Spotify Carplay is Broken (iPhone / iOS)

[sezduck]

Plan

Premium

Country

United States

Device

iPhone 8 Plus

Operating System

iOS 12.2

My Question or Issue

Spotify is virtually useless in my car.  More often than not, when I open the Carplay app, it doesn't open compeletely and/or is locked up.  Even if I try to navigate it form my phone, when it's connected to Carplay, the app on my iPhone becomes non-responsive.

Add to this the fact that Spotify has not added Siri integration and you have a very poor implementation which has the potential to create dangerous distracted driver situations.

Apple Music and other Apple apps work fine in Carplay.  Knowing Apple, I'm sure it is much easier for them to implent Carplay functionality than it is for third party apps.  That being said, other 3rd party apps, such as Google Maps and Audible, work fine.  I think Apple addressed most of the Carplay issues on their end with the release of iOS 12, so I'd say the onus is on Spotify to fix this.

With increasing competition, and Spotify's drive to increase/show value (e.g. podcasts, videos), I'm surprised that these haven't been addressed (both Carplay & Siri integration).  Many people do most of their listening in the car.

Apple Music now works with the Amazon Echo.  I'm so close to making the switch at this point.  The only thing realy stopping me is the time it takes to move my playlists, etc.

[eirethug]

Same here - it's driving me nuts and frankly it's not safe!

Here's the typical image I get when starting up Spotify on Carplay - happens about 90% of the time.

[Peter]

Hey @sezduck and @eirethug,

Thanks for reaching out about this - let's see what we can do to help 🙂

Could you provide us with the following info:

• exact Spotify version
• car manufacturer + model?

Once we have that, we'll be able to look into this further.

Thanks - we'll be looking out for your replies 😉

PS - there are some troubleshooting steps provided in the Apple CarPlay support site, I'm linking you to them here in case you haven't tried them already.

[eirethug]

Hi Peter,

Thanks for replying.  Information below.

Phone OS: iOS 12.2

Spotify Version: 8.5.2.666

Car: 2017 Lincoln Navigator  

FYI, all other Carplay apps work fine.

[sezduck]

Hello.

I'm currenlty on Spotify version 8.5.2.666.  Looks like there's a new update available today, so I'll install it (8.5.3).

My car is a 2018 Honda Civic EX-T

[Peter]

Hey @sezduck and @eirethug,

Thanks for confirming those details for us.

Could you confirm that you are connecting your iPhone to your vehicle using a Lightning connector USB cable? This is at least what is suggested on the relevant Lincoln support page here, but this should also be the case with Honda.

Let us know how it goes 🙂

[sezduck]

I am using a lightning USB cable in my Honda as it is the only way to use Carplay with my car (i.e. Carplay via Bluetooth is not supported).

[eirethug]

I only use a lightning cable

[Peter]

Hey @eirethug and @sezduck,

Thanks for confirming that.

Could you let me know if you've already tried the following, as per the article that I linked you to earlier:

1. If CarPlay doesn't activate automatically, look for the CarPlay logo on your car's display.
2. Restart your iPhone and your car. 
3. Make sure that Siri is on.
4. If your iPhone isn't detected by CarPlay, make sure that CarPlay isn't restricted. Go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions, tap Allowed Apps and make sure that CarPlay is enabled.
5. Go to Settings > General > CarPlay, and tap Forget This Car.
6. Check your connection:
   • If you have a wired connection, try connecting again with a different USB cable to a different USB port if you have one.
7. If needed, install firmware updates. Check your car's manual for more information.

Keep me posted 🙂

[sezduck]

Hi.  Thank for the suggestions.  I tried all of them and still have issues.  It works sometimes, but at least half of the time I have issues with the app freezing up on carplay.  Sometimes I get an error message (see attached screenshot).

I know it is challenging to support carplay with implementations from many different car manufacturers.  However, most other third party apps work without issues (Audible, Google Maps, Overcast, myTWiT, Waze).

Since the other apps work fine, I'm chalking this up to defects that need to be addressed in the iOS app.

Can you please help ensure that the DevOps teams are made aware of this?

Thanks1

[fubsle]

Having the same issue with my 2017 Audi A5.

Spotify displays exactly the same message as shown in the uploaded picture of eirethug. Starting music from iphone is working fine - it also shows current information in "Now Playining" screen in CarPlay.

iPhone 8 with IOS 12.3

Spotify 8.5.5.715

[Jemi]

Hey everyone,

We're already looking into this on this thread. Make sure to check out the status update and add a comment in order to get updates. 

Hope that helps!