OnlyMe

I do not want to sync it from my cell phone. I would have thought there would be a feature to manually add numbers on such a sophisticated vehicle!

Moreover, after I paired and synched my iPhone, I see _most_ of the contacts from the phone appearing on the vehicle, but not all!

Any ideas?

TIA.

BertL

Dialing a number manually.. I'd have to look closely at the interface as I've never wanted to take my eyes off the road that long to do it that way by moving the controller around and point and clicking -- everything I have is a preset number or in my contacts -- but if standard Lexus voice recognition works for you, you should be able to press the voice button on your steering wheel and then say something like "Dial xxxyyyzzzz" and the number should dial. You can of course always also go or call your local Lexus Dealership and talk to the Technology Specialist who is there to help with these sorts of questions.

Unsure what iPhone model you have (I don't think it makes a difference) or if you're using Windows or OSX with Apple Mail to accomplish the task -- it will vary about how the whole syncing thing works with what your situation is and a possible solution may be. I'll assume you have an iPhone using a Mac and Apple Mail with iTunes, as that is what I use.

Regardless, if you have an iPhone, after you've successfully paired it with your RX (like you have, I assume), go to Settings; then Bluetooth, then select the device listed that is your already-paired RX (mine is called RX450h because I changed it to that name on the Lexus Nav display); When you select the "RX450h" or whatever yours is called, a screen will come up -- you likely have Sync Contacts already enabled -- good. You should have your Groups Checked (like Phone Favorites and Phone Recents if you want to see those on the Lexus) and the most important is then to select "All Contacts". If you don't have "All Contacts" checked, you will only get a few contacts sync'd for the other groups you may or may not have checked... make sense? (For some, this whole selective groups thing is a good way if you have some contacts flagged for say work, and only want personal contacts to flow to you car, or some other subset should you not want 100% on your phone to flow to the RX.) Check all those settings first though -- it's the first step. Assuming you have that done, and you can see them on your iPhone using the normal Address Book App, all those contacts should flow up to the RX the next time your phone connects with the RX -- give it a little time if you have a lot of entries for all to get there -- it can take a couple minutes if you have hundreds of entries.

Next, if that does not do the trick and you are on Windows and/or using Outlook to manage contacts on your workstation before they flow to your phone, two things we identified long ago (search for that thread) is 1) there is a maximum number of contacts your Lexus can hold at one time and it will then stop syncing (it's 1K+ BTW), AND IIRC, 2) there were issues the guy had with Windows Outlook not providing all the contacts over to iTunes running in Windows, so that the iPhone connected to iTunes would receive everything to then send to the RX. I can no longer recreate a Windows Outlook environment here at home to assist if that is your situation, or remember the way those screens look to point you further, so if someone else here can't help, the Technology Specialist is where you should go...

BertL

Manual Dial Procedure.

Just went out and did this on my 2013 RX450h with Nav, calling my home land line from my iPhone.

• Turn the RX ON or in Accessory Mode
• After everything initializes and you're beyond any "continue" screen...
• Press the off-hook phone icon on the steering wheel
• Use the controller to enter your number using the displayed numeric pad-- just move the controller around and push down to select the numbers you want
• When the complete number is entered, press the off-hook phone icon on the steering wheel again and it dials the number
• Press the on-hook (hang-up) phone icon on the steering wheel to terminate the call if you do it before the other person

kitlz

But the above will not work when you're driving. Use voice commands instead. And there's a limit to how many numbers will transfer.

OnlyMe

Thank you both for the helpful responses.

Bert, I have a 2013 model just like you. And, I love it! But my wife, who drives it, has an accent, which causes issues with the voice activated dialing. I have an iPhone 5S and she has a 4 and I am a Windows man. Both synched just fine. But, I spent over 30 minutes muddling around trying to find a way of manually adding it. Having used complicated electronics all my life, I have noticed there are always ways to do something manually, overriding automated controls. Why the Lexus engineers did not include this feature is beyond me.

In your second post, you mentioned how to dial using the steering wheel controls. Fair enough. But, after I make my first call, can I save it on the vehicle?

What you mentioned does make me wonder if I had synched All Contacts. Possibly not, perhaps, the reason I see only some from my phone. I am light years away from the 1000 maximum. I am interested only in synching family - maximum 5 numbers. I can use Outlook and follow your suggestions easily, as I am in I.T. It is the Lexus I am trying to figure out. LOL.

Thank you.

kitlz

Previous calls will be there so in a sense, they are saved. And your wife shouldn't be offended when the nav lady (kind way to describe her) doesn't understand. I think she doesn't like some male members around here too, LOL! But you might to upgrade your wife's phone. Take a look at this recent thread from another member talking about problems with the 4. I put in a link to Lexus' bluetooth site. From there hopefully you can decipher what will and will not work.

BertL

I also spent my entire professional career in software, hardware, services, consulting, technical support and the like. Remember, sometimes, features we as consumers think would be great, get nixed by lawyers... IMHO, given all the State laws about no texting while driving, leads me to believe that no major corporation is going to include some capability that would cause a driver to take their eyes off the road for too long. Entering a number manually while driving, then wanting to store it (and where do you want to store it -- favorites or not, and by what name -- oh yeah, you'd have to enter that too and take your eyes off the road... See where my logic is going? Similar issue when it comes to technical support -- some owners of vehicles are technically proficient, others are far from it, and a company has to make a vehicle that is a compromise between both of those types of consumers, as well as that will work to hopefully head off future types of spurious litigation... I used to work with lawyers and led quality assurance teams trying to bring products or services into the market, and do one-off deals with clients -- and all those considerations came into play. You likely get what I suspect is the situation, even if you still want the functionality.

...and no, if you use voice dial, you can't then tell your RX to save it. I can't do that in my MBZ either that has a far more sophisticated Infotainment system and built-in voice control. Lexus Voice Control is lightyears behind Siri.

My suggestion. Be sure you have all the contacts you eventually want to get down to your RX FIRST on your iPhone -- all of that has nothing to do with Lexus or your RX. Then, double check the bluetooth group settings as I mentioned. Once you get the bigger collection of contacts down to your phone and to your RX, you can fiddle with Outlook and put in the method that will assign a limited number of your contacts to what becomes a group on your iPhone. Find that old thread I was mentioning about Outlook, iPhone, etc. -- something tells me I still remembered a bit more of what you need to do in Outlook back in those days. While I ran Windows since the very first version back in the day up through V7 and had Outlook on my personal machine at home, I became a Mac-only guy nearly 4 years ago, so, well, you get why the Windows world has become pretty fuzzy for me, especially with crazy Windows V8 that just blows my mind. Good luck.

OnlyMe

Thanks for the explanation, Bert - that is something that never occurred to me! Drivers taking their eyes off the road for too long, entering a number manually while driving, etc. are logistical problems. All it takes is a handful of idiots to spoil it for the rest of us! I now see the logic.

I will follow your instructions. I think that is as close as one can get to the solution.

Oh, me too - I love Windows 7. Windows 8 is a hodgepodge created by moving this over there, that over here, a cosmetic abortion with no real long-term value...tinkering with a good thing only serves to confuse the user. I was tending to think that the Lexus phone system was something akin to that, but with your explanation, I see it a little clearer. Thanks.

wa3cuj

For what it's worth, I am the other person on the planet that uses a Windows phone :-)

Why don't you just set up speed dial numbers for the few people you want to call. Those numbers will only be available when your phone's Bluetooth connection with the car is connected. Then you just hit the off hook and cursor the speed dial tab, select the person, and your in business.

OnlyMe

Thanks, Anita. I will go to that site. I think she will stick to the iPhone 4. Even I like it as it smaller than the 5 and easier to hold in your hand.

OnlyMe

If I understand it correctly, that works only; for your Windows phone, right?

Yeah, I have been cursing the speed dial tab.

kitlz

I hope the bluetooth site is helpful, the rest of the thread maybe not so much since you're a Windows man. But if there's anything to take from it, your wife could be an update away from losing certain functions. Please keep that in mind. And I'm someone who begrudgingly updates or upgrades. Hey, if it ain't broke...LOL!

OnlyMe

LOL...yeah, I am a Windows man all the way for my computers, but iOS / Android for phones. For the amount of time she uses the iPhone (which was a gift to her recently to replace her rudimentary 2005 flip-up phone), I don't think she will even realize anything is amiss. But, since distracted driving laws have been introduced recently, it would be worthwhile for her to use hands-free while driving. Thanks.