before I can utter a single word. I toggled the phone's "Use an alternative BT audio connection on and off but neither fixed the issue. Any idea of another way to make it work (keep the call "open?"
I'm having the same issue in my 2008 Mercury Milan with Sync. I call Cortana, and the call seems to end/disconnect before I even get a word in or hear any acknoledgement from Cortana.
yep, same issue here. what's really frustrating is that if you use the dash to select cortana from the contacts, it works fine and the connection atays open.
2014 Mercedes Benz c63 amg 507
Wow, I didn't realise the WP "fanclub" also included the Honda fanclub
2014 Audi RS 5 Coupé
2013 Nissan GTR,
2011 Hyundai Sonata GLS with Navigation
El mindo et blown!!
Safe to assume your stereo has to support downloading the phone book from your phone? Unfortunately, mine doesn't. :(
They said you can program that fake number by hand to get it to work
Completely misinterpreted that for adding the entry to my Phone. Thanks!
lol...I also added Cortana (555-555-9876) to my PHONE!!! Gonna add it to Cars Phonebook and give it another try!!!
so if anyone calls then you are fucked, not big deal anyway im avoiding all contact with conventional phone calls/sms bs, why cars have to be so stupid? where is Windows Car RT x64? i'll keep dreaming about teslas till then, just hope the next car that looks pretty to me wont surprise me with "google" things in the dashboard, i would rather buy an old car
I like the feature, it's definately an improvement and neat work-around. The only issue I have with it is that after I tell Cortana to do something, it makes me unlock my phone before it will proceed, defeating the hands-free aspect of this feature.
Will this be the only way Windows Phone will work in cars - our smartphones connected via Bluetooth? Recently there were reports that - at least german - carmakers will only use IOS or Android for inbuilt entertainment- and navigation-systems. Is it different elsewhere? I was a bit disappointed
No, Microsoft allready demonstrated their version. They only seem to be behind in releasing details and a release date. Microsoft is allready in automotive in many car systems for years.
all I had to do is the last step. I've had Driving Mode on forever and that may be why. It is excellent. I can say play X, what's the temp, anything all while driving. 2014 Kia Forte.
Can confirm that a long push on the green answer call button on my Parrot kit activates Cortana. Changed voice control from car kit to phone in telephone settings and it all works a treat
" Changed voice control from car kit to phone in telephone settings" - where exactly?
Had to add a phonebook entry for her, but it does work. I can even have her send a text for me now. Its a little bit of a PITA if if I have to type over for a correction as she gets disconnected and my text disappears. I have actually kept my phone disconnected from my cars Bluetooth because while it is connected the phone tries to use the Bluetooth as the audio receiver for everything, and my car doesn't work that way.
Now iI do have to hit my cars phone button, say "call Cortana" then hit the button again and say "yes". After that I can have a conversation with her. If I touch M phone though she goes away.
I have an Acura TSX
On the parrot, telephone, settings, voice command - change from parrot to phone.
I am confused.
Great info, thanks!
Gonna try this on my ford with mytouch. Hopefully it'll work without a hitch. Anyone else tried it yet on their ford?
I have Ford with Sync, will try on my way home from work
I'll try it on mine as soon as I get the Update to install. Stupid 80188308 error!!!
Works great for me.
Now thats dope cant wait to try it our tomorow morning
Hey people!!! It's nice that it works in your car, but it would be usefull to tell us the brand of your cars as well.
And Mark, how about using some Armor All on that dash board!
Tested on 2013 Honda CRV. Yeah, should've cleaned the dash before shooting!
I edited my comment just for you bud! Works on 2014 Kia Forte.
Works on my Chevy Camaro 2013's OnStar system
How did you get it to work in your Camaro. It did not work in my 2013 Camaro. When I say "call Cortana" it just dials 421 and craps out.
Hrmm where is the "Cortana, drive me to option?" ;o)
It can already do that... Get directions to "wherever".
DRIVE ME, did i say get me directions? Some people need to learn to read.
It works with Chrysler Uconnect. Just add Cortana as a contact with some random number and she works great!! Now I can send texts without touching my phone, this is great considering its illegal to even hold your phone in Ontario Canada while driving. I drive a 2012 Dodge Journey with the 4.5" screen
What version of UConnect do you have? In my 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee it's hanging up immediately after calling Cortana before the reply?
What happens if you don't have 8.1 Update and you dial that number?
It's funny my car has Microsoft Sync and yet MS it's doing nothing to tie the two together better than what it is now. Maybe it needs to be an update to sync, but I think MS stopped working on that....
Yeah, I was dissappointed to find that MS Sync had better support for my wife's old iPhone than my Windows Phone. I don't think they maintain Sync any longer, and Ford is dropping it from their vehicles. It was probably shelved after the big One Microsoft initiative. And Sync was the perfect example of the problem. Each section of Microsoft was completely disjointed from the others and didn't seem to have any idea what they were doing.
Sync was never a Microsoft product. It was built by Ford on top of Microsoft Auto (now Windows Embedded Auto).
To build on top of what mitchartz said, Ford has dropped MS in lieu of their own Android based solution.
Omg, need to try this asap! Hope they add the feature that you can keep talking to her without touching any buttons. For example when she finds 6 Mcdonalds should i be able to pick one and she starts here drive+ and guides me to it :D
Going outside to do this with the SYNC system in my Ford Explorer now! Thanks for the tip and the video Mark!
Need another update to start Cortana from a headset, by holding a button or something, could be useful when im riding my bike, snowboard and longboard...etc
Cortana already does this, just like Tellme did.
I mean by stereo headset without getting my phone out of my pocket !! I know that the LG tone+ 730 can do it but that the only headset with good sound quality who can open Cortana by holding a button !!!
My problem is my Hyundai Genesis Coupe doesn't always connect to my phone to call. I'll say "Call wife" then nothing happens as if there's no handshake from the car to phone but I can always answer if a call comes through.
Time to build a Nokia car. (Microsoft car- but that doesn't have the same ring to it).
I'll take the orange and white one please. With qi wireless charging.
Get this for ANY car with an aux jack then long press to activate Cortana through Bluetooth. The aux receiver has a built in amp so the sound is loud via Bluetooth, like a BOSS... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004CLYJ2I/ref=cm_sw_su_dp?tag=hawk-future-20&...
Bluetooth has worked with cortana since day one with the xbox 360 wireless Bluetooth headset!
Haven't tried this yet, I have a BT radio, not car. But I did notice Cortana is fast now after the update. No more 3-4 second lag from holding the search icon down to hearing her listening beep. It's pretty much instantaneous.
My question is, why is the process that long?. When I heard this feature was coming to WP8.1U1, I thought a simple 'long press' of the car's call button will activate Cortana. Just like when putting on a wired ear piece.
Mark showed the whole initial pairing to your car, not just the Cortana bit. If your phone is already paired, then yeah, you hit a button.
I'm sure this works for other cars but for the system in Hondas specifically, you can hold down the green answer button to redial. This is really quick when using cortana more than once without having to use the voice tag like in the video.
Works great in my 2015 GTI. I can activate Cortana now via voice, and I have her contact pinned to my car's touchscreen as well, so I can activate Cortana to play music or do whatever without needing to touch the phone. This simple addition of a Cortana contact by Microsoft really makes using her in the car a lot better.
Wow this is awesome....ill try it in my 2013 Jeep wrangler rubicon
Actually we do not have Cortana here in Switzerland, however with everything set to English US it works with Uconnect into my 2014 Grand Cherokee. Not very well because Cortana hang up directly after answering my question, but it works... ;-) So it should work with every Chrysler - Jeep Uconnect...
I'm having the same problem with my 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee and UConnect. I'll call Cortana and during her reply UConnect will hang up thinking the call is complete. It's not leaving the connection open to the phone. This is effectively making the feature useless. Try asking what the Fox says and just as Cortana starts to reply Uconnect hangs up. Ask for Appointments, Weather, Directions, anything, same result. After the call initiated and before the reply UConnect hangs up the call.
No wonder Apple has plans for making a car of their own. Current car systems are so radically different in configuration, kinda the same when the phone market was an utterly mess pre-iPhone era.
Not a car. Just an interface. And for just about 20% of the total market. Google and Microsoft are doing he same. We even have allready Mirrorlink and AD2P. If anything apple created and creates a bigger mess in the phone market. Own standards and own connectors. You sound like an apple troll. NOFI. Hopefully Google, Microsoft, Nokia HERE's solutions will survive and apple's will go away.
I wasn't impressed with Apple's incar system they demoed this year. You need an iPhone and you need to plug it in. They lost my interest right there.
Car voice system adds alot of overhead. Its a shame you can't disable some prompts like "after the beep please say..." and just prompt with a beep. And instead of repeating the number just skip the verification and dial it.
I know in my Ford, there's a way to change it from "regular" mode to advanced mode which removes the prompts for most everything.
Does this work with a bicycle?
yea i got it working on my schwinn with a pedal powered 9 inch LCD with rearview camera.
Will this Cortana feature work when you have Driving Mode enabled?
Of course.
Hey I have the same car that is a Honda accord right, my is a 2013 v6 Honda accord
Also worth noting that if you are having problems with voice recognition whilst connected to bluetooth you can enable another mode under the advanced settings of bluetooth. I am not sure if this helps much but I have noticed some lag with some in car bluetooths and this may correct that issue.
I'll have to try this tonight.
Ok, this is excellent. I have loved Driving Mode (hearing and responding to texts) but have always found it difficult to get directions, or send a text OUT (without responding to an incoming text) if im running late, etc. Additionally, my 2014 MINI Cooper Clubman doesn't have the best method for Bluetooth dialing (basically it can call your last dialed number [from the car - not the phone] with a single button, but dialing others take a bit of navigating through menus). Just tried this out and this solves all my problems, because now I just have Cortana (at 555-555-9876) and she connects almost instantly through the stereo, awaiting my command! Dial John? No problem. Text my wife "I'm running late", NO PROBLEM! Directions home? Done. F A N T A S T I C !
Jarvis in the car! nice
On my car I cannot add any contacts. It is not support my Bluetooth system. Worked fine with my N8. Will have to try again with this version..
Works like charm in my 2014 Nissan Rogue
This works great in my Audi!
That. Is. AWESOME. So simple and it'll work with any Bluetooth without them needing to out specific support in. Omg life just got better.
Will try in my land rover after work.
Works great in my car (Ford CMax 2013) with a Ford Pioneer AVIC (replaced Sync because of smaller screen in European Fords)
Works great on the '13 Ford Focus!
Never got my car (Mercedes E400 2013) to understand me via Bluetooth. It asks if it should read the smsi just got, I say YES, and my car says...computer says NO... Can't try Cortana because we don't have it in Germany.
My wife has a 2010 VW GTI and my brother in law a 2011 Passat and both have this problems with bluetooth. The GTI has also problems connecting, it works 6-10 times and than it doesn't. On the other hand, my UConnect system in my Dodge works flawless.
Merc C and C Coupe with Mercedes COMMAND system works fine with Bluetooth and reading and responding to texts, and streaming music. Your head unit might need an update? But I have been using this stuff for about 3-4 years on Mercs, no problem.
Will this work on my fiat punto coz it has blue&me technology by Microsoft.. Tomorrow I will try it for sure
I have pointer BT5590 in my and never need any extra step. Just press voice activate button and Cortana is up and listening.
Works great throgh the the car mic and speakers in 2012 VW GTI; and no Cortana contact in cantact list...
It works in my car but there is a long wait before I can speak a command. When I press the voice button on my steering wheel it takes 3-4 seconds before I get the beeb from Cortana that the phone is ready to accept a voice input which is very annoying. Naturally you want to speak after pressing the button and don't expect to wait for a signal.
mine used to be like that (even longer of a wait). Now i can talk as soon as i push the button.
This update really improved the link between my car (2010 Mustang with MS Sync) and my phone. I used to press the "talk" button and have to wait about 8 seconds each time to connect before I could talk to Cortana. Now it is instint.
Kia optima ex 2011 ... All I had to do was hold search button and it routed through fine before gdr1. But lets see if I can just tap the answer button to activate her
It worked at first try! Really excellent. It added a contact called "Cortana" that I can easily select from the steering wheel. Car is a Citroën C4 Grand Picasso 2011.
is the radio RD4 MP3? or is the Philips Nexxt stereo?
Until they launch those bluethooth-touchscreen bicycles, I guess i'm out of luck.
Any idea about how to activate Cortana in 2012 fluidic i20 asta ? The car doesn't have a voice recognition button, but only call receiving and rejecting buttons!
Well you can do two things in that case.... Either change the car or upgrade you car step
Stereo :-)
This was a pleasant surprise for me. Always wondered why I could never use voice command via the car.
Nice post
Looks cool. Always ignored the car's Bluetooth capabiltiy but will investigate...when I can eventually get WP8.1 Update 1 to install!!!
I wish this would work well in my car. With WP8 it was perfect, when you opened tellme or if you got turn by turn from here drive it would pause the music say its info and then when it was done it would resume music. Ever since 8.1 if I activate cortana it works great but then it doesn't close the voice menu on the deck so I have to push close on the deck to resume music, same is true with turn by turn from here drive and it is super annoying.
i cant wait to get this update and the wife will be also surpirsed when she finds out her phone will have these features also
This is sooo nice!!!
My 2013 Nissan Altima works with my windows phone. Before Cortana it would get my reponses 50% right. Now after Cortana its up to about 90%. Its funny she will not send a curse word, and also is it just me or does each time a text message comes in she says something different. Like when I am doine she sometimes will say "Sent" or "I sent your message". I love the fact that with my phone connected to my car listening to XM satellite radio anytime a text comes in it Cortana automatically tells me who the text is from and if I want to reply or Ignore. Just loving this update 1!!!!
None of that is new, but it's MUCH better implementation being able to initiate Cortana from the "call" button!
This works famously. I have a Ford with MyFordTouch and with this feature now available, it is perfect for me.
This works in my 2010 Mazda 6, but it just shows that 555 number in my phone book; it doesn't say Cortana. Anyone else?
On my Nissan, I was able to rename the contact and even pronounce it.
This works in my Honda. I had to make the car import my contacts. Great feature.
My only gripe, if you can call it that, is that I feel like the call shouldn't "hang up" after an inquiry. For example, I tried this in the car today: "Call Cortana" <tone>
"Find good restaurants in the area."
"Here are some restaurants near you with good reviews." (Mind you, I have my phone mounted where I can see it) <call ends>
"Call Cortana" <tone>
"Choose the first one."
"OK, Bob Evans is ... <whatever details it said>." <call ends>
"Call Cortana"
"Get me directions."
"Getting directions..." <call ends, navigation begins> Now, sure, it worked fine, but each time the call ends I had to reinitiate a new call by doing the annoying button press and prompts. I have a Nissan Altima (2014), and I did find out I can double-press call button to bypass instructions (going to look for other shortcuts too), but it's still cumbersome. I think it would be easier if the call stayed active on "hands free" mode like any other call until the End Call button is pressed. That is, Cortana should continue in active listening mode for the whole call.
i would try out but i do not know if with the Radio system that comes the Citroen C3 could , is an RD4/m for the current tell me i activate the tellme from the windows key on my phone but could heard and give orders via the car microphone and listen the audio of tellme via the speakers, just i hope does cortana via hot word like the google now with the OK google which works in my slate7+ tablet
My car isn't that new...
I have been using cortana in my car since it was released. It surprises me that it is a new feature.
Although my car's Bluetooth is recognized as headset and not as speakers
For me I only press the phone commands button and Cortana it's there to help me
Odd, when I hit the button in my car running 8.1 (no Cortana), it does make a call to Cortana already, although not as a contact to Cortana. HERE Drive works the same way - it makes the car think I'm calling someone.
Tried this in my 2012 Subaru Legacy. Works great, even when streaming Bluetooth! I'm glad I made the switch back to Windows Phone. Even though I'm using my cracked Lumia 920, its far better than the OS my Galaxy S4 had and is worth the tradeoff.
Also, this feature is only handy when the phone is in my pocket or out of reach. Much easier to just press the search button and Cortana interrupts whatever is playing on my stereo. And I read other comments about having to recall Cortana when the first question is asked, but my Legacy doesn't seem to have that issue. Aa long as Cortana is listening, the cars phone feature stays activated.
Hey guys. Just to let you know with the update 1 the phone never needs to be unlocked to use Cortana. Therefore, you will not experience that problem of "Cortana, what's my schedule tomorrow?" "Please unlock your phone first."
If you held down the voice command button it activated Cortana even before this release. Vehicle: BMW (2014)
That Honda sounds like Cortana
Tested it out; didn't get the Cortana phone book entry but Bluetooth was already paired prior to installing the update. I added it manually and it works fine. 2010 BMW.
This has been working in my car for a while, but with my Kenwood stereo...just press and hold the TEL button and Cortana listens through the Bluetooth/hands free Mic
Anyone knows how to or if this works with an Alpine car stereo? It has Bluetooth and I can pair my phone to it. I never hear cortana saying anything just my deck rings through the speakers :(
This is all nice, but useless to me with my Ativ S unfortunately. Will remain useless until Samsung releases updated drivers so bluetooth will actually work again. If they ever decide to do so for 8.1. Maybe something WPCentral can look into? They got contacts @ Samsung? Would be a shame to see the Ativ line running WP8.1 all getting stuck at WP8 because basic things like bluetooth won't work - simply because of lack of updated drivers from Samsung.
Awesome! I hope ms brings the same settings for NFC. I don't have Bluetooth in my 2000 Subaru, new stereos are expensive.
Works great in the UK in a 2014 Skoda Rapid Spaceback.
Works via dialing menu accessible from steering wheel controls or by saying ' call Cortana' as a voice command in my 2013 Ford mondeo titanium. Also works fine with a long press of the main button on the Belkin Bluetooth to aux receiver I use in the other car, although the audio quality for streaming music is a bit lacking compared to the Ford.
Works great on my F-150!!!
I have an Escape. Did you have to do anything with Sync? I can't get it to work. Says the number is no longer working.
Nothing more than just pairing my phone to Sync. You have 8.1 update 1 on your phone? I had to add a contact in my phone as Cortana and give it a fake number. Once I was in the car i asked to call Cortana and it worked great.
Nice feature.
I initially had issues on my Chevy Volt because the Cortana contact had no phone number. I put in my cell number but that made it call my voicemail so I changed the number to * and it worked. I have had times that it worked great but other times it seems to turn off the Mic when Cortana is asking for more information (Especially when setting up a reminder). Overall it seems great, I can now add voice notes to onenote and send texts hands free which is huge.
Hi, looked through only a short number of posts so I'm sorry if I'm duplicating information. This hidden contact method does work for the Cadillac CUE enabled ATS. Unfortunately, there is no direct pass through (long press), so I am thankful at least the Call Cortana option works. CUE voice recognition is dreadful so access to my phone is helpful. Oh, at first I didn't see the hidden contact so manually added it to my phone. Then once connected as documented here it appeared as a duplicate contact in CUE. I also had to create a local contact, I'll test later and see if that is due to the duplicate contact seen by CUE.
Doesn't work. Adds the phonebook entry. Opens Cortana when the entry is dialed, but cannot hear anything from me. Any suggestions?
Have you tried going to the WP Settings -> Bluetooth -> Advanced button, then placing a checkmark in the box labeled "Use alternate method..."? That works around some BT speech issues with some cars.
Can I use voice to drive a car?
+820 works gr8 on my 2010 VE Holden commodore down here in New Zealand even understands my Kiwi accent :)
Could anyone Explain how to customize Reply message while on Quiet Hours.
In Quiet Hours, it has a default reply message i.e the user currently busy.. ... etc. I need to customize it. Is there any solution to customize it ?
I have a Ford Escape. When I get an incoming text my dash reads Cortana Cell. But I cannot use the phone or voice command on my steering wheel to call. Verizon chimes in and says it is not a working number. Has anyone come across this?
Am I missing something? I can do a hands free call to Cortana and I can ask her things but the responses just appear in text on the phone. I can't find any setting for Cortana to speak answers and even if I could, it might not help because she hangs up the call almost instantaneous after I ask her comething. She would need to speak over bluetooth not muffled sounds from my pocket. FYI I'm using a 1530.3 on CYAN.
You'd think this would be easier to do with MICROSOFT Sync in my Ford. I'll have to mess around with it a bit more and then try adding the contact directly.
Anyone know the number to program for Cortana in Australia? the 555 number does not work.
I'm having this problem too. I notice if I activate cortana by holding the search button on my phone though, my Golf system comes up with "Cortana" on the screen now though.
I was excited to try this after downloading cyan but it doesn't work on my Lumia 920. Cortana did not automatically appear in the phonebook on my 2013 Honda Crosstour EXL. I then manually added the contact with the 555-555-9876 phone number but when I try to use it, the phone actually tries to dial that number and I get the automated message "The call you are attempting to place is not allowed from this line." Can anyone help? Thanks.
On my Honda 2014 CR-V, I dial Cortana and it works great once. After that, she gets all confused and won't talk or if she does work, it gets transferred to the phone and disconnects Bluetooth. I have tried every setting I can think of. I have every update including the one from last Friday on my HTC 8x 8.1.
I have the phone connected via Bluetooth to my Uconnect in my avenger, but in order to access her i have to manuall go to my phone and hit the Cortana button. and then she pops on...i tried adding her number to "Call" her and it says its an invalid number. The phone im using is the Lumia 1520. When i get a text/call its fine, but if i want to use her i have to manually go to the phone and activate her, is there something im doing wrong?

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