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iOS 17.2 could fix in-car wireless charging — after iOS 17.1 broke it

iOS 17 logo on iPhone
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Earlier this year, following the launch of the iPhone 15, some users started reporting problems when trying to wireless charge in their cars. In the case of BMW drivers, the chargers would break their phone’s NFC chip. Meanwhile GM drivers found that iOS 17.1 broke in-car wireless charging altogether.

The BMW issue was apparently fixed in iOS 17.1.1, which is good news for those drivers. The GM problem was a little less serious, since the only symptom was loss of wireless charging in the car. Definitely annoying, but it’s not like you’d need to replace your phone because of your choice of car.

GM confirmed the problem in a statement to The Verge last month. The automaker claimed that it was investigating the problem, but there wasn’t anything it could actually do at the time. Apple’s iOS 17.2 release notes don’t mention GM by name, but it does mention that the update will fix “an issue that may prevent wireless charging in certain vehicles”.

It’s safe to assume that GM cars are the main focus of this particular bug fix, even if Apple hasn’t outwardly said so. Then again there could be other cars suffering from the same problem, and we just don’t know about it. Either way, all affected drivers will have to do is wait for the public version of iOS 17.2 to be released and update their phones accordingly.

Currently the software is only available in beta form, in the iOS 17.2 developer and public betas. You can install the public beta for yourself, if you’re that impatient, but we are expecting iOS 17.2 to launch pretty soon. It could even happen at some point later this week, given all the pre-release prep we’ve seen — release notes being just one part of that.

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Tom Pritchard
UK Phones Editor

Tom is the Tom's Guide's UK Phones Editor, tackling the latest smartphone news and vocally expressing his opinions about upcoming features or changes. It's long way from his days as editor of Gizmodo UK, when pretty much everything was on the table. He’s usually found trying to squeeze another giant Lego set onto the shelf, draining very large cups of coffee, or complaining about how terrible his Smart TV is.