CarPlay skips playing music

Interesting perspective... In my situation, we narrowed it to the head unit. I’d recommend people pursue this and getting the USB ports replaced to address the issue. At least in my case, there was no skipping in the 2019 Impreza.

I had a Volkswagen Passat 2017 with Carplay that worked great with my iPhone XS. Got a 2019 Outback this weekend and the skipping started. Same phone, same cable. Based on what I'm reading on this thread, it doesn't sound like an Apple issue.

What I am experiencing is far from unlistenable, however. I don't have static or distortion. I only have a skip/dropout every few minutes. Completely annoying and unacceptable, but maybe not as bad as some on here with older firmware or car models.

USB connectors replaced today. So now we have had both the head unit and the USB units replaced on our my19 WRX and the problem persists. There seems to be no answers. Service manager is going to contact Subaru Australia and Head Unit Manufacturer to establish where to from here. He acknowledged that he is in and out of new cars with same head unit all the time and he has the same issue. This is not an issue with phone or cable, as wife’s phone works fine in both mine and my sons car.

Really now now just want Subaru to step up to the plate and arrange for a new make of head unit to be installed in all affected. The fact that so many are having this problem and there is no solutions it is rally not good enough.

Agreed. It's a total lack of quality control and this problem shouldn't be so widespread on Subarus w/ CarPlay. I can confirm that the "recall" for the software update didn't resolve it either, although it's not as bad.

FYI... SiriusXM gave me 2 months of free satellite radio when I took my car in for the recall service. Not sure if Subaru did a deal with SiriusXM, but it was somewhat of an interesting gesture. Maybe coincidental.

I had this tested in a 2019 Impreza, just the one car, and it did not reproduce. They took the USB ports out of that car and put them in my car. The issue reoccurred, so this tells me it is the head unit. Now, keep in mind that we looked at only one (new) car, so it's entirely possible that was a fluke. Currently I'm waiting on a new head unit to arrive at the dealer.

This issue is also happening to me. Have a 2019 Subaru Forester Sport and the “skips” are happening as well. Have the H/K head unit. Thought maybe it was an issue with my iPhone X streaming songs from the cloud, but I only played songs from the iPhones internal flash drive and still the same thing. I also have a 2008 GMC that I installed an aftermarket Pioneer head unit that also has CarPlay and it works fine with the same phone. Has the be a head unit issue.

Since Apple removed every post I’ve tried to submit which begs them to take some responsibility for this issue and offer some sort of advice, I’ve decided to potentially solve the problem myself.

After realizing that Apple CarPlay works better with BOTH USB cable and Bluetooth enabled concurrently, I tried playing music and listened for over 20min with ZERO skips before hurrying to post this message. Hopefully all of you can give this a try and report back success as well.

I have mixed feelings here, of course, as will most of you, because we should not have to use both Bluetooth AND USB. But if it works? The future is manipulating us, but at least we will have uninterrupted audio playback in our vehicles!

Good luck and don’t forget to chime back in with your results.

last conversation that I had with Subaru dealer at Newstead Brisbane was that Harmon the manufacturer of the Head unit had accepted it was a software issue in the unit and that they were working on some updated software. That was a couple of months ago now and since they have not responded to my requests for updates. This is not an apple issue from what I have been told. Getting impatient though.

Clarification: I connected with a standard Bluetooth connection first, and then plugged in the cable. CarPlay kicks in, sound quality goes way up, and I swear to the baby Jesus there has been no skipping for ... oh no... it just skipped. I guess we have no choice but to wait for the manufacturer of these head ends to release a 100% fully Apple CarPlay compatible version of their product.

For the record, I haven’t heard a skip since the last one. 🤣

2019 Subaru Forester here. Same issue. Intermittent blip or skip every probably minute or so. For someone who appreciates high quality sound this is totally unacceptable for a brand new car. Harmon Kardon head unit. I had the latest firmware update at dealership to fix the “forgetting preset” issue, but it did not fix the skipping issue. It has to be the head unit, CarPlay worked flawlessly in my old car that had an aftermarket pioneer head unit. Really hoping this can be resolved soon as it’s very frustrating knowing I’ll be driving this thing for 5 years.

Still has the skipping problem. Note that there is a class action suit against Subaru, still in the early stages. I would recommend taking the issue up with your dealer and pressing them on it. In my case, my car is new and very much under warranty, so I will be pushing this as much as I can. I'm feeling very confident that the head unit is at issue considering the skipping does not happen in so many other (new) cars such as the 2018 Honda Accord (tested at home.) It also does not recur when playing music via Bluetooth in my Impreza.

Hello Verne,

I've found a way to almost completely eliminate the skipping CarPlay audio problem in my 2018 Outback 3.6R & iPhone Xs. It has been working for a couple days now, which tells me I am truly on to something here. I was previously unable to go 3 minutes without a skip, and now I can listen to several songs in a row without interruption. This tip is useful to Spotify users, but it disables Starlink's access to Apple Music -- so it won't make everyone smile. If it does apply to you, please give it a shot and report back with your results.

Open Settings

Open SUBARU STARLINK app settings

DISABLE "Media & Apple Music"

I purchased a 2019 Subaru Outback 3.6L and use iPhone 8 & iPhone 8 Plus with latest iOS. I too experience intermittent skips or freezes when playing music via Apple CarPlay. This is very frustrating.

2019 Subaru Outback and experiencing the same problem. I loved the idea of apple CarPlay when buying the car but never use it because of the skip every minute or so when listening to music that is stored on my iPhone XR. I’m surprised there’s no fix and it’s half way through 2019.

2019 Subaru Forrester Touring w H/K 9 speaker surround system.

2018 GMC Terrain SLT w Bose 7 speaker surround system.

On both vehicles, we have had the same issue with both an iPhone 6+ and iPhone 7+ on iOS 12.3.1 with CarPlay.

Once I disabled CarPlay altogether the audio issue went away completely, and remain so.

Meanwhile, if I use my iPhone as an USB iPod through Media, no issues, crystal clear audio all the way; over BT, no issue either.

To me, it sounds like a vinyl record skipping periodically.

I called Subaru, they said it’s an “Apple issue” and an update will be coming soon. I have the latest head unit firmware for the car, and I’ve tried five different cables now, three of which are Apple-branded.

For now, I’m happy just using it as an iPod as a workaround but would love to test it with Android Auto to see if there are any differences in the sound quality.