Apple Watch Prevents Car from Playing via Bluetooth

[emilymessinger]

I have a free plan on spotify with an apple watch series 3, iPhone XR all on the latest update. My car has been playing spotify wirelessly via bluetooth just fine up until recently when all of a sudden it now will not play. The sound comes through my phone instead even though the car's screen shows the song information. I figured out when I turn the bluetooth off to my watch, it plays through the car. How do I prevent this from happening so I do not have to turn my watch bluetooth off every time?

[CarlosE]

Hey there @emilymessinger,

Thanks for reaching out to the Community and welcome!

Since both, your car's stereo and your watch, are connected to your iPhone, this behavior is expected. You can try checking if there are any settings to prioritize Bluetooth devices on your phone.

If you have any questions or need anything else, we'll be right here.

Cheers 🙂

[emilymessinger]

Okay! Do you have a solution for it not changing over to the car bluetooth when I select the car instead of the phone options? Thanks!

[CarlosE]

Hi @emilymessinger,

Thanks for keeping in touch.

Since this isn't dependent on the Spotify app and the audio output preferences via Bluetooth must be set via the phone settings, we suggest reaching out to Apple support to ask if it's possible to ensure Audio prioritizes a different Bluetooth device than the watch, when it's connected. In case that isn't possible, it'll be necessary to turn the watch's Bluetooth off or disconnect it if it has audio priority over the car infotainment system.

Hope this clears things up. If you need a hand with anything else, we're always a post away.

Take care!