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.

[joeliam]

Hey musicfan I think we've all resigned ourselves to the fact that it won't
be an oem type of experience. I suggest you play with the unit, turn off
Bluetooth and wifi before docking it, disconnect and open the app before
connecting it, etc,but be willing to accept the idiosyncrasies of a new
system..as a user I've had to in order to enjoy the unit, but I was darn
close to returning it.

[happyarthur1979]

Guys, it's not the Pioneer unit that's at fault here.
It's the Spotify app that's the problem.

[ovalball]

Never thought it was the head unit,but would still like it sorting.Maybe an app update?

[Master_of_Sight]

The app is still glitchy with Carplay. For example it still randomly decides to not play music.

[GooeyStewie]

For the love of God, will someone just fix the freaking app for CarPlay? The head unit is NOT at fault 99% of the time, outside of the occassional issue where I get no audio input.

I'm using a Pioneer 4000NEX deck with Spotify and I'm pretty close to just switching to Rdio because maybe, just maybe, their god darn CarPlay app will actually work properly.

I'm going to set up the scene for you:

I get outside, get in to my car, plug my iPhone 6 Plus 64GB in to the lightning cable that is plugged in to the back of my deck, I start the car and the deck starts up with it and beins the CarPlay loading screen.

I go to listen to Spotify by tapping on it's icon, I pick a play list and hit "Play shuffled" aaaaannnndddd...nothing. This is what shows on my phone: [IMAGE 1] however this is what I see on my deck: [IMAGE 2] and it frustrates me to no end. I need to actually interact with the phone and force close both spotify and the iOS Music app (sometimes I need to open the Music app and then force close it!), then I need to load Spotify AGAIN. Or sometimes the app will not play my Spotify music, but will revert to only the music I have uploaded to the phone from iTunes and the deck shows only the controls applicable for your own music (it didn't happen today so I didn't get a screenshot), but the workaround is the same as above.

This has been happening ever since you guys launched your service in Canada, and app update after app update it still has not been fixed. I enjoy your service a heck of a lot more than what my friends seem to get out of Rdio, but their CarPlay app actually works. 

[happyarthur1979]

Guys,

As I've said previously, when you get in your car and connect your iPhone to the Lightning cable launch Spotify on your phone before you set off.
Spotify will then work pretty much flawlessly until you next disconnect your phone. You can switch between sources and it will still work fine when you go back to the Spotify app.
I know it's not a complete solution and it should be fixed but it's really no hardship to launch the app from your phone before you set off.

Graham.

[GooeyStewie]

We shouldn't have to use workarounds. These bugs should be fixed. 

[Twist0105]

Returned my carplay radio, bought many for SPOTIFY. Hoped I wasn't being overly critical. Feeling better about that choice now.

[Haleweb]

Bought the pioneer sph da120 a couple of weeks bag. Bit buggy but works pretty well over all tbh. Hoping Spotify can tidy it up a bit in the coming weeks and months. Most annoying thing is listening to spotify, viewing maps and travel news kicks in. Then spotify stops as expected but doesn't start again and not only doesn't it start but it forgets what it was playing. Haven't checked what's on the phone at the time as I have always been driving. Like I say though, some annoying stuff but can play my music and playlists no problem most the time. Be good to have a big plus button in the future too so I can save songs to my music if I choose.

[jweberch]

Same issues here. When you plug in the iphone, you can search your music but after hitting play nothing happens.

After removing and plugging in the phone again it suddenly works.

The issues have not been fixed in 4 month. After all, spotify is a payed service. Please fix this.

[ovalball]

Agree with above post.This really should be sorted by now.Poor show Spotify!

[Tsmithband-us]

I have the same issue on my pioneer 8000nex. Very frustrating!

[toby0001]

Yes, I use carplay now about 2 months and spotify is starting on one to get nervous .
Maybe change to RDIO ?

[SputNick]

Same ting on my brand new Alpine iLX-700 (iLX-007 in the USA) installed yesterday. Nothing is showing up when I press "Play". When launching from the phone, my music appears... then crashes.

Was looking forward to have my Spotify in the car :-((

I found it incredible than there's no update - and no more apps (I would love to have TuneIn!). Is Apple blocking the developpers?

[dwhitlow]

Hi All,
I've looked through this thread a couple times now, and haven't found any options or sequence of tips that helps Spotify work consistently in my car. If anything, it seems as if the thread has devolved into just Spotify-bashing, which may or may not be deserved.

I just installed a Pioneer AppRadio 4 (SPH-DA120) in my car a couple weekends ago, and like everyone else here, am having almost no success running Spotify in my car. Most of the time it just force-quits, sometimes it just displays a blank 'now-playing' screen, and everyone once in a great while, it actually works. I have yet to figure out the combo that actually makes it work.

Dear Spotify, your application/service was a big driver for me committing to the CarPlay eco-system and purchasing the stereo I did. From what it looks like, your app is consistently not working across all CarPlay solutions, so it doesn't appear to be a hardware issue with the radio manufacturers themselves. I am running 1.0.7 on the AppRadio, IOS 8.2 on my iPhone 6, and Spotify 2.7.0. The primary play list I try to use in the car is setup to be locally available and offline, so I shouldn't even be using data or a network connection. (though it would be nice to stream using my unlimited data plan). I am a premium subscriber.

It would be great if you could provide more transparency on what the issue is and what is being done to resolve this. Is this an issue with Apple? Is there some outside factor that we aren't seeing that is preventing progress from being made towards a fix?

You have a lot of fans of your service, and you chose to make the Spotify app available on CarPlay. Looking at the various threads here and elsewhere, the user experience has consistently been bad since the CarPlay functionality was released, with almost no improvement in service, so any information on pending fixes or a gameplan would go a long way with your community.

Thanks for reading. Hopefully a Spotify representative is watching this thread and can chime in.

[MexShrek]

I cancelled my Premium Spotify Account months ago. Using Tidal Hi Fidelity streaming. CD quality sound.

[Jemzor]

Tidal is still quite early and they have not integrated with car audio yet, so the benefits you're getting from Tidal won't be in context with car audio.

You can use bluetooth off your phone, but you won't get HIFI quality.

[toby0001]

Are there people here who have experience with RDIO
en CarPlay.

[PJRM68]

Rdio works like a charm on CarPlay. Some minor glitches occasionally, but
overall a pleasure to use.

[toby0001]

I make the chance to Rdio ,works perfect.😄