CarPlay extremely buggy

[technologiq]

Spotify on CarPlay is buggy bordering on unusable.   If I try to play my starred playlist, I just get a 'empty' looking playlist.  Sometimes it will start playing something after 30 or so seconds but most of the time it does nothing.

Spotify will also randomly force close.  Music cuts, screen goes back to the main carplay menu.  

Sometimes it will startup normally but then I get no sound.

This is Spotify running on iOS 8.0.2 via iPhone 6+ on a Pioneer AVH-4000NEX head unit.

Please, please work on CarPlay. 

Edit 1-5-2015: Spotify 2.2.0.2464 on iOS 8.1.2 (12B440) on iPhone 6+ and the issues are still there.

Edit: 6-11-2015: Spotify 3.2.0.1554 on iOS 8.3 (12F70) on iPhone 6+: Recently I've had better luck with Spotify loading correctly and playing correctly. Occassionally I'll have audio break up (not sure if that's the iPhone 6+, Spotify or the head unit).     It should be noted that I like Spotify and don't care for other products out there (for some reason another product was marked as the solution to this thread).  I'm glad to see some positive movement for Spotify and CarPlay.

6-11-15 Update 2:   2 things happen frequently:  Songs play at 2x (skipping every few seconds).  Spotify stops responding for 4-5 seconds.

[Lello912]

Hi,

I would like to post a video of my non-working app (carplay, VW Golf 2017, iPhone 6s updated).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nm3br5v15cg1cc9/2017-01-28%2019.39.10.mp4?dl=0

This problem appears so many times; it's so boring.

Please tell me if it is a Spotify or Apple CarPlay bug.

Thanks.

[katjag-]

Hi,

thanks a lot for the video!

We're investigating this issue and will post an update when I know more. 

Stay tuned.

Thanks,

Katja

[findingtim]

I get this issue as well.

[lewthecanoe]

Me too exact issue.

iOS 10.2.1 iPhone 6s. Spotify version 7.6.0.1136

[katjag-]

Thanks for all the feedback on this.

Next time you see this, could you please check the Spotify status on the phone? We haven't been able to reproduce it but we think it could happen when the client is either in "connecting" state or offline - even though you might have network connection.

Any further info would help.

Thanks,

Katja

[lewthecanoe]

Hi
Happens 95% of the time...
1. Start car.
2. Head unit boots up. (Pioneer SPH-DA120)
3. Connect phone with Spotify app closed phone locked.
4. Launch Spotify from CarPlay interface
5. Navigate to playlists
6. Select song/shuffle
7. Same result as video posted previously

Can be solved by...
1. Unlocking phone whilst still connected to CarPlay. (Spotify is now open and on screen on iPhone and is as if it was playing a song. I.e. Timer counting down).

2. Pause song and press play again, it works fine after that.

Happens on wifi, cellular data and offline

iPhone 6s iOS 10.2.1.
Spotify version 7.6.0.1136
Pioneer SPH-DA120 latest EU firmware.

[dristie-nl]

I agree with lewthecanoe

What I do to get Spotify to work instantly I do the following:

When connecting iphone to carplay, navigate on your Iphone and select a song.

After that, navigating via Carplay menu will work, even after closing Spotify and starting Spotify app via Carplay menu.

[pdrognzlz]

When I listening a song and I try to switch to artist, album tag.... the song stops and app crash in carplay. I have to restart Spotify on mi phone to work again.

iPhone 6S 10.3 beta

Latest Spotify for iOS.

Sorry for my bad english

[Nockie3]

Same happens to me as the VW golf above. Mine is a SEAT Ibiza 2016 model with CarPlay. I get the blank play/pause/forward screen. I have to unlock my phone and manually pause/play the current song. It then starts working on my head unit and I can then fully control all aspects of Spotify through it.
Very dangerous.

[Nockie3]

So, Amazon Music released an update to their iOS app last night which has now enabled CarPlay.

Sorted me some playlists, jumped in the car this morning and guess what? It just worked. 

I plugged my phone in, opened Amazon music on the in-car display, hit play and low and behold, it just played. Just what I'm after.

Sorry Spotify, you've just lost a customer. Don't think by any means i'll be the last either 🙂

[Bradwilliams]

I just got my new VW today and straight away i am having issues with Spotify on Apple Play as well.

It has crashed a bunch of times and frozen. At one point it even kicked me out of Apple Play conpletely and i had to unplug it.

I find if i control it from the phone the issue resolves. But what is that point of the feature if i am on my phone anyway!?

Here is hoping Spotify can sort this out as it is clearly affecting a lot of users. Oh and while you are at it Spotify, maybe bring in the search function from the phone app as well. It would be nice to have greater flexibility with the service on Apple Play.

Note: am on iphone 7 plus with latest updates

[katjag-]

Thanks for the feedback, a few more questions:

- Is the Spotify app crashing (check on your phone in multitasking menu if Spotify is still there) or is it the entire CarPlay connection?

- Do you have the exact steps to reproduce?

Thanks for your help

[hcchef1975]

hi there i find with my carplay that if my iphone has the spotify app running then it hooks up without a  hitch, but if i dont  then it has issues sorting 

out the music but the rest works good .

[MyBoyBlue]

The application has frustrating startup issues.   I expect to plug in the phone, select Spotify from the Carplay menu, and get going.   Too often i get nothing.  I look at the phone and i see the three pulsing dots...   Sometimes i can resolve the issue by using the phone to close the app and restart it.  But that is really unacceptable.  If i had a guess, i would say there are timing issues when the phone data connection is slow.  Most of my issues happen during rush hour when the network is loaded.  Off peak hours, the application typically performs better.

Since this has been an issue in the forum for way too long, i will be looking for alternative player.

2017 Honda Accord

iOS 10.3.1

Spotify 8.4.0.623

[notsohappy]

I have the same exact thing. Mostly, the Caplay buttons are unresponsive and sometimes the music plays at a super fast speed. I need to close Spotify on my phone and start over. This completely makes it not worthwhile to use hands-free carplay. I'm in the apple music three-month trial now - it always works perfectly with carplay.

I've done chats with Spotify to try to fix this but nothing has worked. I'm near my qutting point.

[utsava1]

I have to same problem with both my iPhone and my wifes iPhone in my 2018 VW Atlas. Always enjoyed Spotify until now... I'll probably be switching to Apple Music unless this gets resolved in short order. 

[dristie-nl]

If you have read this topic, you will see that I am having this problems for almost 1 1/2 year now.

Last Saterday I was having the same problems. Music playing in FFW mode again.

Most of the times I quit Spotify (it's the easiest way), but this saterday I restarted my Columbus car navigation for a change without closing the spotify app. And guess what, after Columbus rebooted, all spotify music started playing normal again.

My guess is that it could be a combination in the Carplay function and Spotify app.

We know that Apple doesn't allow many companies using their Carplay functions and everything from Apple works flawless in combination with Carplay.

We have been blaming Spotify for a long time now.. but could it be that the problem isn't at Spotify's end, but at Apple.

[utsava1]

It certainly could be a combination of Apple and Spotify's problem, but seeing as how tightly controlled CarPlay enabled apps are, Spotify should have a direct line to Apple to resolve such issues. Ultimately it doesn't matter. It shouldn't be the customers problem to determine how it is broken, Spotify and Apple after 2 or 3 major iOS point releases, should have their stuff together... I'm seeing this on the latest iPhone 7, with the latest iOS update, with the latest Spotify release, with one of the newest in-dash systems (MIB II in a 2018 VW Atlas) on the market. There is no excuse for it to work so terribly for so long a time period.

[sirocket]

Agreed!  This is ridiculous when Spotify has a direct line with Apple as an Approved app… This is a HUGE liability for both Apple and Spotify.   And it’s ridiculous that it’s taken this long to still not have any resolution..

[andybarnes]

I have a few issues with Spotify not working when I press play etc. I can resolve a few of the issues by going to the Apple Music app on CarPlay and playing a song, and then going back into Spotify.