Do you have to have cellular data turned on in order to listen to music from your iphone to your bluetooth car stereo?

If the music is yours and is entirely stored in the device, no. If it is streaming (think Spotify) or if it is of a nature that requires authentication to access, yes.

Given some fancy cars nowadays have their own Internet connection and offer local Wi-Fi, there you would connect that way and not require cellular data at all.

That means the jingles are coming from some online service so the phone has to pull that from the 'Net somehow. If no Wi-Fi is available, then cellular data is the only other alternative.

In my Mom's Focus, my i8+ plays wirelessly too. But I carry about 3 days worth of music in the device (~8-10GB) so I need no connection to the 'Net at all.

Andymon1950 wrote:

Thanks. that's interesting. In my 2013 GMC sierra, I have bluetooth. I can pair my phone and have to use a USB cable to listen to my itunes but as soon as I get out of range of my house or shop wifi, the music stops. I'm thinking I need to upgrade to a better stereo.

As Courcoul points out, it sounds as if the music you are trying to play is not actually downloaded on to your iPhone, but is being streamed from somewhere.

What exactly are you using for the music? Spotify? Amazon music? Apple Music?

Is the music downloaded onto your device?

Does it work if you turn of the iPhone's Wifi before leaving the house? Does the car continue to play then?