iPhone and (old) Chrysler uConnect

[shiftynj]

I have an older (2007) Jeep with a decent Boston sound system with the uConnect bluetooth system that predates all the smart apps and fun stuff ... it may even predate Spotify!  The bluetooth connects to my iPhone and works for phone calls and Google Maps but not music. I do not see UCONNECT as an available bluetooth device in the Spotify app and there is no AUX or any similar menu option in the head unit to activate it on demand

I discovered quite by accident this weekend that the iOS voice recorder app connects to my uConnect system when you play back files!  Anybody know a hack that might let me stream Spotify on my speakers via Bluetooth?

[Idansing]

I have the same problem, I’d love to know if you found a solution! Probably you would have to jailbreak your iPhone 

[shiftynj]

I ended up buying a third party radio that supports Apple car play.

[Idansing]

Nice! How much?! Did you install it yourself?

[shiftynj]

It was $499. I paid for installation from Crutchfield.

I also learned something interesting in the process.  Apparently some apps and functions of the iPhone "speak" only through the front or back speakers.  The uConnect radio, which predates streaming music services, assumed you were only using bluetooth for voice calls and thus wasn't designed to channel front and rear.  When the guy first put my radio in he didn't realize they had included a particular jumper to overcome this, so we could see Siri "speaking" but not hear her.  This suggests it might have been possible to get a jumper to allow the systems we got with our vehicles to stream music, although I still don't know how you would tell the head unit this is what you wanted to do.