Muffled sound through Apple CarPlay usb

Hey so i kind of figured it out. I read on another thread that spotify has a “hey spotify” feature similar to hey siri and whenever i plugged my phone in, the sound was muffled because it would register on my car as a “hey spotify” command. So i went into settings and turned it off and its been working fine ever since.

hi there! i have been having the same problem for months now and i could never figure out why the sound was only muffled with my phone but when anyone else would plug in their phones it would sound normal. i tried switching out cables, turning the car on and off, powering off my phone, and many other things that did not work. today, though, i realized my spotify was not updated for some reason and after updating i went back to my car and the sound was normal once again. i hope it continues to stay normal, but my suggestion for you would be to make sure your spotify is updated, your software is updated, and your carplay is updated. hope this helps!

I fixed mine by going on Spotify and turning of “Hey Spotify”

double check and make sure your software and spotify are updated! i struggled to find the solution to this problem for so long and when i went to spotify it said to update it and that fixed it immediately. If that doesn't work i am so sorry but i don't know what other solution there could be.

I found it. Make sure you turn off the “hey Spotify” on the app settings which is found on voice interactions. Then you wanna click microphone permission which take you to the your actual phone settings and turn off microphone on Apple settings and it should be back to normal.

I had this problem as well this is what I did to fix it!

Reason why it sounds muffled or low quality audio is because it is using your microphone at the same time.

go to your SETTINGS

scroll down to your SPOTIFY app

click on the MICROPHONE and turn it off

That fixed it for let me know if that works :)

Hi Eric,

I'm having the same problem that Crabapple22 is having. For me, it is all music on my phone, not just Spotify. I've tried Apple Music as well, with no improvement in the sound.

Some other symptoms I've had include Siri not giving voice directions while I'm playing music from my phone. However, Siri does work if I'm listening to the radio.

Also, I have a 2018 Mazda CX-3 and confirmed that the CarPlay system is up to date as of last week. It does not have Bluetooth connection available for CarPlay. I noticed that it seems like the sound is going through a different channel in the system. Typically, it looks like music goes through a speaker channel (speaker icon shown when changing volume) and Siri goes through the navigation channel (maps/nav icon shown). Now, the sound looks like it goes through a microphone channel, since that's the icon that's shown.

Just this last weekend, I tried my wife's phone in my car on a road trip with no problems.

I hope this helps with some more information for you to diagnose. My next step is to take my phone into a Store to see if there's a problem with it.

Thanks for your help!

I am having the same issue , ive noticed that if i close spotify first and then open another app that has sound like youtube , when i open spotify it will work properly

I turned off “Hey Spotify” and the problem lessened; however, I find that a restart will do the trick. Very annoying but it happens less frequently this way. *knocks on wood*

Hello Crabapple22,

Welcome to Apple Support Communities!

We understand that Apple CarPlay sound is muffled when you're using the USB cord. We're happy to help!

Below is an article that will provide some steps to help with CarPlay.

If you need help with CarPlay

Were you able to try a different USB cord and if what was the result?

Let us know if you have any questions.

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.

Take care!

I have been having the same issue with my phone connecting since mid December 2020. And I can’t figure out why the handsfree keeps popping up when connecting to Apple Car play. Which causes the sound to be muffled.

For me it happens with any music app. Including apple music. The music is crisp and clear when using Bluetooth however when I switch over to a usb (so I can use apple car play) the music sounds muffled and not as clear.

To be honest I think the issue with people is that when they listen to CarPlay music through Spotify, the claimed that the music was being played as if they were on the phone, it was good quality. There’s nothing wrong with your stuff, playing music through your CarPlay is just crap. It’s the CarPlay itself itself bogus. Bluetooth sounds better and clearer and it’s not your fault that CarPlay is trash. But CarPlay is just convenient to have music playing while charging and using to make calls and gps.

Mine did too for a bit after turning off the new “Hey Spotify” feature. However, it started again. I know it has something to do with the microphone because when I adjust the volume, my car displays a voice icon instead of a music symbol.