Here’s a Simple Fix For iPhone 4 And TomTom Car Kit [How To]

Leander Kahney ()

Here’s a Simple Fix For iPhone 4 And TomTom Car Kit [How To]

I was gutted to find this morning that my brand new iPhone 4 didn’t work with my beloved TomTom Car Kit — the best automotive cradle/charger for the iPhone, bar none.

The iPhone 4 fits in the cradle OK, but it doesn’t charge. Discovering this filled me with disappointment. I love the TomTom Car Kit (which costs $100 but is well worth it). It holds the iPhone just where I want it for navigation and music. It charges the iPhone, and boosts the GPS signal when using TomTom’s excellent navigation app. And it doesn’t move, even if I clumsily bash on the iPhone’s screen with my big sausage fingers.

So I’m delighted there’s a simple and inexpensive fix for the charging issue — a small strip of velcro.

As Engadget tipster Ben Peacock Martin Alaniz discovered, you cut a small strip of velcro (the soft side) and stick it to the back of the Car Kit cradle, just behind the dock connector.

There is no need to attach anything to the iPhone itself. The velcro acts as a cushion holds the moving part of the cradle flat, pushing the Car Kit’s electrical contacts against the iPhone’s. Simple and cheap.

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Here’s a video showing how it works:

Via Engadget.

23 comments »

About the author

Leander Kahney

is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac, and author of three books about technology culture: Inside Steve’s Brain, the New York Times bestseller about Steve Jobs; Cult of Mac; and Cult of iPod. Leander has written for Wired, MacWeek, Scientific American, and The Guardian in London. Follow Leander on Twitter @lkahney and Facebook.

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Posted in How-To, iPhone, iPhone & iPod Accessories, News, Tips & Tricks |

  • Richard Bennett

    Brilliant, works a treat. Many thanks.

  • Chris

    You made my Day! Works perfect!

  • http://andypiper.co.uk Andy Piper

    I came up with a similar solution using a piece of foam rubber:
    http://youtu.be/t_KA7INIP68?hd=1

  • Helius

    Huh – This doesn’t seem to work for me :(

  • Helius

    My bad – The velcro was too slim. I think that Andy Piper’s one is a bit better, TBH. The foam is thicker and doesn’t compress so much. Now it’s working. Anyway, thanks to both of you – The idea of having to buy a new mount when TomTom release it was really sticking in my craw. Instead I did it for nothing – I love a good kludge.

  • William

    my trick was to use one of my daughters hair elastics (about an inch and a half in diameter). I wrap it once around the base of the car kit with the elastic covering the top part of the toggle. It actually fits perfectly between the audio and power cables. Then when I put in my phone, its just the right amount of shim to engage the power. The upside is that it slips easily out of the way so my wife can still use her 3G on the dock. I like the simple solutions that give me universality.

  • heather

    thank you! thank you! thank you! thank you! You’re right, this IS awesome!

  • Tarus

    Does anyone know if the car kit works with an iPhone 4 and the bumper? I remember reading that you had to remove the 3Gs from any case to use the car kit.

  • heather

    Ok, I used the velcro and now it’s charging. But I’m still having trouble connecting to bluetooth. Anyone else experiencing this problem? I was able to get it working yesterday and today I’m back to no connection. Could it be the new antenna?

  • http://www.unitedgrooveworkers.com Mike

    I was thrilled when I saw that the new iPhone 4 fit in the cradle, then a sickness took over when it wasn’t charging and the Bluetooth wouldn’t pair.

    I found your solution and though I didn’t have any Velcro laying around, I did have a 3M double sided foam square and a small piece of black nylon strap. I cut the square to the right size, stuck on the strap as a pad and put in the phone… the familiar “badeep” sounded-off indicating it was charging… and bluetooth paired right up.

    I love a free and elegant solution! Thanks for publishing the cure!

  • Stevo

    @Heather

    I have a Bumper fitted to my iPhone 4 but it won’t fit in the TomTom car kit cradle with it on. Too tall and gets in the way of the holding clip at the top.

  • Captain

    I m not sure if its just me or nobody notice this issue with this fix. Yes, it charges the phone and the Bluetooth will pair up fine and the speaker phone will work as it should. But if you download the tomtom car kit apps (free) and check the status, it isn’t dock. Meaning when you are using your GPS apps, its still using the phone GPS chip but not the chip in the car kit. Now, travelling in an urban area like downtown San Francisco, the iPhone 4 GPS just not going to cut it. I hope tomtom will give us a discount when the new kit arrive or if they have a better fix for this.

  • Jim

    @Heather – I have the same problem – power is fine and pairs once but then when it’s removed and put back in the Bluetooth won’t connect – any ideas anyone? Ta,

    Jim

  • Steve P

    Excellent, you just saved me £70.
    Thanks.

  • http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com NoahFence

    Quick fix… No mod required!
    1. Insert iPhone4 in TomTom Car Kit.
    2. Turn vehicle on and turn volume up on stereo.
    3. Place thumbs on bottom, front of phone and fore-fingers on the back of the kit.
    4. Give it a slight squeeze. (You will hear charger activate)
    5. Fire up Trapster, Pandora & TomTom and hit the road!

  • Rich H

    Thanks so much dude !! Works like a charm !!

  • Gster

    What I did was to taped the entire rocking connector against the back of the tomtom cradle support using a Velcro strip. This has fixed the issue of occasionally not getting a Bluetooth connection because the Velcro is too thin.

  • Luc

    Another question tomtom don’t know if the present version 1.4.1 of their navigation is working correct on the iphone4. Is it working fine? Is anybody facing any problems? I have the iphone 4 and would like to buy tomtom and the carkit :-) I also can not connect my bluetooth to anything! Apple & T-mobile (NL) state that the iphone4 only connects to some bluetooth devices. They don’t mind if it does not work :-(

  • http://motorz.tv Chris

    Just curious… a few problems with the iPhone 4 and the car kit have been discussed:

    1. Bluetooth/speakerphone doesn’t work (someone here said it works fine though)

    2. Car kit’s GPS doesn’t work and it still uses the iPhone 4′s internal GPS

    Can anyone confirm that there are any real problems with using the iPhone 4 besides padding the trigger point?

  • Marco

    Same here, charging yes, bluetooth no, GPS in TT carkit app no

  • Mike B

    At last, some bright spark at TomTom figured it out also and they will send you a free adapter – http://www.tomtom.com/page/iphone-4-adapter

    MAB

  • http://janetfouts.com Janet Fouts

    Why didn’t I think of that? I’ve been dropping a penny behind the iphone when I put it in the cradle. Works too but a silly work around to say the least!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ava-Roberts/657799436 Ava Roberts

    Tom Tom car kit does have a little adapter for
    the iphone4, a tiny little black rectangular piece of plastic. Its chip is
    under a protective strip of non sticky paper which you need to peel off first
    then you stick it to another rectangular piece that lies at the base of the Tom
    Tom car kit before putting the iphone4 in the cradle. Then you go to settings,
    general, Bluetooth and switch Bluetooth on. It searches for
    devices and finds the Tom Tom car kit. Click on it to connect. You can use the Tom Tom
    car kit to charge your phone, navigate, listen to music, and have hands free
    calling all at the same time. This is a neat little gadget.