bluetooth music issues after iOS6 update

Guys,

I am really sorry, but can we keep these philisophical "I hate Apple" discussions away from here? People here are probably more interested in a solution or a way to make this public to Apple than in those "This phone *****" or "Apple is worse since Steve died" etc. comments. They do not help anyone. They are only good for the one who writes it to let off steam. Others need to scan those comments for anything useful. It's a waste of time. Open your own discussion and call it "I think Apple *****" or "I want Steve back!" or whatever. If you don't like the phone, try to get a refund or sell it. ;-)

Seriously - please consider the practicability of your solutions and comments. In my opinion, a lot of once useful threads get blown out of proportion by these non-helpful comments and are then left to die. I have my issues with the new iPhone 5 as well (actuallty, I love the design, but don't really appreciate iOS 6), but I won't let my steam off here. I need a solution.

This is the biggest thread I could find where people actually talk about the BT problem. In my case, my iPhone 5 (iOS 6, not 6.0.1 - I do not want to update since there are still bugs) won't repeat, shuffe or go to the next/previous album through my Mazda CX-5 via Bluetooth. I can skip back/forth and see the Metadata, but that's it.

I also had a problem with incoming calls being redirected to the actual phone itself, not through the car speakers, but that was resolved by changing the Accessibility settings on the iPhone as follows:

Settings -> General -> Accessibility -> Physical & Motor -> Incoming Calls -> Set to "Headset"

This forum is not monitored by Apple. So, if you would like to make this problem known to Apple, use their feedback site, explain the problem, and maybe slip the link to this thread into the feedback as well:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

If you think others should be aware of this, try other forums and tweet and encourage people to do the same. The only way to make this public is by word of mouth.

I know a lot of people are p.o., but just complaining here won't help anyone.

Just my 2 cents.

And now write that feedback and send a tweet already! ;-)

I can see your point to a degree. And equally agree that it is all too easy to go into rant mode. But I am one who did follow the feedback route. Apples response to that and others who have apparently gone the same route is still as far as I know, zero. It's almost like it doesn't exist. Bluetooth connection used to work fine and did exactly what was promised of it. Apple did an update to the software and now Bluetooth doesnt work as it did anymore.

It *****. I don't hate apple. I hate the fact that this problem is here, that people are suffering with it and that there is no acknowledgement of the problem, nor is there light at the end of the tunnel for those people. It isn't as though there is a comment from apple somewhere saying, we are aware of it and it is being addressed. Unlike the maps issue that got an apology, the Bluetooth issue is under the public radar UNTIL members of that same public are hit by the problem and end up here.

Those who post here are often at there wits end. Especially if you are told its broke now you updated and you can't go back.

For me? I hope somebody somewhere in apple IS reading these posts, whether just the simple posts, or the disappointed rants of those who are disenchanted. People already come in and say 'I can't be bothered reading 37 pages, here is my problem'. And guess what, from the start and to date, it is STILL the same problem. It doesn't work properly anymore.

Get somebody to tell us it will be alright in x amount of days/months and all the rants will likely end. But silence just allows it to fester away.

In a year it won't matter as any new hardware will likely be compliant and the older stuff will be consigned to the incompatibility lists of the manufacturers involved.

VHS/Betamax anyone? Anyway, I bow out of any further rants and apologise unreservedly if I have offended anyone reading them. I do not apologise for saying the things I have said as I feel apple really are letting their customers down.

That is of course a personal view only.

Beautiful! I had a nice collection of links here, and then - after pressing enter - Apple tells me they are updating the discussion forums, and all is lost.

Basically, I have the feeling that Bluetooth DOES work fine with my car.

It reads here:

Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP 1.4)

Audio/Video Remote Control Profile allows remote control of playback functions on the iOS device from compatible devices (commonly Bluetooth devices that use the A2DP profile). The latest version of iOS supports the following commands: pause, play, stop, next track, previous track, and browsing.

Apart from "Browsing", everything works fine! Only "next" and "previous folder" do not work, if that is meant by "browsing". I have to pick a different album from the phone (annoying). However, I noticed that when I am in the whole playlist, I can choose any song. "Repeat" and "Shuffle" are greyed out on the car unit, but it seems that it's not supported, anyway. ID3 tags are shown as well.

Phone book is downloaded, and outgoing calls are fine. After adjusting some settings as mentioned before, even the incoming calls work fine.

I'm a bit confused, now... does my phone work as it should, or not? 😕

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3581

Edit:

Awesome... check this: http://www.mazdahandsfree.com.au

"View comment" under Mazda CX-5 with iPhone 5:

Due to the phone software, incoming calls will not be received at random occurances on the Hands-Free system. We have communicated these issues to the device manufacturer. Please check back for updates.

😮

Message was edited by: Saphod

Saphod wrote:

And I just found this:

http://brisbanetimes.drive.com.au/motor-news/iphone-strikes-car-trouble-20121128 -2adj0.html

Note the article states:

Drive tested the hands-free and music functions of an iPhone 5 with the latest software updates this week and found it worked flawlessly with new cars made by Audi, Kia, Mazda, Peugeot and Toyota.

Ford says there have been no reported problems between its new electronic Sync system and the iPhone 5.

But a spokesman for Hyundai said that some customers had experienced smartphone connection problems.

which makes it sound like a Holden/Hyundai issue.

Holden, is correct about there "needing to be testing," but iOS updates were available to developers for months before the iPhone 5 and iOS 6 were released, which means Holden could have tested long before the release but didn't.

"My biggest problem is that Apple did this update. I struggle to believe that it was not flagged during beta testing yet Apple did not warn anyone. They then allowed people to innocently upgrade to IOS6 and offer now way back so people are now stuck on IOS6 with these problems whether they like it or not!"

I actually agree loosely with this. It is infuriating to think that Apple knew about this, which they supposedly did as it was brought up by beta testers and possibly even hinted at by Apple (as posted previously but seemingly in relation to a different update) and basically it was just allowed to go. Regardless of who the problem lies with, the reality IS that it was brought on with iOS 6 and if something is knowingly going to get borked, it's nice to be made known about it and make a choice. Of course, that would never happen, so it is moot anyway, but it still feels good to say it.

William K has fervently and repeatedly referred to the Mazda example as a previous indicator that a fault can lie with the OEMs of the Bluetooth devices, and there is no denying that example. That said, this particular problem isn't with one single manufacturer, so the example serves no more purpose than to just say, it's possible it isn't Apple's fault, and I will concede that. Some of you all need to concede that point as well. It IS possible that it isn't Apple's problem. Perhaps other OEMs aren't following the standard exactly and Apple is so their stuff broke up in the update.

That said, we would ALL be better off if Apple would do something to remedy the situation, as clearly they have the juice for the configurations to work, since they worked in the past. As was also pointed out, though, that also isn't likely to happen.

Apparently, pride goeth before the customer.

I have given up hope on this. I don't think my brand new 2012 car that i could FINALLY do avrcp 1.3 with once I got the iPhone 5 but STILL can't do it because of this issue will be updated to make it work and I think Apple has spoken clearly (by not speaking or patching it in 6.0.1) that they aren't touching it. , Maybe I'm just cynical.

I did send some more request to ore mobile news outlets that I follow, though, in hopes of getting this talked about even more.

I will be calling Acura back soon to find out if there is anything new to report since last month.

It does not matter if apple works closer to the other manufactures or not, the other manufactures choose to implement incorrectly, it was probbally cheaper. Apple use to either implement correctly or provide support for incorrectly implemented devices. Apple is not the one who developed the standard, they just follow it.

William Kucharski wrote:

Once more, here's the deal:

Those manufacturers are releasing fixes.

They wouldn't be spending money and engineering time if it was an Apple bug, they'd just wait for Apple to fix it.

If they're releasing an update, it's a bug in their code.

Apple can't "remedy the situation" if it's not their bug; they're adhering to a published standard and aren't responsible if other manufacturers didn't or don't.

Actually, aside from the first one, none of these statements are true. Companies who either don't want to mistreat their customers, or aren't revered enough to be able to do so without losing them, fix problems that aren't theirs all the time. They do spend money and engineering time to accommodate bugs or incompatibilities that aren't their fault, such as when apps rely on undocumented function calls. And Apple could remedy the situation whether or not it's their bug if they wanted to, they just don't want to.

All anyone, including you, really knows at this point is that the only people trying to solve these problems are the stereo manufacturers. The fact that they are working to solve them only says to me that they care about their customers and want their products to work, it doesn't say anything about whose fault the problem is.

"And Apple could remedy the situation whether or not it's their bug if they wanted to, they just don't want to."

If the stereo manufacturers had different issues resulting in the Bluetooth problems, then there's no way for Apple to fix this unless they give the user a way to default to AVRCP 1.3, which may not be feasible.

Based on Apples statement, it seems like the fault lies with the manufacturers, although I agree with you that the fact that the stereo engineers are fixing it is not proof that it's their fault.

I am a consumer and I do care how it works (or in this case doesn't work) as well as it being fixed, which unless you haven't been following the last few pages (and I don't think you have), it isn't going to be fixed by APple and it isn't going to work unless your radio manufacturer issues an update.

At this point, I don't believe mine will so I would at least like to understand what is going wrong just for educational purposes. Right now all I know is if doesn't work and Apple says it is a fault with my radio.

<Edited by Host>

Just a helping hand...

Alpine has released a beta firmware (which sounds scary with that title) for a few of their head units to improve compatibility (fix their bugs) with the iPhone 5.

http://alpine-usa.com/feeds/promo/12avupdate

These are the included units: INE-Z928HD, INE-S920HD or IVE-W535HD

I'm sure they have more on the way, and they won't be the only ones.

There are multiple posts on the alpine facebook page, that this issue is being worked on, and a fix should be announced soon. I sent a message to Alpine and was informed that it should be soon, though they would not issue an exact or estimated date. Hopefully soon..I'm facing the same issues.

They could have done things better. Maybe Have the firmware default to the previous working version if an error was met rather than just be incompatable. Or perhaps give users the option to select a working standard rather than be forced to have things in an inoperative state.

As to the problem reoccurring, if the option to choose were there, there would be no issue and no reoccurrence. A shame that so many users get shafted by this move forward win he Bluetooth standard.

Same goes for avrcp 1.4, it is backward compatible with avrcp 1.3 It is Apple who did not implement it as backward compatible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVRCP#Audio.2FVideo_Remote_Control_Profile_.28AVRCP .29

A standard requires compliance among both sides of the connection.

It is the head end manufacturers who did not code their Bluetooth stacks properly; we have no proof that Apple did anything other than correctly code to AVRCP 1.4.

craigmash wrote:

Add my voice. My Motorola S305 bluetooth headphones connect just fine, but I lost music control. Not sure if it happened with 6 or 6.0.1. But they worked great for YEARS with my iPhones.

Since I use these for running, having music control is very important to me. Guess I must hope for a fix from Apple since I know the headphones don't get any updates.

I have these same bluetooth headphones and they work fine with my iPhone 5, 3rd gen iPad, and 4th gen iPod Touch all running iOS 6.0.1 (and worked fine on iOS 6 too). The controls are fully functional for me and the music streams fine with no dropouts.

If you haven't already, you might try deleting the pair, pairing it again, and perhaps even a factory reset just to be sure.

You can feel free to disagree of course, but in my opinion the "definition of arrogance" in this situation applies more to manufacturers who fail to properly follow standards, then fail to provide updates/support for their equipment when they inevitably fail to remain compatible. THAT is what I call planned obsolescence.

Until the last few years, stereos, car head units, auto manufacturers didn't even bother to release firmware updates. It's new territory for them. And the ones who are more concerned about customer relations will do what they can to update their equipment. The others will just write the customer and that model off, expecting them to just buy whatever they make next. Again, you can feel free to disagree, but Apple is better about this support than most other companies out there.

(Un)fortunately, change is the price I pay as a customer for being on the leading edge of tech equipment.