I am loving the P8! The one little glitch that I can't seem to figure out is when I receive a text message while driving it says on the screen "READ" and when I press it, it tells me something like you have to give Google permission to read your texts and that they have sent a message to my car. I have an iPhone 11 and have granted all of the permissions and allowed notifications so I'm not sure where I am going wrong and can't find the message in the car menu anywhere. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Also, has anyone heard when SiriusXM in-vehicle feature will be available. I am not thrilled with the Google choices for streaming.
Can't get Google to read my text messages
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I think you have to give the car's Google Assistant permission to read your SMS messages. I was able to do this in the car via:
Settings (Gear icon)
-> Applications
-> App Permissions
-> SMS
-> Google Assistant (Allow)
Like most bluetooth phones, it only reads your NEW messages, not stored ones.
Settings (Gear icon)
-> Applications
-> App Permissions
-> SMS
-> Google Assistant (Allow)
Like most bluetooth phones, it only reads your NEW messages, not stored ones.
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Where do you to this on the iPhone? I have an iPhone XR and can't get SMS/text messages to work at all. When pairing, on the P8 screen it says "Edit your phone's settings. Go to your phone's settings and allow access to messages/notifications for this vehicle." I searched through all the settings on my phone and couldn't find where to enable this?
On the iPhone try Settings -> Bluetooth -> Volvo XC40, click the (i)nformation icon, and enable "Show Notifications".
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Ooh sms would be nice.
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THANK YOU!!
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Ooh excuse to go visit with my car I the parking garage 
Sure - once enabled, you can just say "Hey Google, send a text message to <person in your Contacts>" - and it will ask you what you want to say. Works pretty well.
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And a good reason to not have people in your contacts you never want to speak to again … **** I need to go through them
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Settings (Gear icon)
-> Applications
-> Special app access
-> Notification access
-> Google Assistant (Allow)
I have done both sides: Turn on "Show Notifications" on IPhone and on the Car itself, went through the path described above -- still not working. I do see a text message pop up briefly an the top screen but when I press the "read notification" (I believe that's what it says if i remember correctly), Google Assistant STILL says "need to turn on Notification" -- SO i don't know what I'm still missing.
Perhaps it's "enabled no" just need to the "hey google read me new text messages" as suggested by He Keith.
Tic co Tic toc
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Google will fail as an Automotive OS if they expect people to really dig into these menus like geeky people on their Android phone. They need to find an easier way to do this. I am will to bet that if Apple ever does a Automotive OS it will be far simpler to use. I have been an Android person for years, but am growing tired of all the hoops and inconsistencies in the Android ecosystem. Wife's XC40 and Sense were a breeze to get set up and going. As flexible as Google is with how you can talk to it, if you can't get half of it working or working well then what is the point. I don't have time any more to F%[email protected] with stuff to make it work, it needs to work out of the box.
It needs to be intuitive, period. PLUS, there's already TSLA to benchmark against - so reverse engineering should in theory speed up an upgraded/improved version!
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Yeah and stability is as bad as TSLA now, I have instance where when I go to make a call it says I need to update my settings in notification, WTF? I did that the other day and it was working fine then. I knew an EV was a little bit if a beta tester, but I am beginning to think this is an Alpha testing experience, who did QA on this stuff?
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Obvious answer to who did the qa on this stuff drum roll. Us
I want to believe that it's a good product (not great yet....always things to improve on)....BUT it was pre-maturely rolled out. BUT, they can make up for it depending on how quickly they and well they (i) handle damage control (ii) fix the issues (iii) minimally keep posting to keep Customer up to speed with milestones -- no one like to be blindsided or have ZERO clue
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I am still glad they got it out when they did because I am enjoying the **** out of it.
However I do agree with you in. For a non technical person without access to this board it would be an aweful experience.
However I do agree with you in. For a non technical person without access to this board it would be an aweful experience.
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I would have loved to been in the planning meetings. I am sure someone said Google OS will be ready for the Recharge our flagship (non-Polestar) intro EV. No backup plan to continue with Sense. They some point last year I am sure then the conversation was Wait Google OS is not ready", Marketing: The car needs to get released, what can be trimmed to hit the date. Engineering: VOC, some common sense things and a list of things we have not fully QAed. Marketing: Hit the date do what you need to trim it back to hit the date.
Honesty, the Polestar line should have been the Google models first, I get it that would have meant parallel OS development, but Sense was better baked and and with the recent CPU updates is just one of the best Infotainments systems I have seen. I bet the C40 gets pushed out a bit and they will blame most of it on the chip shortage, I also see there is no news on the 22 XC40 Recharge as I bet they are pausing to get things stable and on track because releasing more EVs in this stage would overwhelm them with things to fix.
We basically signed up for "pre-production engineering samples" to work out the kinks and provide feedback to Volvo. My guess is they know the market (us) for this car would be more tolerant of that as a higher end EV at this price point only appeals to a specific crown in general.
Honesty, the Polestar line should have been the Google models first, I get it that would have meant parallel OS development, but Sense was better baked and and with the recent CPU updates is just one of the best Infotainments systems I have seen. I bet the C40 gets pushed out a bit and they will blame most of it on the chip shortage, I also see there is no news on the 22 XC40 Recharge as I bet they are pausing to get things stable and on track because releasing more EVs in this stage would overwhelm them with things to fix.
We basically signed up for "pre-production engineering samples" to work out the kinks and provide feedback to Volvo. My guess is they know the market (us) for this car would be more tolerant of that as a higher end EV at this price point only appeals to a specific crown in general.
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I want to enjoy it more, but in less than a week and only 70 miles I am on first name basis with Ke*** in Customer Care who is in Canada, I even know her work hours and have another appointment tomorrow to walk through these issues. I thinks we have swapped over 2 dozen emails already.
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