The new hands-free law takes effect on August 1st. With this new law, some people might think it won't be possible to talk on their phone while driving if they have an old car. With new cars, you can connect your phone to answer your phone and talk on the phone hands-free, but old cars don't have that capability. But there are some solutions for that!

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety released a list of solutions for this problem. One is you can talk on the phone with one earbud in. Not two, that's illegal, but you can (legally) wear one.

Another option is to get an auxiliary cord. Connect one end to the headphone jack on your phone, the other end in the AUX jack on your car.

Some cars don't have an AUX jack, but you might have a cassette player! In that case, you can get an adapter that connects to your cassette player and then connects to your phone's headphone jack.

Both of those options allows the call to be played through the speakers in your car, not just the speaker on your phone.

Another option is to get a mount for your phone so it's easier to talk on the phone via speakerphone. I've tried talking on speakerphone while it's sitting in my cup holder and it doesn't go well, so a mount would be a good solution!

The last idea is to get a Bluetooth speaker installed in your car, which is a little more expensive than the other options.

The last hurdle, once you pick which option is best for you to talk on the phone hands-free, is to learn how to ANSWER the phone hands-free. This new law does allow one touch in order to turn on the voice function on your phone. But if you want to answer your phone hands-free, WCCO suggests using an app like Drivemode.

Otherwise, I have an iPhone, and it appears you can turn on a voice activation capability through the setting app! So if you also have an iPhone, tap "Settings", then "Siri and Search", and swipe the "Listen for 'Hey Siri'" tab to the right to turn it on. If I understand this right, once you turn it on all you have to do is say is "Hey Siri" and then you can ask Siri to answer your phone. Let me know if this is totally wrong... Android users, sorry I don't know anything about those phones!

 

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