Issues Apple Music on CarPlay

Well, it appears we finally have this in the queue for some technical resolution from Apple. After having done a full restore of my phone as recommended by Apple support with no resolution, I just spent 2 hours on both chat and live telephone with Apple Technical Support. I detailed the issue with two separate Senior Advisors of Technical Support (Angela and Michelle), who were both excellent in trying to identify the exact issue(s) and get this escalated for resolution. I also sent them a screen print of the CarPlay screen just spinning on the For You tab selections. They documented the details and previous attempts at resolution with no results, and they have now escalated it to the engineering team. There is normally a 4-business day timeframe for assessment and next steps. They scheduled a follow-up call with me for next Thursday. Hopefully we finally got this to the right people for recognition and resolution.

I myself have also spent more than 2 hours with Senior Advisors, more than once. I’ve also not only sent a screen print, but a video as well of the spinning will in the For You tab, and the error message on the Browse tab. Clearly an issue with Carplay on the new iOS, but I think it’s frustrating that I chose to spend so much time trying to help Apple as if I were an Apple employee. It used to work better back in the glory old days...

Let’s just see how long will it take for them to come up with a fix for this. Not being able to use those 2 tabs on Carplay completly ruin Apple Music experience. My Spotfy Radio app on Carplay has became my to go app while driving, and this makes me re-think my Apple Music subscription. It’s been almost a month with this annoying issue.

Thx man. I also did this whole process that you described. At the end, I ended up joining the iOS beta 14 to see if they were solving the issue in the new version, but no. And because of that, the customer support decided not to continue with my case - they said that once I installed the Beta I have to go after the specific support channels for developers... Yesterday I did a full report on the issue through the Feedback App that's installed with the beta version. Hope this all together that we are doing will raise a flag at their engineer team... Please let's keep the conversation.

I've had this problem ever since upgrading from iPhone 7 to iPhone 11 pro. It's been 6 months now, the "browse" tab will not connect. I do not have any issues with the "for you" tab. I was also hoping updating to the ios 14 beta would solve the problem but it's the same. Signed in/out of app store account. Rest network settings (which solved another error when google maps stopped loading the map) but nothing works for this error.

Maybe it happened because once you migrated phone, you also upgraded the iOS version? In my tests, it wasn’t about the phone, but iOS version. 12 was working fine. Issues started with 13. Btw, tested the iOS 14 Beta v3 already with no success. Probably they are not looking into it...

Hi, I have the same problem with my Iphone 11 Pro Max iOS 13.6 and Carplay on my Audi E-tron. When I click on items in the "for you" tab, it just keeps spinning. Same issue with Carplay Wireless or via USB.

Well, right now it's just a wait and see what happens situation. I am really disappointed in the follow-up I received. The first follow-up request from the engineering team was for them to run a diagnostic on my phone (iPhone 11 Pro Max). It appears that they simply won't acknowledge the fact that everything was running just fine on iOS 12, and this began with the first version of iOS 13. They ran the diagnostic on my phone, and in the follow-up call 2 days later asked me to turn off the Wifi hotspot in my car (2020 Toyota RAV4), and then try CarPlay again to see if it solves the problem. Well, the Wifi in my car was not turned on, but I toggled it on and then back off anyway. Nevertheless, it still did not solve the problem. They said that if that did not solve the problem, send them a video of the problem occurring. I had already sent them a screenshot of the spinning wheel, but apparently that wasn't enough to satisfy them, so I sent a video. That was 3 days ago and I have not heard backs of yet. The 2 call backs I received were not from an engineer, but rather from a Senior Advisor relaying the messages from the engineering department.

At this point I am not very hopeful for a fix. I will probably end up discontinuing Apple Music and going with Spotify, but my new billing cycle just started, so I guess I'll stick it out for another month to see if there is a fix.

Yesterday I decided to load the Apple iOS 14 Public Beta, and I'm happy that I did. My issue with Apple Music in CarPlay is now resolved. iOS 14 has a new version of Apple Music, and the "For You" tab that was causing my issue no longer exists in the new version. Those music preferences based on your library and likes are now under a "Listen Now" tab. All Apple Music functions in CarPlay are now working for me in iOS14... and I have really nice new CarPlay wallpaper as a bonus.

Same problem for me with "for you" sub menu tabs, the first choices on the screen (the mixed playlists ) are working, the specific tab for music gender not.

it's annoying, this was one of the best features of CarPlay , on the iPhone everything works.

No other issues founded, everything else of Apple Music on CarPlay works.

Just updated @ iOS 13.6.1

Hi everyone, as I posted before, I shared the issue with Apple through the beta feedback app a few weeks ago. I just tested the iOS 14 Beta 5 and I confirm it’s now working! Doesn’t feel it’s totally build, but at least it’s now loading some playlists on the browse tab. I will keep you all posted.

You're lucky it seems. I've also updated to iOS14 Beta 5. Has not made any difference for me. I have the same issue on my phone (iPhone 11 pro) and my wifes phone (iPhone XS). We have tried both phones on 3 different cars with carplay, same issue, does not load the browse tab.

We share a apple music family account, fwiw.

Same here guys. iOS 14 Beta 5 felt like it was fixed, but then on the Beta 6 it's broken again. Sorry for the false alarm. Also, GPS on the CarPlay interface is totally out of sync, breaking as well Maps, Google Maps and Waze. Anyone experiencing this? Once I connect the iPhone to CarPlay GPS gets totally crazy, not moving or moving to very far places (issue with the new "precise location maybe?)

I to have the same issues with Apple Music in CarPlay and have had them for the past several months. This behavior also exists in other 3rd party apps like Tune-In Radio and iHeart Radio. In addition I also have issues with Waze completely taking over and locking the volume settings on my cars infotainment system each time I launch Waze....crazy! I was also considering ditching Apple Music and switching to Spotify but I’m now convinced that all of these issues / bugs are within CarPlay because out side of CarPlay. I’ll wait for the next iOS update before making a decision on what to do.

Guys, an update on my end as well - The iOS14 GM didn't work as well and, to make it worse, the GPS got absolutely crazy. Once the phone is connected to the Carplay, both the phone and the Carplay apps starts presenting completely inaccurate positions, miles away from where you actually are. It doesn't move as expected - keeps jumping around and most of the time it completely freezes the interface. Once I disconnect the phone, the car keeps displaying the last frozen screen and a cable reconnection doesn't work as well. I have to turn off entirely the car and wait a few minutes for the system to "reset", and then I'm able to start a new connection with the car. All other apps working well, but when I try once again to use any map app that gets the GPS position (Apple Maps, Waze or Google Maps) it freezes again. None of it was happening on iOS13 on the same hardware (a pretty new unit from a Land Rover 2020). 

Same behaviour and issues on the iOS 14.2 Dev Beta as well. All reported using the Feedback App, but no reaction by Apple so far.

Any of you having anything similar to this? Do you guys believe Apple has access to our complains here as well?

I had the same problem and I figured out how to fix it...

On your iPhone, open Apple Music and click the “Listen Now” tab. Go through the steps of choosing genres and artists you like. Make sure this task is completed in it’s entirety. Now go back to CarPlay and click over to Library then back to “Listen Now”. This solved the problem for me.

Apple certainly needs to write better handling for this “glitch.” Perhaps a friendly message that reads, “Please launch Apple Music on your iPhone and complete the setup process on the “Listen Now” tab.”

Hopefully this resolves the issue for you guys. Let me know :-)