How to Hook Your Cell Phone Wirelessly Through Your Car Radio

Bluetooth is a communication protocol that allows devices to interact wirelessly. Using Bluetooth technology, you can hook up your cellular phone to play audio through your car’s radio. Your telephone will relay the audio to a separate device known as a Bluetooth radio transmitter. The transmitter will broadcast the audio onto an FM station that your car can pick up on. This can allow you to communicate hands free while driving, making it safer and easier to make phone calls on the go.

Things You'll Need

  • Bluetooth-enabled cell phone
  • Bluetooth radio transmitter

Setup the radio transmitter. Plug the device into your cigarette lighter and turn on it. Choose a default radio station. Preferably, designate a radio station that is not in use in your area. This will ensure there is not interference with the FM transmission.

Enable Bluetooth on your phone. Most phones do not keep Bluetooth enabled full time because of the extra power usage required. On the majority of phones, you can enable Bluetooth by going to the tools section under the main menu, then selecting the Bluetooth category. Once in the Bluetooth category, there should be an option to toggle it on or off. Turn it on. If Bluetooth is not listed under the tools category, refer to your instruction manual on how to enable Bluetooth.

Pair the two devices. Turn your phone’s Bluetooth scan on. This is located in the Bluetooth category. The scan puts your phone in a mode that allows other devices to see that it is accepting connections. You should receive a connection request from the radio transmitter asking for a password. A popular password used for accepting Bluetooth connections is 0000. If this does not work, please refer to the manual for the transmitter, as each device may have a different assigned password.

Tune your car radio to the preset station configured on the radio transmitter. The radio station and the radio transmitter must be synched to the same station in order for your car speakers to receive the transmission.