I borrowed my Mom’s Honda Civic and paired my iPhone to the Bluetooth system. Now I want to have the car forget and delete my phone before I return it. How can I do that? It’s a 2022 Civic.
Given how easy it is to pair a smartphone with a modern car’s infotainment system, it’s shocking to me how often I see people driving while holding their phone to their ear or just holding it 3″ from their mouths as they’re driving! Hands-free might not be perfect in terms of audio quality but being able to have your attention on the road and both hands on the wheel is so much safer. Indeed, it’s also the law in many states; hands-free or not phone usage while driving. In fact, 27 states, along with Washington D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands prohibit drivers from using hand-held cellphones while driving.
Pairing your phone with your own vehicle is an obvious win, but then what about loaner cars or a friend’s car? If you’re on a road trip with a pal, it makes sense to pair both phones, particularly for sharing music on those long, tedious hours in the vehicle. When you’re done, though, just like with borrowing a car from a friend or family member, it’s time to delete and forget it.
Shortcuts: Find Your Phone | Delete Your Phone | Confirm It’s Gone
Why? Because every time your paired phone reconnects with the car, it downloads your entire contact list and phone history. That’s right, your car knows the last dozen calls you made and who you’re not answering when they call! Deleting that pairing sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? I had a 2023 Honda Accord on hand so here’s how I had it forget and delete my own phone from its system…
FIND THE PAIRED DEVICE LIST ON A HONDA
Start by pushing on the Home button then swiping right-to-left to reveal the “General Settings” tile on the infotainment system:
Notice that as I’m doing this, I’m also listening to some jazz music (the great Ella!) streaming from my phone, as shown on the right side.
Once you tap on “General Settings” you’ll see this:
Now tap on “Connections” on the Honda infotainment system.
It will show you the various types of connections, though your Mom’s Honda might not have Wi-Fi:
To actually find the list of known smartphones and other devices (since you can ostensibly also pair a tablet if it has Bluetooth) tap on “Manage Device Connections“.
In this instance, my phone’s the only one known by the Honda. Yours will probably show both your phone and your Mom’s phone, and possibly even more devices.
HOW TO DELETE A PHONE FROM A HONDA
To proceed, tap on the name of the phone. In my case, “iDave 15 Pro“. This will show more information about the device:
You can see that I was using my iPhone for both CarPlay and Bluetooth. But it’s the buttons on the top right that are what’s important here: Disconnect and Delete Device.
What’s the difference? Disconnect will temporarily unpair from your phone, but the next time the vehicle starts up, it will again look for the phone and automatically pair it if found. Delete Device will both disconnect it and remove it from the known devices list, so that the next time the vehicle starts up, it will not try to pair because it won’t know the phone exists.
The latter is the button to tap, so tap on “Delete Device“. It will confirm this is what you desire:
I’m one tap away from losing Ella on the radio and CarPlay in addition to regular phone music and phone functionality. But I’m ready. A tap on “Delete” and the music stops and my phone’s forgotten by the Honda infotainment system:
The “iDave 15 Pro deleted” confirmation only lasts on screen for a few seconds, then it’s gone and I have 0 of 6 possible devices known by the vehicle. Note also that the music on the right has vanished and now it just warns “No Device Connected”.
CONFIRM YOUR PHONE IS GONE
Want to double check that it’s been erased? Press on the Phone button on the steering wheel as if you wanted to make a phone call. Since there are no paired phones, you’ll see this error message:
Don’t forget to now go into Settings > Bluetooth on your iPhone and delete your Mom’s car from your phone’s known connections and pairings list too. Mission accomplished.
Pro Tip: I’ve been writing about basic computing, including automotive systems, for many years. Please check out both my auto tech help and computer basics tutorials to see what other helpful articles I’ve written!