IOS 14 CarPlay Audio Issue (crackling sounds)

When I first weighed in on this forum my crackling issue with my 2019 VW Golf was confined to phone only, showing up about 4 min into a call. I needed to tap the audio button on the phone to briefly use its speaker for just a second, which would “fix” the audio for about 1-2 minutes. And it started with iOS 14. VW told me there was no firmware update in US, and suggested I reset the car’s media system. This may have helped, as now the crackling only happens 8-10 min into the call and sometimes doesn’t happen at all. Strange.

So, after having taken my car - Skoda Fabia Combi 2018FL - to the dealer for a firmware update, my iPhones with iOS 14.x no longer have noise during CarPlay.

But: Can I safely upgrade to iOS 15? Has anyone tried?

I changed the EQ settings to ( late night ) and …boom freckling disappeared …sound via Bluetooth and wired CarPlay is exactly the same now

Try 14.6

Does anyone know if iOS 14.3 fixed this? On 14.2, after a few minutes, the crackling appears. I have to press the speaker button on the phone twice (moving sound to phone locally and back to CarPlay), which fixes the problem for a minute or two. Crazy.

That is unfortunate indeed.

I had to find a workaround and installing the Amazon music app did the trick. I know it’s not the best solution, but it worked for me so far and II’ll keep that up until Apple solves that issue.

Just thought I should share it here, since it might help some of you to deal with this annoying situation.

It is for sure not an issue on any device. I have two cars and I have the crackling issue just on one device, the other works like expected. The affected media center is an original SEAT (VW) device, which worked with iOS 13.x perfectly fine. The issue was introduced with the upgrade to iOS 14.x on my iPhone 8. In the other car I have a SONY after market device, which works fine and was not affected by the upgrade. It is something that might be possible to correct with a firmware upgrade on the SEAT Media center (hardware-version 695; Software-version 8590), but the SEAT dealer is clearly not up to the task and he could not even say if there could be a new firmware available... SEAT web support is no help either. But Apple did change something on the Carplay API with the move to iOS 14.x which causes troubles on some devices which worked well before. The SEAT device supports also Android Auto working all the time without sound problems.

All of the reasons you cite for why it's not the head end are not valid for analysis or debugging.

I've used this example many, many times, but here it is again:

If you have a calculator that adds 2 + 3 as 5, but 3 + 2 as 6, it's not your responsibility to make sure you always add 2 + 3.

That's what is happening with iOS 14 and these head ends, and quite frankly is likely to recur when iOS 15 is released as new capabilities are used that the head ends didn't implement properly when released.

Apple didn't change the API, it was documented and if properly implemented by the head end maker it would have no issue working with iOS 14.

Were it the API, the many head ends that do work properly with iOS 14 would not.

Having the same popping issue playing Apple Music on my iPhone 12 Pro Max via USB to my Uconnect system on my 2016 Challenger 392 Hemi Scat Pack Shaker. I thought I’d was just via streaming that this was happening, however, music downloaded to the device is also having the same problem. I don’t remember noticing right after ios14. However, I certainly noticed after Apple upgraded their music to Lossless.

Also, not noticing the popping via Tidal, Amazon Music, Spotify, Google Music and Mix-Cloud.

Skoda have a October 2020 software update to their media player that fixed my issue. Works perfectly now.

For the last time, it has NOTHING to do with your iPhone or iOS, it is a car head unit issue and your car manufacturer needs to update the firmware of it NOT THE BLOODY PHONE.

Exactly the same happened to me. The support article does not help with anything.

With ios13.6 it was perfect.

The bug got introduced in ios 14 and carried on till the GM and then the public release. Definitely needs to be fixed.

It does not matter if I connect my phone on wireless or wired carplay, seems the buffer is too small and the bandwidth of data transfer is limited.

Hi everybody,

unfortunately I have the same problem with my IPhone 11. I just bought a new Range Rover with a Meridian sound system. Without AppleCarPlay the sound is great. No crackling sound. With Apple CarPlay there is this crackling sound. It is a little bit better when I change the sound to Dolby instead of Meridian sound setting . But then the sound is very dull. The same problem exists with other iPhones of my children. So ist is defenetely an Apple problem and not a car problem. Very sad, because ist is my first car with Apple CarPlay and normally Apple attaches great importance to a good sound. I hope Apple will fix this very soon, because at the moment I can't use it.

While it might make sense there are no excuses. I changed to iPhone 12 Pro Max forking out over 1k - it’s worth it in most areas but a huge let down when getting into the car. Crackling and no depth to the sound despite equaliser adjustments etc.

If I get the phone to forget the car, do a hard reset and re connect its a whole other story - lovely enriching crackle free sound - but why should I have to do this when the Pixel 2 I changed from was soooooooooooooo much better in sound quality - I used to look forward to my regular longer journeys.

what’s worse is my kids think there is nothing wrong with it. Apple is dumbing our younger post vinyl and cd generation with **** music quality. And charging for it!

Its a software thing apple and it’s your responsibility - not car manufacturers etc. It’s embarrassing. Sort it out!

By your username, it looks like you might have a Nissan GT-R?

I'm only asking because this has been a major issue in - and across - all of my Nissan cars (currently a 2021 Maxima; previously 2019). From my experience, it's unfortunately a Nissan problem - hardware, wiring, or software.

My issue - dating back three years - is that I get crackling on phone calls (and sometimes Siri replies). Audio (music) does not have this problem - Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, SiriusXM, Spotify, etc. are okay.

I've tried multiple phones, multiple iOS (v12 > v14.7.1), multiple USB-A and USB-C cables..

and had the head unit -and- USB ports (USB-A/USB-C combo) replaced...