IOS 14 CarPlay Audio Issue (crackling sounds)

2019 Skoda Fabia with exact same problem on a XS Max. Original radio system, updated software, Apple original cable.

I don’t believe this is the car manufacturer‘s fault since everything worked perfectly up to iOS 13.6.

Apple, please fix this asap. This isn’t just some minor glitch, it makes CarPlay unusable.

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.

Since the last update (14.1) the audio of my music is playing at much greater decibels yet the sound is distorted in the speakers of my car, and even my Bose headphones are just not translating the music the way it should. I’m using the Bluetooth on all devices. It is atrocious. I believe it may even damage my ears and my speakers and probably even my soul if I don’t turn it off.

Would you mind advising if the audio on your voice calls is also poor, or is it only the music? On my Alpine CarPlay unit, since upgrading to an iPhone 12, the voice quality on phone calls is unusable but music quality is excellent. On my iPhone 7 Plus (also using iOS 14.2) the voice and music quality are both perfect.

This did not work for me. Switching to a genuine Apple cable fixed other issues but not this one. I only get crackles when I start Siri and it goes away as soon as a call is made. This is really annoying!

iOS 14.2 did not fix it on my iPhone 11 Pro.

I have new Audi Q7 - and every 5min cracking sound appears, I have to reconnect the cable and it disappears for another 5min.

Via Bluetooth the sound is clear - Apple CarPlay sucks :(

Please Apple do something with that.

We all are willing to pay for you expensive products because of outstanding quality - this does not make good reputation of your brand.

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.

My Apple CarPlay just started doing this today in 2020 Subaru Forester. I am dumbfounded this has been going on so long. I have a 2 hour commute daily I don’t know what to do. Doesn’t work with cable or Bluetooth. IOS 14.4.

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.

Iphone 8 plus 256Gb (but it also happens with iphone 11), iTunes Match subscription, original Apple cable, always updated iOS (currently 14.3). Is unacceptable that from iOS 13 I cannot listen to two songs in a row with Carplay without glitch and distortion occurring.

I FOUND A SOLUTION! I have a Skoda Fabia 2019 and have been experiencing crackling after 2-3 minutes of play since iOS 14 came out. I finally took it into the dealership, and they said there was a CarPlay update released in October 2020. When they applied that update the issue went away!

Automakers vary upon whether they can do "over the air" firmware updates; FCA can but Samsung and most others cannot.

When a new version of firmware is released for your entertainment system, your dealer has to flash it.

Sadly, many dealers are not even aware new firmware exists; for Kias many dealers stubbornly said there was no such update until someone posted the actual Kia notice that there was here and people printed it out and handed it to their dealers.

Ask your auto manufacturer, it's their call.

The business analyst in me says it's literally to drive service department visits, especially once you're out of warranty, as once you're there they can upsell you on an oil change, tire rotation or other more expensive services you wouldn't go in for but might be amenable to as long as you're sitting in the waiting area anyway.

I work for a car dealership and that’s the first thing I did is check for a update of my radio and it didn’t help at all. I’ll check again this Saturday for another update as the last time I did was in September/October but if there is I don’t think it will help.

I have had similar issue in Seat but what worked for me was changing the Music -> Sound Check option (or whatever it is called - I have Polish version). It is the one below "EQ" in iOS 14.4.

Hoping it will work for others :)