Q: USB Music not playing in car after IOS8

After upgrading my iPhone to iOS 8, when I connect my iPhone 4S on my car via USB, the radio system tries to recognize it as an iPod as always. But after 10 seconds the system switches to FM showing some iPod error message. The iPhone continues to charge but no connection with the radio system is stablished. For me, the solution was:

Start the Music app, play any music and then connect the cable. It doesn't work with any other music app, I tried some of them including Spotify. If you just start the Music app and don't play any music, when you plug the cable the connection will not establish as well.

As I said, I had this problem with my old iPhone 4S. I live in Brazil and my radio system is provided by Fiat (Punto Sporting 2015).

I tried resetting the iPhone, but none of the suggestions helped to fix the problem. Sorry.

Good Luck!

II'm having the same problem - my phone will no longer play music via USB in my 2014 Kia Sorento. My connection continued to work until the 8.0.2 patch was installed. The radio will connect via Bluetooth to make a call, but no music which is a BIG problem for me.

Sadly, the bluetooth connection through the Viseeo tune2air would not allow me to connect the iPhone 6 to the sound system in my Aston. It has exactly the same problem as when I plug the phone in using the 30 pin cable with a 30pin to lightning adapter -- the car systems simply says "iPod Unreadable".

The iPhone 6 itself will not play any music when connected to the car (whether connected by cable or, I have now discovered, by bluetooth using the tune2air).  If if press play on the iPhone 6 when it is connected to the car it just jumps straight back to pause.  If I unplug the phone or switch off the bluetooth connection, the iPhone plays music itself without problem.

Clearly, iOS8 and the Premium Sound System in the Aston are just totally incompatible.  A great shame given that iOS7 and before worked perfectly with the system in the Aston.  iOS8 just says no to all functionality when connected to the car.

There is no message on the phone itself when I connect it to the car, only a message on the screen in the car.  The iPhone just won't play when connected to the car as said ahove -- it will just jump straight back to pause if I press play on any track when connected to the car.

The only connection that works in the analogue connection using the hedphone socket on the phone and the 3.7m aux-in on the car.  Sound is not as sharp or clear as a digital signal, so some detail is lost, and the volume needs to be cranked all the way up on the phone to generate a strong enough signal to get a reasonable level of volume out of the car without cranking the volume on the car all the up.   No ability to control the phone through the system though when connected this way, so this is clearly a less than ideal work around by some considerable margin.

I wish it just worked.  Surely it couldn't have been that hard to make it work.  Every version of iOS worked up until now.  This latest one just doesn't work.

I tested the Viseeo tune2air on an old iPod dock I have in the house just to rule out any compatibility issues/functional issues with the Viseeo itself.  That connects fine to the iPhone 6 and allow music to be played from the music app and streaming via spotify or google play music through the Viseeo.    The Viseeo also allows my old iPhone 4 to connect to the car using bluetooth with full functionality.  Oh well.  Think I might just return the iPhone 6 before my 14 day return window expires and stop obesessing about this until Apple/Aston can get their act together (and assuming I don't buy a Sony Experia in the meantime).

I can no longer access music properly on my iPhone 5 via the USB connectivity in my 2013 Nissan Altima since I updated to ios 8.  At times the music title is displayed on my car radio, but there's no activity.  When the music finally begins to play after a long pause, I unable to skip or change the music selection in order to hear the next song.  I have to wait until the song is completely played.  I have been seeing the following displayed on my car radio, "iPod Unreadable".  These problems need to be corrected immediately.

I Just want to urge everyone on this thread to contact Apple about these issues. There will never be a fix if Apple doesn't hear voices complaining.

Good point Jean,

I have sent feedback to Apple on the Feedback page of Apple's website.  Here is a link for those who can't find it.  Do send your comments/complaints directly to Apple on the Feedback page.

https://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

When iPhone 6 iOS 8 is connected to my car's USB cable. I can get music to play and switch tracks if using the phone controls.  The buttons on car steering and stereo are no longer able to start playing music or change tracks.  Worked fine on my iPhone 7  with ios7 ....2 days ago .   Submitted to apple feedback, thank you for that link.

I have reset network settings, restored phone, rebooted etc and still no use connectivity to play music via my Kia. I've tried starting the music and plugging in (it stops) and tried hitting play after plugging in (won't start). The Bluetooth handfree functions still work, but I can't play music. I'm so very frustrated and angry because I'm getting ni help from AT&T, Kia or Apple. The inability to get the music from my phone to the car stereo is a deal-breaker for me - it's just got to happen.

Has anyone found additional solutions yet?

Curiously, after days of trying various things, my iPhone 6 now will connect to my car by bluetooth and by cable.

Having tried everything, I decided once more to reset the phone to factory settings and reload iOS8.0.2.  I then set the phone up as new and did not sync it with iTunes.  I downloaded a couple of songs from iCloud only to the music app but did not put anything else on the phone.

I then attempted to connect the phone to the car and it connected instantly and will connect by bluetooth and by cable.  I get full functionality again, can scroll songs and can even skips tracks when streaming on Google Play Music.

I have not yet sync'd with iTunes but will, I think, just load the apps again from iCloud manually (one at a time) and see if any of them were causing the bug.  Will be a painful, long and boring process but at least the phone is now connecting to the car as it should.

Once I have done that I will try to load my photos and all the other stuff from iTunes but will not restore from backup.  Just need to remember how to connect to iTunes without the automatic sync firing up.  I read this is possible but can't recall now how to do it.

If you have not tried factory reset in this manner, it is worth a go.  But don't restore from back up or iCloud.  Set up as a new phone, download one or two songs from iTunes (without syncing with iTunes) and see if that works.

Good luck.

Hats off to you!       It seems that you should be working for Apple.

I am trying to decide whether I want to do ANOTHER factory restore or just live with Bluetooth or hope that Apple finally decides to deal with this in an update. Thanks for posting. I will continue to follow to see if others use your fix successfully. 

I'm experiencing the same issues with my iPhone 6 Plus since updating to 8.0.2 I have experienced issues connecting to my Clarion VX402A stereo.

My wife who is running the iPhone 6 plus and 8.0.2 is not experiencing the same inconvenience when using the car stereo.

I am going to try deleting all the music on my phone and starting from scratch.

Hopefully I don't have to do a factory reset to get this to work.

Please post back to tell us if this worked. I tried it without success but I can't remember if that was before or after updating to 8.0.2.

Same here.  Everything worked fine until I 'upgraded' to iOS8.  I also have another device that works fine and it's still on iOS7.  I have a 2013 GMC Sierra.

I've sent a report to Apple, but this is definitely an iOS8 issue.

FYI, this issue was fixed with iOS 8.1.

I have been out of town since 8.1 was released. I am so hoping that my USB will be working again when I get home!