SYNC-3 Upgrade to SYNC-3.4.21xx Ford Says this can't be done, it can, I did it on my 2016 Expedition's SYNC-3.0 System.

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RogerD1959

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Did you know the SYNC-3.4.21xx system can provide directions to any airport in North America just by entering the K+3 letter ICAO/ATA designator for the airport you need directions to. For example, we will use three airports here, John F. Kennedy International, Los Angeles International, and Fond du Lac, Skyport in Wisconsin, to challenge the system and give it something weird to sort out. The K+3 designators are, in the order previously listed, KJFK, KLAX, and KFLD, Enter the 3-letter designator with K first in the search area of the navigation menu address entry bar. If you are a pilot, sorry, it does not always work the new way we do this into an aircraft FMS computer by skipping entry of the K and just entering the 3-letter designator. Only a handful of airports will pull up in SYNC-3 that way. What the system will display is either just the airport, or the airport first, followed by a list of relevancies related to the three letters KJFK, KLAX, or KFLD which may not be airports. What is also neat about this, most of the larger international, or airline hub airports in the SYNC-3.4xx system will display additional pages related to terminal locations, baggage drop-off/pickup, Passenger Dropoff/Pickup, and what terminals serve what arrival and departure gates. It's a Godsend reference if you drive for Uber or Lyft and live in the 300-mile service area of KATW, KMKE, KORD, KIND, KOSH, KGRB, KFLD, KMSN, KRFD, KMDW, or KMKG. I will leave you to run out to your vehicle and punch those in to find out what airports they represent.

Any SYNC-3 system can be upgraded to SYNC-3.4.210xx by going over to CYAN Labs' website. Downloading their SYNC-3 Updater tool, Watching the instruction video, is a MUST DO/WATCH, as this upgrade, if done incorrectly, will brick your system! The update is also NOT REVERSABLE, it cannot be undone, or reverted back to SYNC-3.0.xx. In response to that, it does slightly change the size of the menu icons on the SYNC-3 screens, making them slightly larger which does not compliment the home screen on an 8" touchscreen system, it makes it look crowded, so that is the only negative live with aspect of this upgrade. What you get is a much better way to update the SYNC-3 system moving forward, the updater tool handles everything from the proper formatting of the 32gig thumb drive, transferring the new system onto the drive and setting it up for vehicle installation, and if you have navigation on your system and so choose, that $ 100.00 - $ 150.00 North American Update Ford came out with a year or so ago, this will provide all the maps and traffic features for Mexico, United States, Canada, and Alaska, everything in the N. American Ford Update, plus the system upgrade/update, for the shocking all-inclusive price of $ 0.00, yup! Nothing, zilch, nada! They do encourage donations and I personally have found this resource to be as valuable as this one! So, I need to get back to my month-to-month support of them, my 4th bout with COID-19 Omicron accessorized with Seasonal flu, AFTER being vaccinated, and boosted, has been awful and a bit disruptive to my finances, not even I have 4 months paid sick leave, and I own the company! Finally, this upgrade/update is the real deal, serious, well tested, and well-presented content that is 100% legal, no copyright infringement, no theft of proprietary or intellectual property is taking place regarding Ford and SYNC-3 over at CYAN Labs. The update will also speed up your existing system's screen transitions, and more reliably interface with Apple Car Play and Android Auto, with a much more stable connection via the vehicle USB data port under the center armrest in a 2016 Expedition E.L. It also eliminates all the fuss, guesswork, dysfunction that comes with trying to update SYNC-3 from the Ford Owner Website which usually results in the first attempt being a failed one and use of two separate sets of Ford instructions, applied at the right time in order to get the update to bind to the vehicle on your second try, aggravating, and not very reassuring. CYAN Labs eliminates all of that! After the update is complete, you will take the thumb drive back inside your house and upload the contents to CYAN Labs, NOT FORD!!!! Besides the system does that anyway if it is allowed to connect to public WiFi and run system updates, funny, always wondered why Ford never seems to use this update feature of the SYNC-3 system??? All it seems to mess with is Gracenote. On a 2016 Ford Expedition EL with the SONY head unit, the update takes less than 30 mins, the vehicle engine must be running, transmission in Neutral or Park you can't drive it. With all Bluetooth-enabled devices clear of the vehicle and unable to connect to the vehicle automatically, you do not need to delete them from the SYNC-3 System, and do not disable the Bluetooth feature of the system during the upgrade. Questions, confusion, nothing is stupid so ask, as not asking is ignorant.
 

07mustangman

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Just updated my 2017 Expedition Limited to Sync 3.4 using Cyanlabs. Worked great. Love the new look.
 

Big_O

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I upgraded to 3.4 a couple of months ago and works great using iPhone with CarPlay. A passenger plugged in an android and now CarPlay is not coming up. Do I need to reset something for it to come back?
 

Big_O

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I upgraded to 3.4 a couple of months ago and works great using iPhone with CarPlay. A passenger plugged in an android and now CarPlay is not coming up. Do I need to reset something for it to come back?
It just fixed itself…
 

Tom C

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What I need in any information on an up graded microphone. My 2014 barely understands any vocal requests.
Any one have this problem?
 

wixway

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Does anyone offer a download to update Sync 3 to 3.4 using a MacBook pro computer? Cyanlabs seems to only offer a Windows option.
 

Ellison Brown III

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Finally got this update downloading to a thumb drive. Gonna install it in the truck in the morning. Can’t wait to see the results!!!
 

Ellison Brown III

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Update: got the update done this afternoon. Super easy thanks to the link to the video I watched 4 times. So far I like the upgrade. Didn’t play with it too much. Did like the ability to change background colors.

Thank you so much for posting this information!!!
 
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