Hey Spotify Causes Car Audio Issues - CarPlay

[southpolebrand]

Plan: Premium

Country: USA

Device: iPhone 11 Pro

Operating System: iOS 14.4

Vehicle: 2020 Volvo

Spotify App: 8.6.12.1032

Hi all, 

Using Hey Spotify causes my vehicle to remain in an always on "listening/announcement" mode. When my phone is plugged into the car and Car Play is running, it caused the car radio not to function (no audio) and did not allow me to adjust vehicle volume (only the "announcement" volume). Turning off Hey Spotify fixed the issue. 

I assume this is a bug with Hey Spotify, but I understand that vehicle sound systems can be complex. In any case, I would assume this to be an issue on all newer model Volvo cars. 

[cloneman881]

I have the same problem, had it for about 2 weeks now. Definitely a spotify problem as other music services sound normal. Reproduce by plugging your phone with Spotify ready into a car play system. Very bad problem.

[cloneman881]

I believe the new assistant “hey Spotify” feature is breaking the app due to the constant microphone use puts CarPlay headunits into “listening/call mode”. Disabling microphone use in iOS settings seems to make it worse.

[Novy]

Hey folks, 

Thanks for reaching out about this in the Community. 

Would you mind letting us know if you've already tried performing a clean reinstall of the app? This is often an overlooked step, but it can be helpful to get rid of any cache that might be causing trouble. 

If this doesn't do the trick, we'd recommend making sure that your car's infotainment system is up to date. 

Let us know how it goes. 

[jursaki]

Same problem here - I have a 2018 Chevy Malibu. I verified my infotainment system was completely up to date, and was able to reproduce the problem after verifying. Spotify was the only app that had issues. Other music apps work just fine if I start the vehicle with spotify closed - until Spotify is opened again, then the issue immediately reappears.

The only way I was able to fix the problem was by disabling the "Hey Spotify" feature in my settings. Without doing this, it became unbearable and I basically was unable to use my vehicle's audio system at all.

[jursaki]

Hi Novy,

Based on the feedback already from various others in this thread with other vehicles/sound systems, this is very likely a Spotify-specific bug. I've personally never had issues once with the app until now, and I've been using it almost religiously since 2014ish.

As mentioned in my previous reply, disabling the feature fixes the issue. I think that in the background it should automatically disable itself when CarPlay is activated, as the feature might clash with the complex Siri command prompt listen/respond requirements that CarPlay uses. This might not be the reason for the bug, but just a suggestion from my POV.

[Ivan]

Hey folks, 

Thanks for getting back to us. 

As @Novy recommended, a good first step would be to try a clean reinstall of Spotify on the mobile device in use. This is to make sure that no corrupted cache from previous installations could cause issues.

Let us know the outcome once you've tried this and we'll be able to investigate further. 

Hope this helps. We'll look out for your reply. 

[southpolebrand]

Hi @Ivan and @Novy, thank you for the help and I apologize for the delay.

I have preformed a clean install of Spotify on my iPhone, and have still been able to reproduce the issue. I have also checked my car’s software and no system updates are available. As other commenters have said, just turning off the “Hey Spotify” feature fixes the issue, so I’m not really impacted by the problem. I just wanted to report this as a bug so your development teams would be aware. 

Funny story with this - at first I didn’t realize what was causing it. I just noticed that the car radio didn’t work when I plugged in my phone and started Apple CarPlay. I thought it was a issue with the vehicle software and was going to take it to the dealer to be checked haha.

[CarlosE]

Hey @southpolebrand,

Thanks for keeping in touch and for reporting this.

Could you let us know if this also happens with a different type of connection that isn't CarPlay, like Bluetooth directly to the car's audio system?

If possible, could you try using a different account, like a friend's or relative's, to see if this behavior persists?

Keep us posted.

[southpolebrand]

Hi Carlos, 

So, I need to admit - I didn’t follow the instructions Ivan linked to for doing a reinstall. I simply deleted the app from the home screen menu, making sure to press “delete app” and not just “remove from home screen”. After I realized that the instructions Ivan linked were much more involved for doing the reinstall, I followed the steps precisely and that resolved the problem! 

I’m sorry for taking up your guys time with this and being another user who doesn’t read/follow the instructions! I feel like this could be a scene from the IT Crowd -

“Have you tried turning it off and on again?”

“Yes”

“You know that’s just the monitor right?”

In any case, anyone who has this problem in the future - follow the clean reinstall instructions to the letter! 

Thank you all very much for the help!

[CarlosE]

Hi again @southpolebrand,

Thanks for keeping us in the loop.

We're glad to hear that the clean reinstall worked. That's often an overlooked step but can be more helpful with a lot of issues than a just a quick reinstall.

For any questions or anything else you need, we're always a post away and happy to help.

Have a great week 🙂

[CarlosE · Accepted solution]

Hi everyone,

We wanted to jump in to let you know that this issue should now be fixed in version 8.6.14.1422 of the app.

If you're still experiencing trouble with this feature, make sure to update the app. It's also worth running a clean reinstall to ensure the app's optimal performance.

If you have any questions or need a hand with anything else, give us a shout.

Cheers!