iOS 9 lightening to USB audio clicks and pops

All of our complaints finally paid off. Maybe apple support will start listening to customers who apparently are smarter than their software designers in the future. We've been telling them there was a software problem for months.

TheTominator wrote:

UPDATE: The clicking is fixed with today's iOS 9.2 release. But, as others had pointed out along the Public Beta path, a new issue has arisen. Mine is that after a few songs (between 2 and 5), the audio starts being garbled and skippy about 10 seconds in. Pause and play gives it a few seconds of clear audio again, but it returns. Unplugging the cable and connecting it again fixes it for another round. I'll do more testing another day.

iOS 9.2, iPhone 6s, Apple Music, 2011 Saab 9-5.

Try keeping your iPhone unlocked. You will notice the issue is not there when the phone is unlocked. As soon as you lock it or it goes in auto-lock, you will notice the problem coming back right away.

I downloaded 9.2 and just tested. While the first issue is resolved, I can second what others are experiencing. There is clicking and popping occurring when the screen is locked. The first 5 minutes or so are fine and then it starts- for me it is actually worse than the clicking that happened before. Unlocking it or pressing the home button alleviates these sympton. Hopefully Apple fixes this in the next iteration. Thanks.

Ugh, you're right. After a few minutes starting to play with the phone locked, it starts doing the garbled audio. Unlocking it restores the audio fidelity. Locking it again IMMEDIATELY goes back to garbled.

Awful. This is probably worse than the original issue. To reiterate, iOS 9.2 is not the solution.

2012 Chevy Volt here.

Had the clicking issue on 9.1 on my prior 6, and more recently my 6s. Updated to 9.2 yesterday and the clicking phenomenon is indeed gone, but as others have stated after 1-2 songs (3-5 minutes) of music playing with the screen locked it starts distorting the audio. Unlocking fixes it for 3-5 minutes or until the phone is locked again, or unplugging the lightning connector and replugging it in fixes it for a few minutes as well.

Hope they fix this soon! The new issue (distorted audio) is far worse and annoying than the slight clicking noise ever was.

EDIT: submitted a bug report to Apple about the new distortion issue, and left a link referencing this thread. Hopefully they fix this!!

As the issue of this thread has now been resolved, I have created a new thread that focusses on the new issue that has come up in iOS9.2.

Please post your findings in that thread, so we can keep things as simple as possible. It will also give Apple engineers a chance to get a clear view of the remaining issue we all have.

Please find the thread here:

iOS 9.2 Distorted audio on Lightening to USB (garbled or skip/seek like noise)

I dont get the same issue with the music at all in my Saab 9-5 with Harman Kardon.

After the ios9.2 came, all the distortion we got from the ios9 came just disappeared.

So finally its possible to listen to music again in my car.

Anyone tested the ios9.2.1? Iam actually anxious that the problems get back again..

Ok.. heres the issues.. I wrote that I didn´t get the same problem in my Saab with Harman Kardon as you got. I have to correct that.. It seems now that the Issue occur when I'm using Spotify, Soundcloud and iTunes with closed screen. When I use Tidal (mode:HIFI) which is lossless I have not got the Issue yet. Thats why I didn't think I got the same problem as all of you. I almost never use Spotify/Itunes, and Soundcloud I have not tried since the upgrade to 9.2

With Spotify the digital horrible scrubbing/scratching occurred just after 2-3min. With iTunes I thought that It wouldn't happen because it played 4-5 songs, and suddenly it came from nowhere.

With Soundcloud the Issue came just before the first song where going to skip to the next song.

We really need a quick fix for this APPLE. Why did iOS 8.4 work.

I also have the same issue with my 2013 Chevy Tahoe/Bose entertainment, USB connection. Before finding this thread, I had replaced my iPod thinking it was bad. When I discovered that all my apple devices clicked, popped, etc., I had the radio replaced (warranty). The dealer was great... But the problem still exists!

Are there any fixes on the horizon?!

I have been having this issue on an iPhone 6S. iOS 9.2.1 does not fix it.

Can confirm, issue still present in iOS 9.2.1

Idk, the sounds is 1000x now. I thought aux had a better sound turns out it was just distorted the whole time while locked.

Same problem here, it started when I updated my Iphone 6 to ios 9.1.

I drive a mazda 3 and connect my phone to the car speakers via Bluetooth.

everytime i change tracks from my music the phone makes this awful popping noise.

I checked on other devices and has the same problem, I even used another phone on my car to test the bluetooth device and it works just fine, so the problem is on my phone!

Please help!!! the new update 9.2.1 didn't fix anything either, any help?

iOS 10.1 with Iphone7, this USB audio popping problem still didn't fix.

It is also reproducible with Apple's new Lightning to 3.5mm audio adapter.

Come on, Apple, you remove the 3.5mm audio jack, but give us a popping / clicking USB audio!!

Same here - iPhone 7+ with IOS 10.1.1 and audio still clicks and pops when connected to USB via Lightning port in car. It works find via the new lightning headset!