How to use the Toyota Touch and Touch & Go multimedia systems

The Toyota Touch multimedia system features a 6.1-inch touch screen and a rear-view camera. To this, Toyota Touch & Go adds full map satellite navigation, advanced Bluetooth® connectivity for hands-free calling and music streaming, Google® Local Search, real-time traffic updates, safety camera warnings, text messaging and a host of other connected services. In short, it provides everything you need on the go.

We’ve produced a series of how-to videos, each of which guides you through a different feature of Toyota Touch and Touch & Go.

If you want help registering your Toyota Touch system, please visit our customer portal.

Toyota Touch and Touch & Go How to videos:
How to pair your phone
How to make a call and access your phone book
How to play music via Bluetooth or a USB device
How to register your Touch & Go system
How to send and receive a text message
How to use sat-nav features
How to carry out an online search
How to send directions to your car

Touch and Go FAQs

Toyota Touch 2
Got a question about the new Toyota Touch 2 system – being rolled out across various Toyota models in 2014 – then take a look at our dedicated Touch 2 section by clicking the link below.

966 comments

  1. any news?, reading all the way down this blog it seems the system is pretty useless, i cant find any information how to set the file structure so it will stop random playing, if i create a folder with ten chapters of an audio book in it why does it not play them sequentially as every other mp3 device does. Bought this model in the vain hope it would be worth the extra cost, seems like a waste of money. AND the map updates are a scam, i bought a garmin navi with lifetime updates for 110 pounds, 109 pounds for an out of date update once a year is a con. very dissapointed in toyota’s approach. Certainly will not recommend buying this expensive piece of audio to anyone.

      1. Hi Chris
        We have received confirmation that the details have been referred to the dealer and you will be hearing from them with regard to a booking.
        Hope this helps.

  2. Having read the e mails below I think Toyota has a major problem with their so called Touch 7 Go Sat Nav, which is not the standard we expect from Toyota , problem is you have a good reputation for high standard’s and reliability but have now lost the plot, with this sub standard accessory, the Sat Nav system is your White Elephant ,and should not be sold in the current form as cheaper and better systems are available as per “Which” report attached below:-

    Sat navs: Sat nav live traffic`

    Most sat navs these days have features beyond just taking you from A to B. One of the most useful is live traffic information sent directly and automatically to your sat nav device. This ‘alerts’ the sat nav of heavy traffic on your route ahead.

    At the very least the sat nav will warn you of this, often giving more details of the delay and calculating a new estimated time of arrival for you.

    If you are lucky however and one exists, the sat nav will also find a new route around this traffic delay. It will ask you if you’d like to accept this new, faster route, or stick to the original one.

    This live traffic information is available on most dedicated sat navs. It’s also available on some mobile phone sat nav appsas an optional add-on.

    Here, we take at a closer look at the two main live traffic systems.

    TMC

    TMC – Traffic Management Channel – is available on many cheaper dedicated sat navs. A TMC equipped sat nav picks up information from local radio stations via an antenna that is built-in or bought separately.

    Usually only major roads, such as motorways and A-roads, are covered, while the information is sent and received every 15 minutes. If the congestion hot spot is a daily occurrence (as opposed to a tailback behind an accident), it may not be flagged.

    Information can sometimes be delayed by poor weather conditions.

    TMC is by no means a perfect solution to avoiding traffic, although it is a free service on most devices and it can sometimes help, especially if you are driving out of town.

    Live internet traffic

    Newer traffic avoidance systems are live internet services offered by brands such as TomTom (HD Traffic) and Garmin (3D Traffic Live) on their mid-range and high-end sat navs. Increasingly sat nav apps on mobile phones are offering live internet traffic too.

    Live internet traffic uses a built-in SIM card (inside the sat nav or mobile phone) to receive traffic information. This information is picked up by the sat nav every two minutes, giving you a better chance to avoid jams than with TMC.

    The information is first of all collected centrally from a variety of data sources – these multiple sources are used to increase accuracy. It is therefore plotted to calculate traffic flow speeds, and therefore where traffic jams exist.

    Thanks to the mobile internet being able to carry more data than the radio signal that TMC uses, richer information covering B-roads as well as A-roads and motorways is sent to the sat nav. TomTom HD Traffic covers minor roads as well.

    Although not a foolproof way of avoiding jams, live internet traffic is a superior system to TMC. For example, on one regular and well-known in-town test route we tried, it detected traffic ahead twice, re-routed and sent us off the main road and in to some small, unknown side streets, before guiding us back onto the main road further along, saving us time overall.

    One problem of this system however can be a lack of mobile internet signal slowing down updates to more than every two minutes – but this is more of an issue in remote areas where the mobile internet signal tends to be weaker.

    Live internet traffic systems tend to be offered free for one year as part of a bundle of live services, but after that you’ll have to pay to extend the service. On mobile phones it is usually an optional paid-for add-on that you can buy at any time.

    As the above concludes the TMC is a slow and cheap system which is not worth the price paid for to Toyota.
    I am now waiting for My local Toyota showroom to have my car back again to see if the can get the basics working, but I am not holding my breath.

    I therefore feel that if the system installed on my car is not working probably,
    I will be requesting a full refund, as the Garmin system I had to buy recently, to give me presences of mind, while l driving ,which gave me directions around accident’s and floods where the Toyota’s system failed.

    In conclusion as a loyal customer who has always, had a great respect for the high standards you company had , now seems you’ve got too big for your boots, and most people in customer relations don’t have any coat hangers !!!!!!!!!!!!
    Regards

    Martin

    1. Hi Martin
      Thank you for such a detailed post in relation to this matter. We are sorry to read your comments about the Touch & Go in your car. We are pleased that you are in contact with your dealer though so they can check out the system for you.
      Let us know how you get on.

    2. Personally, I’d rather have the free TMC scheme than have to pay annually for Tom Tom live services subscription which currently costs over 50 pounds every year.

  3. For people having a problem with MP3 files playing in the wrong order, the following might be helpful.
    It seems that some MP3 players provide a play sequence based on the alphabetical order of the MP3 file titles, embedded as a tag into each file (this is not necessarily the the same file name appearing in a computer file listing), other players use a track number embedded into the file, while others rely on the precise time stamp embedded into the file.
    For the Touch and Go, I have found that the desired MP3 play sequence can be arranged or changed by preceding the track title, embedded as a tag into each MP3 file, with a number – these embedded tags can be edited with various free software packages – I have one by the name of “ID3 MP3 tag editor”.

    1. Hi Dave,

      Thanks for your suggestion. I used to mess around with ID-tag editors at the end of the previous century and find it remarkable that even nowadaysToyota expects its customers to increase their basic User Experience by downloading software and editing the ID-tags, not to mention the fact this has to be done over and over again as your add new music to your connected device or USB-stick.

      Regards,

      Wopke
      (Who is quite fed up with always having to listen to “A quick one, while he’s away” by the Who (yep, the first one from an alphabetical PoV)

      1. Can’t see what you’re driving at – perhaps you would like some telepathic means of MP3 file ordering :>)

  4. There seems to be a vein of opinion expressed in this blog that the Touch and Go is “old, cheap technology”.

    This seems to be based on the processor that runs the “Touch and Go” having been reported as a “Jacinto 5” and according to an earlier correspondent this is obsolete having been replaced by the “Jacinto 6″.

    Picking up on this theme, other correspondence in this blog includes phrases such as ” If you read this blog further back you will see that the technology used is very old by today’s standard”.

    Well chaps, if you actually read the press release of Jan 7th 2013, issued by the manufacturer of these processors (Texas instruments), they state the following in a section titled “Availability” :

    “The DRA74x “Jacinto 6″ processor will sample in mid-2013 and is expected to be available for production by the second half of 2014. As with other OMAP processors, the DRA74x is intended for high-volume automotive manufacturers and is not available through distributors.”

    So there are no current production vehicles with the “Jacinto 6” processor and cannot be until some time (years?) after mid 2014.

    The bottom line is that the Jacinto 5 processor we have in our Touch and Go units is not outdated or obsolete, it is in fact the latest available technology.

  5. The processor used within the Touch and Go system shouldn’t be blamed for the sub standard performance of the unit. I’m pretty sure, if programmed properly even a Z80 processor from an obsolete Sinclair Spectrum could have outperformed Toyota’s mediocre attempt. I think the money saving aspect of this unit can be blamed on the monkey’s employed to program the Jacinto 5 and the obvious totally lack of quality assurance performed on the product prior to launch. Obviously current owners of the Touch and Go system are the primary (unpaid) testers of the system and the feedback you’re all giving to Toyota within the confines of this forum is giving them valuable information to insure the next generation of this unit performs as it should. Unfortunately all you customers have not only tested the system for Toyota you’ve also laid out a lot of money too buy it it the first place. I’m pretty sure that if any of you, despite being ripped off by Toyota, ever decide to part exchange your cars, Toyota dealers will take into account the sub standard Touch and Go systems in your vehicles and adjust your cars value accordingly so in fact you’ve not only performed Toyota’s QA but will have also paid for the system twice!! If you’re wise of course you’ll sell the car to someone outside the Toyota network who is not aware of the truth but then of course you’ll be adopting the same morale standards as Toyota.

    1. Your posting rather suggests that you are not currently a Toyota owner, so what are your own experiences of using the current Touch and Go?

  6. Actually I am a Toyota owner, I bought an ex-demo Yaris 1.3 TR with the Touch system installed and can only be grateful that I didn’t pay the £750 Hodgson Toyota an Gateshead wanted to upgrade to Touch and Go.The touch system has enough problems on its own without the addition of a satnav which, according to these posts, is far inferior to systems costing hundreds of pound less.

  7. Thank you David Lloyd,

    You’ve hit the nail on the head we are testers for Toyota, and my Garmin System which includes free map updates for life and Traffic warning system is ONE HUNDRED PER CENT better than the in car system and 550 00 pounds cheaper than Toyotas TMC system

  8. I guess the motor industry is like everything else where every action has an opposite and equal reaction. Skoda, Lada, Kia and Hyundai have shed their reputation as being producers of inferior automobiles and their place is rapidly being replaced by Toyota who seem intent on alienating their customer base and destroying their hard earned reputation.

    Toyota either needs to increase their R&D budget when it comes to in car technology or simply licence technology from companies who know what they’re doing. Simply sticking a TFT screen on a dashboard in order to fool their customers into believing Toyota is keeping up with the competition is simply not good enough.

    1. David,

      I’d say that your criticisms of Toyota, with respect to their inability to satisfy you in regard to navigation technology, should be aimed elsewhere – have a look at the following, gleaned from the web:

      “HARMAN pioneered the art of in-dash automotive navigation nearly two decades ago, introducing turn-by-turn route guidance via voice commands and detailed graphics. Our GPS satellite navigation systems have long kept drivers aware of their precise real-time location” – HARMAN web site

      13 Sept 2011 – HARMAN Press release :
      “In cooperation with the leading automaker Toyota, Harman has developed the Toyota Touch & Go and Toyota Touch & Go Plus multimedia systems”

      6 March 2012 – HARMAN Press release
      “A perfect match: new Porsche Boxster relies on infotainment system of HARMAN …It combines navigation with multimedia capabilities and provides seamless connectivity to corresponding smartphones.” – 6 March 2012

      And the actual mapping software appears to be provided by NAVTEK who are now collaborating with NOKIA under the new name of “HERE “

  9. Well Dave your reference to Harman and their website is quite interesting, oviously they are quite proud of their involvement in the development of satellite navigation which is why the front page of their website boasts of their achievements with; Receivers, 3D Blu-Ray, Loudspeakers, Headphones and Wireless but strangely enough no mention of Sat Nav. I wonder what genius at Toyota came across the Harman website and thought, “Here’s the perfect company to partner with to design our new navigation system” and totally ignore the market leaders? Could it of possibly been because they were the cheapest option. The simply fact is (and I have tested this myself with a Toyota loan car equipped with Touch and Go), Systems from, Garmin and Tom Tom consistently perform the Toyota offering and this fact has been echoed by many people on this forum. Try as you might to defend Toyota, this is a fact and something which I’m going to try and get the motoring press to confirm with a head to head test. I don’t think it fair that people who are not aware of this forum should be in the dark when making their car buying decisions.

    1. David,

      You’re obviously not convinced about HARMAN – so try reading the stuff in this news release here. Its a long web reference so it’ll probably wrap round

      http://automotivehorizon.sulekha.com/harman-signs-agreement-with-tata-motors-for-supply_newsitem_4324

      As for Garmin and Tom Tom, I have several car satnavs and hand held GPS units made by these manufacturers and agree they do work very well and give a different User Interface Experience to the Touch and Go.
      But I’ve yet to find that any of these “outperforms” each other.

      And since you don’t actually have any actual experience of the Touch and Go, I suggest that your own comments are somewhat biassed towards the criticisms made by others, some of which are entirely valid eg the expense of map updating, but the wording of the criticisms about the TMC traffic issues is strangely similar with those made by someone who recently purchased a Garmin 3598 LMT-D unit – this is not a bottom of the range unit, it includes “FREE Lifetime Digital Traffic alerts” and sells for about £270 from Amazon.
      The owner of this Garmin writes:
      “Digital traffic. Accident closed the A68 6 Feb 2014 for 3+ hours. No record of that anywhere on Garmin!”

      You can read this and other disgruntled user comments at the Amazon UK website, for various Garmin and Tom Tom products- read the review one star sections.

  10. Finally the answer I was expecting, after Snows best endeavour’s, the Toyotas Sat Nav does not give traffic warning, and when the do come via all warnings, they are for areas 26 miles from home when BBC local radio & RAC Traffic Apps inform you a road blocked by flooding, 1.5 miles from home, oh yes so does Garmin, lets hope all the adverse comments on this site help Toyota, get there act together and remember their customers, do want a decent Sat Nav system not the sub standard one fitted to their cars, so lets all hope that we can comment on the fact the Toyota system is up and running, and give us all confident in using, and not having to buy cheaper units to get the right results

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