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.

[deanvern]

@Morac - I have the same issue.  One step forward, one step back it seems with version 5.2.0.1205.  I recently reinstalled Spotify myself I will say.  But basically, here's what I get now:

1. Force-kill Spotify from background - start from scratch.

2. Plug my iphone into my my car's lightning plug.  Watch Carplay control take over, Spotify loads up fine in the car UI.

3. Navigate to a playlist, start playing it.  The play controls screen pops up, but remains empty aside the play controls (no album/track/artist name, no album art, etc.).  No music plays.

4. Go manually back into my phone, see the app IS actually playing.  On the phone, hit pause then play again, and yes, then music plays through the headunit and I can now use the head unit UI to control.

@Spotify....... yet another new regression on the iOS app with carplay.

[Nockie3]

@deanvern I also have the same issue. Just the play/forward/rewind buttons showing and no music playing. Have to quit Spotify, disconnect from CarPlay and start again to get it to work.
I'm using the latest version of Spotify on an iPhone 6 (latest iOS). Car play unit is the SEAT (VW) derived unit.

[Ivan_Krazy]

Make that 3! I am having the exact same issues as 'Deanvern'. I am becoming increasingly frustrated with the user experience that I revert to my car's system. That is how bad it is spotify. Might even consider apple music now.

[Ticcioni]

Same exact issue listed above with NEX-4100

[deanvern]

@kevlargurra , @Spotify - can you all acknowledge (or better, confirm) the bug we're all getting?

sadly, since I got a carplay head unit, I'm yet to have a spotify build that is free of any major bugs.  the one I last reported (and several have confirmed) is the only major left I'm aware of.  It is a regression though, take note for your QA.

[Ticcioni]

So I did some playing around, I turned off Bluetooth and set the input to OFF of the deck. Everything seems to be working again without issues. I'll try it when I leave work tonight.

[Swanny]

Hey guys, if you're having issues with Spotify autoplaying when connecting to CarPlay, hold on for the next update for the Spotify app, I've read reports that it should fix the issue you're getting (I can't guarantee anything though).

[Ticcioni]

Looking forward to it. It did the same thing with my non CarPlay deck when I was attempting to use USB (iPod) audio when my phone was connected via Bluetooth. The Spotify app does a very poor job and auto selecting audio outputs.

[dristie-nl]

I have read all the comments and didn't know what you guys were talking about.
Since I mostly listen to Spotify I haven't notice any of the problems, till this morning.
I was listening to the car unit radio, connected my iphone to carplay, Spotify took control and started playing the last album I listened to.
I had to switch back to unit radio. 5 minutes later I received a phonecall, the last spotify song started playing in the background through my ringtone.

I can't say if the song was playing through the iphone speaker or the car sound system, I was shocked this was the case.
I answered the phonecall, the song started playing on my iphone speaker.
I had to close Spotify because I could not hear what the person was saying.

Also noticed something:
On my phone I disabled Spotify to use mobile data (only Wifi), so all of the playlists are offline.
But when you listen to a random album, thats NOT offline and I'm at a place with no wifi, I still can listen to that random album.
Which means that the streaming audio is stored on the phone. If I close Spotify and search the album again, I still can play the songs, even if they show unavailable..
If apps like Netlix would store it content on the phone, we would need to buy iphone with more storage space..
Please go talk with them so they can tell you what streaming really means.
Or say something like, every song or album you listen to is downloaded and stored on your phone and is always available to you.

[Swanny]

---

@dristie-nl wrote:

On my phone I disabled Spotify to use mobile data (only Wifi), so all of the playlists are offline.
But when you listen to a random album, thats NOT offline and I'm at a place with no wifi, I still can listen to that random album.

---

That is quite possibly an iOS bug, I've experienced the same issue before on an older build of iOS. If you disable mobile data for an app, there is technically no way for the app to override that, unless the disabling doesn't work properly.

If you find that happening again, I'd suggest contacting Apple. Otherwise, you can use the "Offline mode" switch within the Spotify app which shuts off all downloading within the app properly.

[Ticcioni]

Spotify just launched a fairly large update, has anyone noticed a change?

[Nockie3]

I've downloaded the update and will be testing on my way home from work with CarPlay.

[Nockie3]

Nope, still have to faff about and unlock my phone to start playing Spotify, defeating the object of CarPlay.

[Blugviel]

I have an pioneer 8000nex so it is very comparable, my phone will crash the system sometimes won't recognize my phone, playlists won't show up, sometimes it will play fine then everything crashes for a second and reboots, I have even had song play at 1.5 speed to make everyone sound like the chipmunks, entertaining for about 5 seconds then frustrating, it's not my phone had this issue with my 5s now I have a new 6s not sure if Spotify need to fix something or pioneer but I only have these issues using there program

[Ticcioni]

I just plugged it in and I see the CarPlay icon listed under devices in the App. So far it works just fine but that could change.

[deanvern]

@Nockie3 - same for me.  Latest iOS version fixed nothing with the latest bug I detailed some posts ago (must open up app on mobile and hit pause/play to get it playing on carplay UI).

To detail it one more time (and see if others can report the same):

1. start off fresh, kill spotify from background

2. plug iphone into carplay headunit

3. using carplay UI, try to initiate playback of any track

4. watch carplay UI sit frozen with no track playing, no album/track title, just controls showing on screen (rewind, play, etc.)

5. go back to the phone, unlock, get into spotify app and pause/play the track, playback through carplay starts and carplay UI works (album art, metadata shows, buttons work, etc.)

I've had a carplay headunit for 4-5 months now and I've never had Spotify working on carplay without at least one major bug.  This one, mind you, is a newly introduced regression.

[findingtim]

Same here. Same issue exists. When I lock my phone, Spotify stops playing.

[Ticcioni]

Yup, still broken. But it does still work with AppRadio and Waze running all at once thankfully.

[findingtim]

@Ticcioni my first thought was.. WAZE??! then realized you must have android. 😞

[Ticcioni]

NO Android here, I have the NEX-4100 deck with a backdated version of Waze 3.9.4 with AppRadio and CarPlay. But CarPlay isn't being used when Waze is running, Spotify still has issues outside CarPlay with the past three cars I've owned over the past 4 years.