Audio dropouts using wired CarPlay

[Frank of America]

Hey there all you nice people!

Getting many dropouts playing audio from several files off my iPhone. These are files uploaded to the phone from the Music app on my Mac and played on the MME sound system. I’ve checked the files on the phone and they’re fine. No dropouts whatsoever. It’s a brand new cable. Any suggestions?

Many thanks!

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[Tosh]

Try copying the music files to a USB drive and play them from that.

Or, put the phone in airplane mode and see if that eliminates the problem.

 

[Frank of America]

Try copying the music files to a USB drive and play them from that.

Or, put the phone in airplane mode and see if that eliminates the problem.

Will do, thanks. And if it airplane mode works, I can’t make phone calls or receive texts.

 

[Vgkfan]

Even thought the phone is plugged in, it’s probably connected wireless. I had an area during my commute that would cause dropouts every time. If I turned off blue tooth and wifi it wouldn’t drop, but yes, no phone calls or text. May have to click media then usb on the screen.

 

[Frank of America]

I do recall selecting wired when presented with the option for CarPlay but perhaps it’s reset itself to Bluetooth. In any case thanks for your assistance! Will check it all out.

 

[ReverendPete]

Does the audio come and go in the middle of a track? Or is it that it sometimes appears to be connected, but no audio whatsoever? There is a pretty well known bug with CarPlay where it is connected and shows that it is playing audio, but there is no sound. That can usually be fixed by switching to the radio and then back, or rebooting SYNC and letting it reconnect to the phone. But that's usually something that happens to me when I make a quick stop at a store and come back to the car within a couple minutes of turning it off.

Wireless CarPlay uses Bluetooth to do the authentication, but then it uses a dedicated WiFi connection to actually transmit the audio. So after it does the Bluetooth handshake, CarPlay connects to the car's Projection WiFi. So if it is actually using that, and not the wire (which sounds likely to me), you could try different positions for your phone to see if that makes a difference. I don't actually know where the car's WiFi antenna is, but if moving your phone up to the dashboard or maybe a phone mount makes it stay connected better, I would be willing to bet that it is using the WiFi and not the wired connection.

 

[Frank of America]

Does the audio come and go in the middle of a track? Or is it that it sometimes appears to be connected, but no audio whatsoever? There is a pretty well known bug with CarPlay where it is connected and shows that it is playing audio, but there is no sound. That can usually be fixed by switching to the radio and then back, or rebooting SYNC and letting it reconnect to the phone. But that's usually something that happens to me when I make a quick stop at a store and come back to the car within a couple minutes of turning it off.

Wireless CarPlay uses Bluetooth to do the authentication, but then it uses a dedicated WiFi connection to actually transmit the audio. So after it does the Bluetooth handshake, CarPlay connects to the car's Projection WiFi. So if it is actually using that, and not the wire (which sounds likely to me), you could try different positions for your phone to see if that makes a difference. I don't actually know where the car's WiFi antenna is, but if moving your phone up to the dashboard or maybe a phone mount makes it stay connected better, I would be willing to bet that it is using the WiFi and not the wired connection.

No. It stutters, distorts and makes static. I put the phone in the narrow receptacle right above the cup holders. I’ll get some photos and screenshots next time I’m in the car. Thanks for your input.

I really don’t want to use wireless CarPlay!

 

[OH2AZ2OH]

Have you tried cleaning your charging port on your phone? Lint collects in mine, and I have to clean it every 2-3 months or I have trouble connecting. The data connection is more finicky than the charging connection. I've started a drive with a good wired Carplay connection and then lost it after a bump jostled the phone enough to disrupt the connection.

Related, try a different cable, they do tend to degrade over time.

 

[Frank of America]

Good advice. I acquired the car on September 10. This never happened with my previous one, a 2016 Chevy Volt using wired CarPlay. I’ll keep troubleshooting though.

 

[Vgkfan]

When mine drops out, there’s no static or distortion, just silence. I would definitely try a different cable or two.

 

[Tosh]

I've had some USB A -> Lightning cables go bad at the USB end. Now I'm using a USB C -> Lightning cable and the C connector seems to be superior to the A connector

 

[Frank of America]

Changed out the cable. Had been using USB-A to USB-C, changed to USB-C toUSB-C. So far so good! Hopefully, this is it. Really wasn’t looking forward to a dealer visit.

 

[Frank of America]

Update! Discovered the problem is Apple Maps. Odd. But yesterday I switched between full view Apple Music to Maps and a major dropout occurred. Just to confirm, I did it a few more times and repeated the dropout each time.

So, in conclusion, for dropout free listening, don’t have Apple Maps on screen, either in full view mode or the three pane split screen mode. My iPhone 16 Pro has the latest iOS. I’m using an Apple USB-C to USB-C cable.

Be interested to know if anyone else can replicate this with the same setup.

 

[Tosh]

I can give that a try.

I know that I've had my Apple music interrupted when I get a text from a known contact;
I deal with that by putting the phone in airplane mode.

 

[Frank of America]

I can give that a try.

I know that I've had my Apple music interrupted when I get a text from a known contact;
I deal with that by putting the phone in airplane mode.

I’ll try that as well. But then, no calls either.

Maybe we should call it MME Mode

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