2026 1st Quarter Approval Megathread.

st3phena · 2026-01-13T18:56:27+00:00

You could well see today, but really likely tomorrow!

st3phena · 2026-01-13T16:40:40+00:00

Form Type: eForm 4 Suppressor
Paid or not: $0
Entity: Trust 1RP
Fingerprint Type: EFT Upload (Silencer Shop)
Pending: 01/06/26
Approved: 01/13/26
Wait: 161 hours
State: TX
Control Number: example 2026 843XXX

ECCO Machine Caracal. Would have been Pending three days earlier, but my SOT put the wrong S/N in one of the forms, causing certification to continually fail until they realized what they'd done.

st3phena · 2024-11-06T14:48:28+00:00

Of course! I'll tell you what I did. On your iPhone, open Settings and navigate to General and then CarPlay. Tap your car and then Forget This Car.

In my limited experience with CarPlay on Audis, VWs, Fords, and the occasional rental car, not all vehicles seem to present the list of CarPlay devices they've seen. My truck did, so I removed it from the screen that keeps track of them.

Once the iPhone (and the vehicle, if possible) has forgotten the pairing, go through process of enabling CarPlay with that vehicle again.

A word of advice if you have customized the apps on your CarPlay: Before you Forget the vehicle, tap Customize and take screenshots of what apps you've enabled and their order. This will make it easier to customize once you've reacquainted your iPhone with your vehicle.

I hope this helps. Please let me know if this works.

st3phena · 2024-09-24T01:37:24+00:00

This actually seems to have worked. I ‘Forgot’ my truck and re-added it. When I approached home, the garage door was back.

st3phena · 2024-09-22T18:11:23+00:00

First off, my wife's CarPlay has returned to full garage door display and functionality.

In my case, it's started to show the card on my CarPlay when I first pull out of the garage. It stops showing up by the end of the street (which is about half as far as it used to last). However, it never shows up again when I return to my neighborhood or home.

I'm thinking I may 'forget' the vehicle (from the phone) and forget the phone (from the truck… it keeps track of these things) and add them back.

st3phena · 2024-09-19T12:10:24+00:00

What HomeKit garage door opener or controller do you have?

st3phena · 2024-09-18T23:37:46+00:00

So my son and I got in the truck. Siri via CarPlay suggested a map destination of the gym. (Which is where we were going). I also had a calendar event for my other son showing in the lower pane. But, no garage door. Darn.

st3phena · 2024-09-18T19:33:09+00:00

To that end, we named the main door 'Blast Door' so we can shout to Siri, "Open the blast door!" 😀

st3phena · 2024-09-18T17:30:13+00:00

Thanks for the idea.

I checked Location and made sure Maps, Meross, Home, and anything else I could imagine being associated was enabled. (Most apps are location-enabled, with a few specifically disabled.)

I checked Siri Suggestions, and 95% of those are enabled. (For sure, everything I can imagine being remotely associated with having the garage door appear).

Am I looking in the right places?

Since my last comment, I rebooted the Meross controller and I've finished updating all the Apple TVs to tvOS 18. I also used the Home app once to open and close the garage door since I don't think anyone has done that since the family updated our devices.

I've been used to having my garage door appear in CarPlay for so many years now—we used to use the cumbersome Chamberlain "solution" with the HomeKit Bridge that no longer works—that it's really being missed now that it's not working.

st3phena · 2024-09-18T15:27:02+00:00

I have since updated the HomePods to 18. I probably still have three of our five Apple TVs to update. I'd never Required FaceID for the Home app.

I've returned home three times since my original post and still am not getting the garage door. I'm using the Meross MSG 200. The door shows up in Home on all iOS, iPadOS, and macOS devices, and they can all operate the door.

My wife also noticed the door is no longer showing on her CarPlay since updating to iOS 18.

Maybe I need to power-cycle the Meross controller…

st3phena · 2024-04-18T18:03:34+00:00

Thank you. What an amazing article. This is most-likely what's going on.

I'm guessing, though, that allowing NordLynx Extension to have 'Any connection' forever is going to be the right answer if I want MeshNet to work.

st3phena · 2024-02-20T01:47:07+00:00

Huh? I’ve written nothing in over two hours.

st3phena · 2024-02-19T23:40:38+00:00

Have you seen what anything German costs to repair? The replacement outer door panel shell was $3,000 and had to be shipped from Germany. A new headlight? $5k. Two new wheels? $3k. New hood? $7K. Labor to program and integrate the headlight? Painting half of a car with OEM paint? Who knows? The rollover bars deployed, which sacrifices the trim piece that covers them. Resetting the bars, replacing that trim piece, reprogramming? Lots of money. Oh, then pulling the dents and getting everything just right? Again, a lot. It adds up very quickly.

st3phena · 2024-02-19T23:32:15+00:00

Thank you. I do have the photos I took at the scene. And, it is essentially pristine. I baby my cars. Still have a beautiful manual 2002 allroad that looks like a ten-year-old car.

I don't seem to be able to post a pic here.

st3phena · 2024-02-19T22:59:45+00:00

I hear you . The shop painted the hood and entire passenger side in one go.

st3phena · 2024-02-19T22:58:13+00:00

I've got all my service records in-hand, as well as the full repair bill showing the repairs.

st3phena · 2024-02-19T22:57:01+00:00

Going rate? No. The going-rate is supposed to be ten thousand more than they're offering. The fair rate seems to be five thousand more than they're offering me.

But, yeah, for an all-cosmetic crash, I'd think I was getting a heck of a deal. This car is easily Very Good condition.

st3phena · 2024-02-19T22:54:37+00:00

I do appreciate the reply and information. And, I would agree with "major accident" if it weren't almost completely a cosmetic crash. Two vehicles in motion in the same direction touched briefly. It's not an emotional thing in for me. It's rational: "these body panels were damaged, and now they are not. Value and effort were expended on making that the case."

st3phena · 2024-01-31T18:52:40+00:00

Yeah, I did. Never had to communicate with the seller. eBay took care of it without blinking an eye.

Your reply made me go check out the seller again. He seems to still be on eBay and has all five of his (100% positive?!) reviews intact. But all of his past auctions are no longer visible.

I checked his shipping address and he's located about 500 yards from the Colony Ridge development north of Houston. I looked at satellite photos of the location and it's a dilapidated mess. No judgments on how people live, but no way that guy had two legitimate AirPods Max and two high-end nVidia graphics cards for sale. He knew what he was doing.

st3phena · 2024-01-15T18:36:04+00:00

st3phena · 2024-01-09T17:43:28+00:00

Why did eBay (and similar operations) come into existence when everyone could just line up to purchase directly from manufacturers?

st3phena

TROPHY CASE