Spotify never works first time on Apple CarPlay

[gusping]

Whenever I load it up and try to play a song it shows the play button and the forwards and backwards arrows either side, but doesn't play the song. I have to close the app and start it on my phone for it to then play. Considering I've seen posts about this dating back October last year, why the hell isn't it fixed? I love spotify apart from this but it's vital it works first time, especially when driving. Tempted to try Apple Music....

How many others have experienced this?

[Tombadil]

I have a brand new opel. It has just been released for 3 weeks. I have an Iphone6 and the latest version of Spotify. So everything has the latest update. It s#cks when you pay for a premium account and it doesn't work with Apple Carplay. I'm often on the road. But it isn't safe to concentrate on letting spotify run properly while you're driving. Safety first and a good update would be nice

[jcloughjnr]

I'm a premium user and have just purchased a Pioneer system for my car and I am also encountering the same problem. Spotify can be working fine, switch of/switch on shows last track but won't play it !!!

[jvanus]

I have the same problem on 2 devices (5S & 6) on my pioneer avic-5100NEX. If I can't find a solution I'll probably switch back to apple music even tho I don't like it as much.

[Si31uk]

I have a new Skoda with Amundsen stereo and I can never get Spotify to reliably work in it. Apple Music of course does...come on Spotify! Running iPhone 6s with up to date iOS 10 and Spotify app.

[biscottomostro1]

I've just bought an Audi A3 and whenever I plug it in to use, it never plays first time. By the time i've messed around with it, i've finished my journey and it is largely pointless. Will Spotify ever resolve this issue?

[borsTiHD]

Still problems with and only with Spotify in CarPlay.

Apple Music works perfect, but spotify is really a mess... 😠

- iPhone6S+

- iOS10.1.1

- Seat Leon CarPlay

[stillmoms]

I get the feeling Spotify built their CarPlay app once two years ago and never bothered to test it again. List of problems I've encountered in a 2016 Honda Civic:

• Often starting Spotify from "closed" and trying to play anything fails (click a track or click shuffle play, get put on the "playing" screen for a second, which is blank, then get kicked back to the source playlist/album/whatever. This happens for streamed and offline (downloaded) stuff alike.
• Artists view never works, ever. Never populates with artists, just blank.
• No way to quickly browse Album view (a la the "alphabet grid" in the Apple Music app), and unlike the view in the app, Albums are sorted in alphabetical order by album title, not by artist.
• No Recently Played list, which would be useful.

I've been sticking with Spotify because of the last.fm integration but the extremely poor integration with my car is very frustrating. Often I'll have to "get Spotify going" from the phone screen, and if I'm trying to switch to Spotify from music I have on my phone in the Music app, it might just not work at all. Supremely maddening, especially considering there's probably easy fixes to all of this, it's just that Spotify is paying exactly zero attention to this section of their app.

[spkunc]

I have the same issue. To play any Spotify content I have to replug the connecting cable. I read somewhere Apple was NOT up to approving Spotify updates for CarPlay so it was not an equal competition for Apple Music... but I'm pretty skeptical when it comes to conspiracy theories. 

My setup:

2016 VW Touran (MIB II radio) with CarPlay

iOS 10.2 (iPhone 5c)

[gheedorah]

same problem. 

iphone 5 (latest firmware)

pioneer sph da120 (latest firmware)

Spotify please fix this asap.

[deroo]

Same issue here. I find that if you go into Apple Music or Apple podcast app, play something, then switch back to Spotify it often works. Just please fix this issue.

[Xeres]

And again here

2016 Audi A3
iOS 10.2.1
Spotify 7.5.0.1023

[Schmev]

Volkswagen GTI 2016

iphone 6

iOS 10.2.1 (latest)

Spotify has NEVER worked correctly.  If I try to start Spotify via the CarPlay interface, I get playlists and albums, but when you try to play them, nothing happens.  So I have to park the car somewhere, kill the Spotify app, and launch Spotify via my phone and that works, but lately, when I choose a song, it choose another song(shuffle is not turned on).  

I don't have that much invested in spotify and I know the Apple Music app works perfectly.  This has been broken for well over a year, so I can only assume Spotify doesn't give a **bleep** about it.  I'm moving to Apple Music thanks to this.  I wanted to like you, Spotify, but if you can't fix bugs like these in a timely manner, it's time to move on.

[deroo]

Spotify iOS update today. Has anyone tried out if there have been fixes? Not had a go myself yet.

[Tobias1982]

I will try later on an iphone 7 an a new Opel Astra...just switched back (i guess for the who knows time) to Spotify cause of Sonos app sucks and Spotify Connect rocks.

[Tobias1982]

When not using spotify via spotify connect before connecting via lightning cable, it worked in carplay.

[deroo]

Still had the same issue today. Had to kill Spotify on my phone, then hit play on a track in a playlist.

There's another thread about albums not playing in order and the app update has fixed that, but not this issue.

Hopefully next update.

[Sincro118]

The same problem with my car!!!

Configuration:

Seat Leon 2016 CarPlay

IPhone 7

iOS 10.3 (iOS beta tester , but there was the same problem olso in the previous public version of iOS)

I hope that Spotify will fix soon this problem 😞 😞 😞

[aleckanechny · Accepted solution]

It looks like all music apps have to use the same playback screen in CarPlay.

You might notice that the playback screen in Apple Music has more buttons (e.g. Shuffle, etc.), so it seems Spotify needs to re-initialize this screen somehow with different parameters in order to start, and is unable to do so the first time.

I work around this by starting to play something in Apple Music and then switching back to Spotify and hitting Play there.

Anyway, it would be great if Spotify could address this, this is a major annoyance and also a significant distraction if you're driving.

[deroo]

I do the same. You can even try something from the podcast app. But you're right, it needs resolving. I got my hopes up with the latest Spotify update, but no.