Help required with link between My Porsche App and PCM in Boxster 718 4.0 GTS

[kjhurley]

Hi,

I purchased a new Boxster 718 4.0 GTS last year and my local OPC set up everything correctly to enable me to use the My Porsche App on my iPhone to remotely pull back key information from the car (i.e. locked/unlocked status, tyre pressure, trip info etc.).

Unfortunately, I have been plagued with an issue when using (wired) Apple Car Play in that the PCM touchscreen randomly stops working (in Google Maps etc.) and my phone typically has to be unplugged and replugged to correct. I referred this back to the OPC and they in the end fitted a new touchscreen, but pretty soon afterwards the same problem re-occurred.

In trying to resolve this, one of the suggested resolution steps was to manually reset the PCM back to factory settings, which I duly did. This unfortunately did not resolve the touchscreen issue which remains to this day, but that is not the purpose of this post (although any suggestions on this would be greatly welcomed!)

As a result of the reset, I was then required to re-establish all the device connectivity that had been previously configured.

I thought I had done all this successfully, but have realised that whilst the My Porsche App on my phone appears to be remotely connecting to the car, it is not actually pulling back some of the key data that was there originally (i.e. the dynamic information regarding locked/unlocked status, tyre pressures, trip data etc.)

I presume that this means that I need to re-establish the appropriate level of connectivity between the My Porsche App and the car's PCM, but despite going online and following numerous suggested steps, I can't seem to do this. I have double checked that the Privacy setting is set correctly and logged onto the Vehicle's inbuilt Wi-Fi using my phone but cannot seem to find the setting within either the PCM or within the App to re-establish the appropriate level of connectivity between the two of them.

Part of the confusion is that some of Porsche's own help screens still talk about the Porsche Connect app (now discontinued) rather than My Porsche and there are obviously a number of different menu setups dependent on the version of PCM running in the car. Lots of rabbit holes ensue!

Has anyone else encountered this and got any suggestions?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks, Keith

 

[BrianJ]

I have similar car of similar age and have had similar (but not identical) problems. I am about to go out for the day for the first test of one of my hopefully final resolution steps. I'll have more time tomorrow but will then summarise my experiences which may or may not help!

 

[BrianJ]

When I collected my new 718 Boxster GTS 4.0 in Oct 2025 I sat in the car at handover and we appeared to connect my phone with the car. When the car was being built, the My Porsche app showed build and shipping progress, would download the manuals etc but after handover, despite having linked with the car, I could never get it to show the position of the car, fuel level, whether locked etc. I emailed the OPC with questions about this but the best they were frankly pretty useless. Eventually I booked in for the so-called Masterclass, having previously emailed them detailed questions. Going through the detailed questions it eventually dawned on the expert to say "you don't seem to have a contract for Porsche Car Connect" which you need to enable these features. This is a Vodafone service which as I understand it this is non-chargeable for the first 12 months but then becomes chargeable if you want to continue. It is not the same contract as for the confusingly similarly named Porsche service which includes the tracker facility. Somehow the OPC had never asked me about this before I collected the car - the sales people appeared oblivious to the need for it. The OPC "Expert" sent me a link to apply for this contract, which resulted in an email from Vodafone headed up "Porsche Car Connect Service Installation Form" which has an Installation Code on it which the OPC needs to enter (you apparently can't do it yourself) to enable the service. That was another trip to the OPC. Presumably if you previously enabled the app to work, you must have this somewhere but you may need the OPC to reinstall it, unless it has stopped working because your first 12 months has expired. I am not sure that I will bother - although the info is useful (especially away from home), it seems to take ages to update, and frequently shows the wrong status of locking etc unless I close and reopen the app several times. Our 2019 BMW provides similar but more reliable info free for life.

As for CarPlay, I use that entirely for Google Maps. That works perfectly (wirelessly) in our 2019 BMW which I was fortunate to have specified with CarPlay (a chargeable option at the time). So albeit wired, I had expected the 718 to work the same. It didn't. Like you, I frequently had to completely shut down the PCM and restart, and over the last few months I have removed the phone from the PCM and removed the PCM from the phone, changed cables, etc. Other than relinking Bluetooth I have not had to do anything else. Sometimes it works properly and sometimes it doesn't. The most frustrating issues are that usually (but not always) it is impossible to respond to Google Maps alerts about new routes, are road works still there? , Continue after waypointsetc. I had a feeling that maybe the physical contacts in my phone might be the problem, or the cable, but I have tried cleaning/replacing cables etc without any difference. So eventually I decided that because wireless works fine in the BMW I would buy a wireless dongle for the 718. I bought a cheap one (£4.79 incl shipping from China!) which connected fine and after minor adjustment of the sound settings in Google Maps is nearly perfect. Responding to Google Maps messages still doesn't work sometimes but it is much better than the wired solution. I may just be a bit careful about when I respond to "Continue" messages (eg not after turning off the ignition), reboot the PCM occasionally at a convenient time and see how I get on. I keep the phone charged on long journeys using the glovebox USB port but with a £2 data blocker so the PCM doesn't get even more confused, thinking I am plugging in an iPod or similar.

Compared to our BMW the whole My Porsche/CarPlay solution seems (very expensive) string and sealing wax but right now I'm just about OK with it. I can't imagine I'll extend the Vodafone contract - a cheap Airtag-type device allows me to locate the car faster and more reliably but obviously doesn't include the fuel or locking functions.

 

[kjhurley]

Thank you so much for this comprehensive reply, Brian.

In a way, it is good to know that it's not just me, although I realise that's doesn't help either of us!

Like you, our other car is a BMW (X5) and I can concur that the tech in that is so much more intuitive and (mainly) stable. In particular, Apple Car Play and Google Maps work perfectly either wirelessly or wired, without any touchscreen issues whatsoever. This is why I knew it must be something to do with the configuration within the Boxster.

Thanks also for the wireless dongle tip - I will look to explore this myself. On the face of it, it does seem somewhat counter-intuitive as you would have thought a wired connection would be more stable than a wireless one, but who knows with Porsche!! (I have a gut feel without specific proof that heat has some part to play in the issue, as my PCM touchscreen freezes appear to occur more frequently when the temperature is hot or if the phone has been plugged in for a reasonably long period).

I think you are also spot on regarding this other Vodafone contract. I think I lost access to the other functions within My Porsche after the 1st anniversary of having the car, so I am sure it is something to do with this lapsing. I simply hadn't realised there was something else Vodafone related other than the Tracker Contract (which is still active). I'll dig out the original emails between me and my OPC at the point I bought the car to double check this. As you say, this functionality is not vital and does not readily update in any case, but being able to remotely double check that the car is locked does provide some peace of mind. If this requires an expensive contract, however, I certainly will do without it! As you say, the whole inter-relationship between Porsche / Vodafone / the in-car PCM and the My Porsche App is so overly-complicated and not something that even the so-called Tech Gurus at the OPCs seem to fully understand.

Anyway, thanks again for taking the time to respond to my post and I hope you continue to enjoy your Boxster. Hopefully we will meet face to face at an event in the not too-distant future!

All the best, Keith

 

[BrianJ]

Thanks Keith. Subsequently I have found lots of 718 owners in various countries have the same problems with sometimes not being able to respond to Google Maps screen prompts when using CarPlay. There seems to be a consensus that there is some kind of technical glitch about which system thinks it owns the touch screen at any point in time. The earliest queries I have found describing the symptoms I experience go back 4 or 5 years, so it isn’t me! Some answers indicate that if tapping the screen doesn’t work it is worth trying the right hand PCM control knob to select the desired reply and then pushing the button to execute. I have only just found this suggestion and haven’t tried it yet.

Not sure where you are based but I’ll be at the 30 year Boxster event at Gaydon. Yours looks like Lava Orange and there aren’t many of those, so I’ll keep an eye out!
All the best, Brian

 

[kjhurley]

Hi again Brian,

Thanks again for this. I can concur that the touchscreen problem does not appear to be a one-off issue as I found numerous other owners have experienced it when I googled it a while back. I previously had a 911 which did not have any such issue (with the same phone and cable), so I can only assume that the age of the car perhaps has something to do with it (or PCM version?). Unfortunately, no one appears to have got to the root cause yet, however.

I am glad to report that using the right hand PCM control knob does indeed improve things, dependent on what you are actually trying to do with the touchscreen. Until fairly recently, I had almost forgotten what this did as I do not ordinarily use it, but it at least in most cases negates the need to unplug and re plug your phone in (which is not advisable when driving and you are the only one in the car!)

I can also confirm that your insight re Vodafone contracts was spot on. I had forgotten that the Vodafone services are actually split into 3: a) Remote Services, b) Safety Services and c) Security Services. With a new car, access to all these is provided for you at car handover time but for some reason whilst you get 2 years’ worth of b) and c) which takes care of tracking (if you require this) but only 1 year of a) which is the element that enables My Porsche to pull back locked/unlocked status, mileage info, tyre pressure info and trip data. At £110 per year (or £190ish for two years), it is indeed dubious whether this provides value for money. Why it is not all bundled together is anyone’s guess…

You have reminded me that I really must update my profile pic as it shows my previous car, a Pastel Orange 911 Targa GTS whereas my Boxster is a more traditional Carmine Red. Not quite as distinctive!

I am not sure about Gaydon yet, but will try and make it (I’m based in Surrey).

Cheers!