Shuffle Issue Using Bluetooth in a Mazda

I hope this will help regarding the Shuffle issues reported here .

Here is how I resolved it in my 2014 Mazda 6 with my iphone 6 with iOS 9.2

Note 1: This solution depends on the car having CAR PLAY as part of its electronic system. In fact CAR PLAY is the reason SHUFFLE does not work and therefore the solution as well!

Note 2: I can find no way to turn on SHUFFLE PERMANENTLY. I have to tell CAR PLAY... "Shuffle ALL" each time I want to play music randomly in my car.

What's Car Play?

My 2014 Mazda 6 has a feature called Car Play. There is small button on the left side of the steering wheel showing a head and sound waves coming out of the mouth. This suggests you can talk to the car.

What does it do?

Essentially it allows your iPhone or iPod etc to be connected to the USB port under the "arm rest" in centre console and you can control the phone using the cars electronic system to play music, make phone calls etc. with voice commands —“hands free” for safety! I tried it a few times when I first got the car but hardly used it. I found it a bit of a nuisance to have to connect and disconnect to the USB cable every time I got in or out of the car.

Instead I simply connected via bluetooth to play music make phone calls etc. I asked Siri to play music. She did! But even if I told Siri to SHUFFLE ALL ... SHUFFLE would not work! It worked anywhere else including when connected to bluetooth speakers BUT when connected via bluetooth in the car SHUFFLE would turn off even if it was set to on previously in the phone! When I checked in the phone it had been turned OFF there! So something in the car was actually turning it OFF! I tried to turn it on but it went off IMMEDIATELY!

On the Internet there is much chat about this issue. Everyone blames either APPLE or MAZDA… OK each has to take some of that because their efforts are not proactive or co-ordinated. However, in the course of looking for an answer I re-discovered CAR PLAY…which with iOS 9.2 now works via BLUETOOTH! No more USB connect and disconnect. YES! So I pressed the CAR PLAY button and when SIRI offered her assistance I said... “SHUFFLE ALL” and presto SHUFFLE WORKS!

Now it is obvious that previously, though connected to the car via bluetooth, I was talking to Siri directly through the phone itself and not through CAR PLAY! If shuffle was on in the phone or even if Siri turned it on as I requested if it was not ON in CAR PLAY it would NOT work! So simple and yet so complicated!

There is no way this should be so difficult to figure out. All APPLE AND MAZDA need to do is clearly state the absolutely required information in the MANUALS or these days on the Internet! Simple as this….”Phone features only function if set to ON in BOTH the PHONE and the CAR PLAY system.” Neither provides that information ANYWHERE ! That would save everyone a lot of time and effort.

Surely that is within their “limited budgets”?

Why wouldn't this work? I would think that BT audio (as opposed to a hands-free phone or something) would simply be the car acting as a wireless speaker for the phone. Or does the car transmit back play/pause/forward/backward commands to the phone as well? (In which case, I'd think there wouldn't be any way for the car to disable the shuffle mode - it would simply function like any other playlist as far as iTunes on the phone was concerned) So this is a case of the car-audio being "too smart" for it's own good? (if it just acted as a dumb BT speaker, it would work, but no..)

It’s 2017, I bought the iPhone X, and I’m still having this problem. I have a 2014 Mazda CX-5, and this problem only recently started happening to me. It has been since iOS11 released when I had my 6s. Both Apple Music and Spotify don’t work properly; I’m not able to use the shuffle or repeat buttons. Apple, please take note and fix this issue

Thank you for the help! This issue has been driving me nuts for months. I’m using an iPhone X with Spotify and a 2015 Mazda CX-5. I had the same issue before when I was using an iPhone 7 Plus. Activating the car’s voice assistant and saying “Shuffle All” directly impacts the music player (in this case, Spotify) and turns on the shuffle feature, which for some reason cannot be turned on from the phone when you’re connected to your Mazda via Bluetooth. Unfortunately this is only a temporary fix, because every time you turn on your car, shuffle is off by default. So you must use the voice assistant to shuffle every time you get in the car. But I rejoice because at the very least my playlists will actually be able to shuffle again! (even if it’s annoying to tell your car to do so every time)

Couldn't have explained it better.

I've got a 2015 Mazda6 and an iPhone 6 with the same issue. It's quite frustrating and would love to see an actual solution rather than poor workarounds with drawbacks.

I have the same frustration, also my iPod classic is constantly loading, loading, waiting, not working, then if it does work it always starts on the same **** song in alphabetical order. I traded in my 2013 CX-5 for a brn new one several months ago. The old stereo in the previous car works flawlessly, now nothing but frustration.

I'd like to have the old stereo back. It was perfect. Always started up right where it left off. Bluetooth worked perfectly. Now, I often have to shut down and restart my phone to get bluetooth working again.

This new entertainment system is pure crap and the dealer tries to tell me my iPod Classic is too old. That's a big lie.It fails the same with a brand new iPod.

If it was just bluetooth or just the iPod that failed, I would happily use the other, but both is inexcusable.

Just found this. Perhaps it will work for you.

This report of the issue is spot on. I have a Mazda 6 as well and my 6+ will not shuffle on bluetooth. I can towards the end of each song hit the shuffle button on the iPhone and while it's highlighted for around 1.5 seconds hit the next track button and it will shuffle to the next song, then turn the shuffle button back off.

It really is unacceptable and software bugs like these are exactly what drove me away from Android and back to Apple.

Looks like it's the same all over.

I am in the same boat and it's pretty annoying that NOTHING has been done to at least address the problem or give us an idea that someone is looking into it. Funkhouse9 posted his problem more than two months ago and all we got is crickets.

We, my friends, are out in the cold on this one.

Thanks Millionaires!

I have this same exact problem with my iPhone 5c on iOS 8+ (currently 8.1.3). I had a Mazda 3, 2010 that shuffled music no problem, this car also did not have any technical display for the track list, etc. I recently got a Mazda CX-5 2015 and the 5c music through Bluetooth cannot keep the shuffle active, whether in playlists or not. This is very frustrating. The new Mazda has a great touch screen display that does show track list through Bluetooth, not sure if the added technology is what is causing the issue.

I would like this issue to be looked into so I can truly be wireless and stop having to resort to back to my AUX cable just so that I can shuffle my music. I could also look into using Pandora or Spotify instead of iTunes/iPod for my music needs....

I have a 2013 Kia Optima with their UVO system. Shuffle works only while the phone is awake. Once it goes to sleep the shuffle cancels. I had an S4 before I got this phone which worked fine and with this issue I just don't listen to music anymore.

Dealer now claims to have a hardware and firmware fix for all problems associated with iPod and Bluetooth On Mazda Entertainment system. Waiting for part to arrive, hope to get it serviced in the next five days.

I bought a 2015 Mazda 6 back in Sept. I traded in a 2012 CX-9 that would not even display any iPod info BUT... it shuffled fine. The first thing I did before I traded was to see how my iPhone synced... all was good except I didn't even think to check the shuffle.... then a week or so after I traded, I noticed it was not shuffling. Crap. Well... today my wife bought a 2016 Mazda 6 and it ALL works perfect! So maybe Mazda does have a fix. Fingers crossed.

I am having the same problem. I purchase a 2015 Mazda 6 in January. I have found the stereo/navigation and everything related to both to be completely unacceptable. If I try to listen to my music through an iPod or my iPhone wired thru the USB port, it take about an hour before I can listen to the first song because the system spends that much time loading my music. I have had several cars over the last few years and none had this problem. If I sync the phone using the Bluetooth function, then I can not shuffle my music. I agree you can tell the system to shuffle using the voice command the car offers, but most the time it doesn't work, or only works temporarily. Reading many of the post, people seem to believe this a iPhone software issue. I do not agree. I think it is a Mazda issue with the stereos they are using in recent model years. Hearing people say it worked in an older model Mazda, but stopped working when they purchase a new one supports my theory. I have called and made an appointment with Mazda and told them there are people on this site who claim Mazda is aware of the issue and has developed a fix. My dealership is not aware of it, and wants me to bring the car in to verify the problem. Technology in other cars is far more advanced than this and they need to figure this problem out!