GM Discontinues OnStar Phone Feature: Exclusive
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GM Authority has learned that General Motors is officially discontinuing its OnStar phone feature, otherwise known as Hands-Free Calling, or HFC. The feature was first made available in the late ‘90s, making it the first built-in calling features provided by an automaker on the market.
For those who may be unaware, the Hands-Free Calling OnStar phone feature is a separate system from the Bluetooth-based smartphone hands-free calling system. Operated primarily via voice recognition and/or the central infotainment screen, the system enables phone calls without the need of a separate cell phone. Users purchase minutes through OnStar, and each vehicle is assigned a unique phone number, enabling both outbound and inbound calls.
Initially, the OnStar phone feature was a unique offering, and because it hit the market prior to the proliferation of cell phones (way before there was even such a thing as smartphones), it was definitely ahead of its time. But now, with the majority of customers already owning a Bluetooth-equipped smartphone that can connect to just about any modern infotainment system, the OnStar HFC system is more or less obsolete.
“We routinely evaluate our services to provide the best experience for our members,” General Motors’ Advanced Technology Communications, OnStar and Connectivity representative, Stephanie Lang told GM Authority. “In this spirit, we have decided to discontinue HFC for MY20 and newer vehicles. Members can use Bluetooth pairing, or Apple CarPlay and Android Auto projection, to make phone calls while keeping their hands on the wheel.”
That said, a particular subset of people – particularly those who don’t own a cell phone – may not like the departure of the OnStar phone Hands-Free Calling feature. That said, the amount of people who don’t own at least some kind of a cell phone, be it a traditional mobile device or a smartphone, is dwindling every day.
It’ll be interesting to see which legacy OnStar features will be phased out next. Turn-by-turn navigation seems like one possibility, given most smartphones come equipped with similar capabilities… but at this point, that’s mere speculation.
Update: Ms. Lang has informed us that Hands Free Calling will remain active for members with model year 2019 or older vehicles, and that these members will still be able to buy HFC minutes.
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No did you not understand what I said? Hands-free On Star calling. Unless it’s different in Canada which I doubt because as a rule, GM treats us CDN’s like second class citizens. I told you it did not work when I got the Buick on Sept 13/19 it did not work they got an appointment and had it fixed for me it works great! Your dealer is screwing you over 2019 car still have it! Nothing to do with sinking your cell phone. All 2020 do not have it and if my car did not have I would not subscribe to on star!
Was just told that i needed to have paired phone in the car for voice recognition to even speak at all. I see no need to have speech recognition at all if phone needs to be present. That means no voice assistance at all for navigation, radio control etc. Spoiled another good thing,
I have had car phones since 1988 and I prefer them to bluetooth. It is true that you needed a second phone to carry on you but the car phone was far superior. Once Bluetooth was introduced, I specifically went back to Cadillac since that was the only brand that featured onstar with handsfree calling. In 2013 I decided to switch over to Lincoln and for the first time I had to rely on bluetooth. My issues were as follows. There were certain times my phone would not pair, there were times, the contacts would nto download, there were times thjat the bluetooth connection would be lost during a call, I always had to have my smartphone on me to use the “Car” phone, the smartphone always had to be charged, the smartphone had to be functional, you needed to make sure you always had a charging cord, and the signal was poor due to the antenna being inside the smartphoen instead of externally onthe car. For privacy (when the car is parked and children or other adults are in the car) you woudl ahve to search for your smartphone and push a privacy button or simply deactivate bluetooth. WHen the car is moving it is dangerous because you invariably start looking for your smartphone in your pocket for privacy. I havegone through two more cars now hoping the system, woudl improve. I now have a 2020 Continental and the system has not improved. I planned on trading the vehicle in for a Cadillac for the sole purpose of having Onstar Hansfree calling again . I am veryh dissapointed that it is being discontinued. WIth the Onstar or any built in car phone, the phone is always there, charged and ready to use, It is connected to the external antenna adn as a result there is a much better signal. There are no connection issues adn the contacts do not have to always download. If you have a smartphone with bluetooth connected and the phone is not charged, you plug it in to the port but you have to wait for it to power up. Most people will start to drive anyway before this happens. If you get into an accident, good luck. There are no safety features available because your smart phonedid nto charge yet. What happens if the charging wire no longer works or your child borroed it?
What happens if you forget yoru phone at home? What happens if your phone simply stops functioning? YOU ARE LOST!
My idea would be to use the cloning technology which is available with an apple watch.
All of the car phoen software would be built into the system. I would also include a handset in the armrest for privacy just like the original models, this handset woudl only work when the car is not moving or moving less than 5MPH,
You woudl simply enter the phone number of yoru smartphone into the system and the system would capture it. You would now always have the phoen connected, ready to use and connected to the external antenna. You would not need your smartphone to operate it. THis would revolutionize the industry.
I like your thinking. I’m still irked that the whole Onstar feature was taken away. I’m holding on to my older model Yukon, because I don’t want to give up the convenience of having a dedicated onstar phone.
I would consider buying a new GM vehicle – in fact, 3 of them, for the 3 older models we have…with dedicated Onstar phone numbers. Where we live its so rural, we need to have satellite phones.
I found a way to get to GM for the discontinuation of the phone feature on OnStar. I traded both of my GM cars for a Chrysler and a Jeep. If you don’t listen to your loyal customers, you will lose them. Would love to have the satelite phone, but now any car will give me the same thing I can get with a GM product.
I like that Anthony. We always went with GM because the Onstar feature was vital to the operation of our business. Now they can’t deliver that and when it’s time to change vehicles (in total we own 6 GM vehicles), other car manufacturers are definitely going to be looked at because of their short sighted move.
So no more asking on star what the diagnosis is when the check engine light comes on?
I don’t know any other service that can tell me exactly why my check engine light is on..
which has came up on a couple Buick’s and Chevy impala…
Saved my butt a few times when the Machanic would tell me it was something completely different
The OnStar support services still work as normal, it’s just now you can’t buy minutes to call anyone when you don’t have your cellphone working for whatever reason.