CarPlay poor audio quality

[darkpenguin500]

Plan

Premium

Country

usa

Device

iPhone 12 pro

Operating System

iOS latest

My Question or Issue

when playing Spotify audio on wireless car play and wired the audio comes out of only one speaker. It almost sounds like it’s trying to play Audio over a phone call instead of stereo. 

other apps and Apple Music don’t have this problem it only occurs in Spotify. It used to work fine but now doesn’t.

[Jeremy]

Hey there @darkpenguin500,

Thank you for your post here in the Community. We're happy to help.

Can you perform a clean reinstall? This will make sure there's no old cache files causing this.

[aggieguy]

I'm having the same issue with my iPhone 12 Pro Max. It does the same on any vehicle with CarPlay I try it on. The audio onoy comes out of one speaker. Every other audio app works fine. This issue only happens with Spotify. 

My wife's iPhone 12 does not have this issue. 

[darkpenguin500]

The reinstall fixed this issue for me

[Novy]

Hey folks, 

Thanks for your replies.

@darkpenguin500, we're glad to hear everything's working just fine. If you need us again, we're just one message away 🙂

@aggieguy, would you mind letting us know if you already tried a clean reinstall of the app? Keep in mind that this can be helpful for clearing any cache that might be causing issues. If this doesn't do the trick, let us know the exact OS version and Spotify version currently running on both phones.

Keep us posted.

[aggieguy]

The clean reinstall seems to have worked for me as well. Thank you!

[Eni]

Hey @aggieguy, 

Fantastic news! Give us a shout if it starts misbehaving again; we're always here to help.

Have a great day 🙂

[robw235]

I started having this problem with my iPhone 12 Pro Max a few weeks ago, and this solution solved my problem. Just tried it and this did the trick. Nice to have full sound back in my car. Thanks!

[Atarsntino]

I tied clean install it works for a while then reverts back. Spotify audio will sound perfect if I switch to Bluetooth or AirPods. Strictly a CarPlay issue. Every call that comes in I rush to pause Spotify as to not bring on this audio flaw. Sometimes Spotify will keep playing even when I answer phone. That flaw will continue indefinitely for next time in car. All other music apps work fine. 

8.6.12.1032 Spotify 

14.4.2 iOS 

iPhone 12 Pro Max 

[Alex]

Hey folks,

for those of you who are still having the issue after a clean reinstall, try disabling the permission for Spotify to use the microphone on your device.

For iOS:

1. Go to your mobile Settings.
2. Tap Privacy. 
3. Tap Microphone. Apps that require access to your microphone display here.
4. Switch Spotify’s access to your microphone on/off.

You can also check in the settings of your Spotify app if you can see the feature Hey Spotify. You can try to disable it as well.

Let us know how you get on.

[cloneman881]

This made it a more consistent problem, seems denying permission after allowing the hey Spotify feature made it worse. I have reinstalled.

[Eni]

Hi there @cloneman881, 

Thanks for getting in touch about this.

You mentioned that you've already reinstalled the app, but would you mind going through the steps of a clean reinstall, as it's more thorough than a normal one?

Also, would you mind letting us know if this started happening after a specific event such as an update?

We'll be on the lookout for your reply.

[LittleGinge25]

Hey! 
Just jumping in here, I have done a clean reinstall 3 times and it’s still not working! I don’t have the option to turn off/on my microphone either on my settings. My 

Bluetooth and Radio sound perfect but it’s just Spotify CarPlay that is crackling and sounding bad 😞 

Any help would be appreciated please!!

[MansfieldHQ]

i have the same issue with crackling sound quality when using spotify on apple carplay - i reinstalled but it made it worse

[Jeremy]

Hi there @LittleGinge25 and @MansfieldHQ,

Thank you for your replies in this thread.

Could you check if the OS of your phone has any pending updates?

Additionally, we suggest that you try disabling any power saving or data cleaning settings on your mobile device.

We'd also like to know if this only happening when you're streaming or with your downloaded content as well?

@MansfieldHQ - can you confirm that you followed the steps that's provided in this article? There's some more steps to help thoroughly uninstall the app from your phone so if you haven't, we'd highly suggest it since the steps will make sure there's no old cache files causing this.

Keep us posted 🙂

Take care!

[Silveiras86]

I am having the same issue with an iPhone 12 Pro Max and iPhone 13 pro Max in two different cars (one wired (Peugeot) and another one wireless(BMW)).

If I simply pause the song and resume, it works fine (until it happens again).

I recently updated the 13 pro max to iOS16 Beta, and the issue persists. But this is happening at least since iOS 14.
Clean install on both iPhones didn’t help. 

Considering cancelling Spotify and switching to Apple Music because of this. 

[OscarDC]

Hey @Silveiras86,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community and welcome.

Just to confirm, have you tried disabling any power saving or data cleaning settings on your mobile device as suggested before by @Jeremy?

Also, it would be great if you could confirm if listening to offline or streamed music makes any difference?

We'll be on the lookout. 

[Silveiras86]

Hello,

to my knowledge I do not have any power savings nor cleaning settings on my phone. 
but how do I check that? 

I’ve performed the clean install again and it seems that only works with no issues for a day or so.

this is really annoying.

I initially though it would be some incompatibility with my Peugeot’s Carplay, although it did not happen before.

But the issue is not the car for sure because it’s happening with a brand new BMW. 
Today it happened twice in a 10min ride.

[Alex]

Hi there @Silveiras86,

Thanks for the post.

You can check this article from Apple for more info on how you can check the current power saving settings on your device.

Note that since this is happening in both the cars, using a different connection, the issue could be related to your mobile network data. If you have poor connectivity in the area, the sound quality of songs and podcasts might drop automatically. This is because Spotify will always try to load the content, and if the connection speed is very low or breaks up, the songs will automatically get streamed with lower quality.

Check out this support article for info on how to switch the sound quality. Try selecting something like "Low" or "Medium" instead of Automatic.

Let us know if that helps.

[Silveiras86]

Hello Alex,

my phone is not on power save mode.

The issue is not the network since this happens regardless the place I am.

If the issue would be the battery, it would not sound like I am listening to a music on a call.

If I pause and immediately resume, it returns to normal.

Also, the majority of the songs I listed are saved in my phone, so I am not even using data in 90% of what I listen.

This only happens via carplay. It does not happen if streaming to the car via bluetooth nor when using my airpods. 

The issue is Spotify, and nothing else.

this does not happen with any other app.