Q: iPhone 6s and Mazda Bluetooth issues
Hi all, I've got an iPhone 6s on 9.2.1 and a 2016 Mazda CX5 Grand Touring with a Bose stereo system. I am having an issue where playing audio via Bluetooth (music from iTunes, podcasts, etc) has bad sound quality, the audio skips ahead randomly, and it cuts in and out a lot. I can't see a pattern to it, meaning it doesn't seem to cut out or skip more when there are notifications or other things happening on the phone. I do have an Apple Watch, so I wonder if that might have something to do with it. I have taken the phone back to factory settings and even had Apple replace it entirely and I set it up as a new phone, to no effect.
I don't have these audio quality issues when I connect the iPhone to the car via USB but that is not a solution either because:
1) it always starts playing the same song when I start up the car - the first song alphabetically in my music library, and
2) Apple Maps voice prompts don't play - it pauses the podcast or lowers the music volume but there's no Siri voice giving directions.
3) If I don't plug the phone in immediately when I start the car, it starts playing the radio at an insanely high volume and then I have to manually select USB.
None of those are issues if I'm connected via Bluetooth.
I had this exact same phone/watch setup on a 2013 Honda CRV and connected to Bluetooth with no issues the whole time I owned that car. I have taken the Mazda in to the dealer twice and they say it's an iPhone issue. Does anyone have any ideas on what's going on and how I can fix it?
iPhone 6s, iOS 9.2.1
Posted on Mar 7, 2016 3:19 PM