I can not get Google Maps spoken directions in my car unless I am also listening to Spotify

[Santiago18]

Premium

US

IOS 17.4.1

[aykay55]

You're on iPhone? Turn off silent mode in the Control Center. 

[Santiago18]

Thanks for the quick response. I will have to wait till I am in my car to
try it. I hadn't thought of this.
I do not have a silent mode icon in the Control Center, but I can
accomplish the same with the switch on the left side, right? So, turning
silent mode off would mean that I flick the switch up, right? Thanks.

[Santiago18]

I finally was able to try this and, unfortunately, it didn't help. Just to be clear, I turned off silent mode by switching the left side button up. Is this right? I also tried deleting the Google maps and Spotify apps, one at a time, and reinstalling them. This didn't help either. I can only get spoken direction prompts while Spotify is playing music in the background. Do you have any other suggestions? Thanks.

[MartinT]

Hi @Santiago18, 

Thanks for reaching out to the Community, and for the testing you've done this far. Let's take a look at this together, shall we! 

Have you tried disabling music playback controls? If you navigate to the top right and click on your account you'll be able to find the Settings. Under Navigation you'll be able to find the music playback controls. Disable them and try that way. 

We'll be on the lookout for your response.

[Santiago18]

Thanks for this suggestion. I will be in my car later today and I will try this. I will let you know what happens.

[Santiago18]

I just took a drive around town and I tried every setting that has been
recommended and some that were not. I worked with the settings in Google
Maps and the settings in Spotify. I made sure "Play voice over Bluetooth"
was on. I also tried the "Play as Bluetooth phone call" option. The only
thing that worked was signing out of Spotify. Only then could I get spoken
directions with no music. Pausing the music, or stopping playback, was not
enough. As soon as the voice prompts started, the music started also.

I changed "music playback controls" to "None," but that didn't help. I did
go to the Spotify website and removed access for Google Maps, but I don't
know yet if that helps.

I will live with this unless someone has an idea I have not tried. Thanks
for all of the suggestions.

[Santiago18]

I am unable to post my reply. I am getting all kinds of error messages. I replied by email. Thanks.

[MihailY]

Hey @Santiago18,

Thanks for your reply. Looks like you managed to post it successfully.

Can you send us a short video of the behavior? We're not sure we understood you correctly since you said "As soon as the voice prompts started, the music started also.", but we thought that the issue was that you're not able to hear the voice prompts unless the music is playing.

Also, another thing you can check is whether this happens when you're not connected to Bluetooth.

Keep us posted.

[Santiago18]

Thanks for your comments. You're right--I did not describe the issue
clearly. The problem is that I can not find a way (short of logging out of
Spotify) to prevent music from playing and get voice prompts as well. I
should have mentioned in my first post that the music does seem to get
softer when the voice prompt is active, but the music is always there to
some extent. I want to eliminate it completely. Sometimes it is difficult
to hear the directions because the music is too loud and it is distracting.

Reconciling the specific comments you mentioned, it is true that as soon as
the voice prompts start, the music starts also. In other words, I can not
activate the voice prompt system unless Spotify is playing music. It is
also true that I am not able to hear the voice prompts unless the music is
playing. Perhaps "hear" was not the right word. I can always sense or
vaguely hear voice prompts, but they are either drowned out or obfuscated
by the music. I hope this clarifies the situation. The bottom line is I can
not turn off the music without also turning off spoken directions (unless,
as I recently learned, I log out of Spotify, which is a solution but not an
attractive one).

I don't believe a video would help. I'm not even sure what the video would
be of. The screen in my car shows the typical Spotify information: song,
album, and singer. My iPhone shows the typical Google Maps directions that
I am following.

If my phone is not connected to my car via Bluetooth, my car can not play
music nor will the directions go through my car's speakers. Rather, I will
have the typical Google Maps interface on my phone, showing the route and
directions, and I will receive voice prompts through my iPhone's speakers.

Thanks again for trying to help me with this. Please let me know if you
have any questions or ideas.

[Ivelina]

Thanks for the details and explanation @Santiago18, the cooperation is appreciated.

There seems to be one more setting that can be toggled in order to test if it'll make any difference. Go to the Settings within the Google Maps app > Connect a media app to Google Maps and from there select None. 

You mentioned that you also removed access for Google Maps from our website, but can you confirm if it changed anything? 

Lastly, because it can be a Bluetooth-related issue, could you clarify if when you have Google Maps open on the phone without it being connected to the car via Bluetooth, do the navigation prompts and Spotify work independently? In other words, do you hear the navigation prompts in the Google Maps app without using Bluetooth and without Spotify?

Hope to hear from you soon and let us know if anything else comes up in the meantime 🙂