iPhone 5 - No sound in car via USB, extremely fait, tinny sound via AUX port

[Rowangrey]

I'm unable to use Spotify in my car via my iPhone 5. I have two AUX ports into my car stereo; one is a standard stereo jack, the other is USB. Neither works.  I do not have a Ford with built-in Spotify, and the stereo is the factory unit that came with the car. I have no local music on my iPhone, just Spotify.

When I connect my iPhone via the USB port, Spotify runs just fine, but no sound is transferred to my speakers. Playlists work exactly as they should, and I can play both streaming playlists and saved, offline playlists. Absolutely no sound comes out, though.

Similarly, when using the stereo cable from the headphone jack on my phone to the stereo AUX jack in my car, I can just barely hear the music. When I say barely I mean that I have to turn my stereo up to what would normally be speaker-blowing levels and I can barely hear the melody, but can't make out words. It's that faint. I have made sure that the phone's volume is turned all the way up. Also, the faint music that comes out of my speakers is very badly balanced. It sounds like it's coming out of a tin can.

My iPhone 5 is brand new. I have only had it for two days, and reinstalling Spotify and/or rebooting the phone have not had any effect. Listening to Spotify through the phone's external speaker and through headphones works just fine.

Up until yesterday I had an Android phone, and the Spotify app for that one worked in my car via the AUX port perfectly. 

I have searched the forums here, and done a bit of Googling, and I haven't seen a single other post regarding this same issue. I'm inclined to believe I'm doing something wrong, but I can't find anything out of sorts. 

Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

[MichaelJerzak]

This may be a stupid question but when you put the aux cord into the phone you make sure it's in all the way right?

[Rowangrey]

I've double and triple checked the connection to the phone and the car. Both jacks are seated very securely.

[Peter__]

And the iPhone output works fine if you plug headphones into it? 

Peter

[Rowangrey]

Yes. 

I guess it's always possible that between unplugging the Android and pluggin in the iPhone, the cord somehow was damaged, though I can't for the life of the see how. Just in case, I'll go buy another stereo cable today and see if the problem persists.

[Peter__]

Be sure to let us know, its definitely a strange issue! 

Peter

[Rowangrey · Accepted solution]

Problem solved! It was the stereo cable. Between unplugging my Android and hooking up my iPhone, one of the jacks quit working. I bought a new one and all's well.

Thank you for your help!

[murat_kara]

As you might have seen elsewhere on this website Spotify does not work with the car's USB connection. Period. Sometimes, you may get a couple of songs if you are lucky but it abruptly goes away never to come back. Usually, it never comes on. The aux works fine most of the time. But, this weekend, I was in a rental car and even the aux did not work. The car's "advanced" audio system got confused, I think. Because while it was not playing Spotify on the aux, it also stopped playing my own music through the USB!!!

What I am getting at is that Spotify is not ready for car use. And, if they do not fix it soon, I predict that they will start losing business.

[Daveeda1]

I have the same problem. Old iPhone and Spotify worked fine with car. Upgraded to iPhone 5s and Spotify won't work in the car. Mucks

[Peter__]

If you are having issues with Spotify in car with Bluetooth or USB cable (not AUX) then unfortunately it is a known bug.