Apple music keeps buffering on Carplay

Question

Level 1

16 points

Apple music keeps buffering on Carplay

Hello.

Ever since i try to play my music on Carplay wireless from my IPhone on my Audi Q8 the tracks stop playing and i see the loading/buffering circle turning next to the line “Playing next” on the upper right corner of the Dashboard display. After a long pause the music eventally resumes.

At first i thought it was the connection but other music Apps like Amazon music works without any problems. The connection shows LTE the whole time and it even happens when playing the offline Tracks from my already downloaded playlist. To make things even worse it also happens even though my mobile is connected through a USB cable.

It is only when using Apple music App since everthing else works seemlessly.

Things I’ve tried so far:

1. Reinstalled Apple Music App

2. Resetted the connections and paired them again through “ Forget this Device” both on the IPhone and my car

3. Restarted my mobile

4. IOS and the MMI are both updated

I have almost tried everything suggested on the forums and would appreciate any help.

iPhone 11 Pro Max

Posted on Aug 11, 2020 8:22 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

MoonJ.

Community Specialist

Aug 13, 2020 9:10 AM in response to ikonik_x

Hi ikonik_x,

We understand you're having a problem playing content from the Apple Music service while connected to a CarPlay system. We'd be happy to help.

It sounds like you've already completed some great troubleshooting steps. One thing we'd like to recommend is changing your device name when you remove and reactivate the CarPlay connection. Here's the steps to try:

Navigate to Settings > General > CarPlay, select the CarPlay stereo name you're connected with and choose Forget This Car.
Navigate to Settings > General > About > Name, and change the name of your device.
Navigate to Settings > General > CarPlay, connect your device to the CarPlay system and re-pair them.

After changing those settings test out the Apple Music service and see if the issue still continues.

We'd also like to suggest checking out the recommended steps for CarPlay issues here: If you need help with CarPlay

If you continue to have problems, we'd recommend using the link at the bottom of that article to contact Apple Support directly.

We hope this helps. Cheers!

Reply

Answer 2

EdFreese

Level 1

23 points

Sep 18, 2020 2:20 PM in response to Carlos-159

It could be a bug in the Audi MMI. Disabling the ‘Allow WLAN devices’ in the connection settings will solve the problem, however, in return you will get an annoying popup every time your iPhone connects to the MMI asking you to enable the setting again. This popup can be dismissed, however, and streaming will be perfectly fine.

Reply

Answer 3

Sep 19, 2020 3:29 AM in response to EdFreese

whoever’s fault it is, whether Apple or Audi- the hint with the MMI settings solved all my issues with it:

first half second of a song is skipped: SOLVED
buffering when streaming online: SOLVED

i can live with the pop up resulting in this setting change.

thanks :-)

Reply

Answer 4

Aug 18, 2020 12:57 AM in response to ikonik_x

Hello,

I do have the exact same problem with Apple Carplay wireless and a brand new Audi Q3. Tried everything as you and it didn't work. The weird story is, if I detach my iphone from carplay using Apple Music the buffering problem does not occur, only when connected to carplay.

Reply

Answer 5

ikonik_x Author

Level 1

16 points

Aug 18, 2020 2:59 AM in response to Tobiflyer

Sorry to hear that you are having the same problem, i know how annoying it can be.

Renaming the device did not really help, no.

The problem is the way i see it related to downloading and streaming the music on Apple music and the internet connection speed. It occured to me that the interruptions were always when a new music was being played and was not already downloaded on my device.

I downloaded the complete playlist and there i had absolutely no more buffering.

What puzzles me is that i have a very reliable internet connection from Telekom and when i stream music through Bluetooth from Apple music everything is fine.

My theory is that Carplay needs a more continuous high bandwidth and even though i see LTE being displayed on the screen there are eventually short Internet signal interruptions on the way, which doesn’t get updated fast enough on the display that cause this problem.

Try downloading your Playlist on your mobile and see if it still buffers.

It is kind of sad since streaming playlists from Apple music doesn’t function properly even with a proper internet connection.

I am still not convinced but if i come across a better solution will post it here.

Reply

Answer 6

Aug 18, 2020 3:43 AM in response to ikonik_x

Thanks for the quick reply. Downloaded playlists show a very similar issue in my car I am afraid. When I start playing a song from my downloaded playlists within Apple Music sometimes it stops after 7-10 seconds and continues to play 20-30 seconds later like if its buffering the downloaded song as well. Also I have the issues that when skipping songs the first half second of the beginning of the title is "swallowed" up. I run a complete Sonos System at home and don't have any issues with this kind of wifi streaming so I am a bit confused what to do ....

What puzzles me as well is why does wireless carplay need to have wifi and bluetooth on. What role has bluetooth within this carplay connection?

Reply

Answer 7

lezardm2

Level 1

4 points

Aug 18, 2020 1:28 PM in response to Tobiflyer

hi,

i am having the same issues with Apple Music. Every other music app works fine (Spotify) and CarPlay works very well for other apps. I have a new car with mmi. I have tried to change the name of my device as advised but it still does not work. it does it also with all downloaded music or playlist.

i think I will cancel my Apple Music subscription and switch to Spotify.

if you ever have a solution please let me know.

cheers

Reply

Answer 8

Sep 16, 2020 4:30 AM in response to lezardm2

Hello, I have exactly the same issue here. Apple Music is basically non playable when connected to CarPlay. I do not experience any of these issues with other provider such Spotify. Anyone found a solution or is this a bug?

Reply

Answer 9

ikonik_x Author

Level 1

16 points

Sep 16, 2020 5:38 AM in response to Carlos-159

Good day,

sadly I haven’t had any luck in resolving this problem until now. Although I must say that I have had no buffering issues with already downloaded music. Streaming music from Apple Music is however in spite of perfect internet connection still not possible.

Hopefully it will somehow get fixed through some updates.

Reply

Answer 10

Sep 16, 2020 7:27 AM in response to ikonik_x

Hello all,

still unresolved on my side. Offline or downloaded tracks seem to work fine now hence the fact that the first half of the first second in a song (downloaded) is swallowed up.

if it comes to streaming online playlists or radio through Apple Music it is impossible to use despite having a perfect internet connection.

anyone tried to hardwire (Lightning cable) yet?

Reply

Answer 11

EdFreese

Level 1

23 points

Sep 19, 2020 1:28 AM in response to Carlos-159

It’s in the car:

Settings - connected devices -

press the settings icon in the right hand upper corner -

Mobile network - settings data connection - Allow WLAN devices.

turning the latter off resolves the buffering problem, but will warn you every time to turn it on again. It’s annoying but you can discard the message.

Reply

Answer 12

ikonik_x Author

Level 1

16 points

Sep 19, 2020 7:06 AM in response to EdFreese

This actually did the trick! Till now no buffering problems.

Thanks alot for posting! hopefully this thread will also help others with the same problem, till either Audi or Apple will come up with a solution!

Reply

Answer 13

san_82

Level 1

4 points

Oct 28, 2020 7:14 AM in response to ikonik_x

I have exactly the same issues as you and I don´t drive an Audi. So the problem is not only related to Audi as far as I can tell.

I´ve had issues with my iPhone Xs Max and now with the iPhone 12 Pro. The worst part is that the buffering and song skipping occurs while using CarPlay and when using the car bluetooth connection, wired and wireless.

No problems at all with Spotify.

Another bug that drives me crazy is that I have to manually disconnect Carplay whenever I leave my car, or else my Apple Watch won´t get any calls.

Reply

Answer 14

Kydix

Level 1

12 points

Nov 8, 2020 3:02 AM in response to san_82

So I’m very disappointed. I try to switch off hotspot setting in my car’s settings and I can’t use wireless CarPlay anymore...

So Apple please fix this ! It’s very annoying... I have to buy a lightning usb C cable now

Reply

Answer 15

Kydix

Level 1

12 points

Nov 8, 2020 3:11 AM in response to san_82

Ho crap ! I have no issue in my previous car (opel insigna). I’ll try with cable

the good point is that my car can receive OTA update, so if it’s a problem with VAG group’s system, maybe they will resolve them in a future update

Reply