Pandora will not load on apple carplay

Hi there, erinfromdillon!
Thanks for reaching out to the Apple Support Communities! It sounds like you’re having an issue with accessing Pandora with your CarPlay and I’m happy to help! The good news is Apple has a couple of articles you’ll find helpful for your issue. First, check out this article with steps to follow If an app unexpectedly quits, stops responding, or won’t open. Next, check out the steps in this article to Set up CarPlay with your iPhone. Specifically, this section:

Get help

If CarPlay doesn't work like you expect, here’s what you can check. After each step, try using CarPlay again.

1. Make sure that Siri is turned on.
2. Restart your iPhone and your car. Depending on your car, you might see the CarPlay Home screen when you turn it on. If you don't, look for the CarPlay logo on your car’s display.
3. If possible, connect your iPhone to a different USB port in your car.
4. Try a different Lightning to USB cable. Make sure that the cable is certified.
5. Update to the latest version of iOS.
6. Check your car’s manual for help. You might need to install firmware updates for your stereo.

These articles will give you the best troubleshooting steps to take for your issues.
Let me know the results and have a terrific day!

I’m afraid this is on Pandora. I have the same issue (stuck on loading) in my Audi. The only remedy is to

Unlock phone

Close Pandora (“throw away”)

Restart Pandora

Have to do it every time I want to use it.

However, since this issue has been reported for several years, I wouldn’t hold my breath on them fixing this anytime soon.

I also have an Audi (2018 Q5) and have the same ongoing issue of Pandora not loading all my stations. The current song playing also doesn't show up on what Audi calls their virtual cockpit - sometimes, just the first song shows. It's an annoyance for sure. The only way I can get Pandora to work is by launching it before connecting it to the cable and starting the station I want to play. I think plug the phone in. The music plays fine, but it defies the purpose of Carplay, which is to be hands free...

I submitted a case to Pandora support and got a response that they are aware of the issue and are working on it. It's been a couple week with no further response. Maybe if more people submit cases that will add pressure. We are paying customers after all and have all the power if we choose to wield it properly.

Sometimes it's as simple as unlocking the phone and dismissing an ad. Sometimes it's just a blue button on the iPhone screen that says 'Continue to Pandora'. You have to dismiss the ad before Pandora will start.

When it's not that issue, I usually force quit the app and restart. This seems to be less frequent in iOS12, but hasn't gone away entirely.

This is still an issue and there’s a new one where it will leave the Now Playing screen every time the song changes. I suggest submitting an App Store review with this issue as it’s been years without a fix.

I had it open and it played. The problems I've see reported about Pandora and CarPlay is the app doesn't start. I've used Apple Music and Prodigy and not seen it. What did Pandora say about it when your reported it to them?

I have the same problems...and the new one where it leaves the Now Playing screen every time the song changes. And another new issue is that the the station thumbnail images will not longer load on the CarPlay station list. They show on my phone app, but they will not show on they CarPlay screen. That stated the same time it started leaving the Now Playing screen when the song changes......

I am also experiencing this problem, but can add some specificics to it from my experiences that may help (or annoy others). First, I have two cars with CarPlay -- the first is a 2018 Ford F150 Raptor - this headunit is the factory unit with Ford Sync 3 and uses a USB wire to connect to the system, the 2nd car is a 2019 Mini Countryman SE Hybrid -- carplay in this car works with a wireless adhoc wifi setup -- similar to that of BWM and other manufacturers employing the new wireless carplay tech. One thing to note here is that there is no option to use a USB wire in the MINI -- only wireless. In all the things that I describe below, I can replicate them on both systems which I feel is a pretty good control for the USB cable not being the culprit. I also have an iphone X, an iphone 6s plus, and an iphone 6s that I confirm findings with.

Anyway, as I said above, I also get this problem with Pandora, but I can also replicate it with just about any audio streaming app except for Apple Music. Apple Music seems to always work perfectly and the graphics always load regardless if I had it open or not previously on all three phones. This is annoying as I am already paying for Google Play Music and Amazon Unlimited Music -- I do not want to have a 3rd ongoing bill to listen to the same music...

In addition to Pandora, I can also replicate this lack of loading graphics in almost the same way with Amazon Music, Spotify, Google Play Music, Sirius XM, and an app called CloudBeats. Because these apps all behave the same way, I am pretty convinced this problem is specific to Carplay and not the apps (although it could be related to the API that the developers use compared to the one that Apple uses for Apple Music).

Some other apps I use behave differently. One in particular is Overcast. This app almost always loads the graphics to load media on the car screen. I am not sure what is difference between Overcast and the above apps. The media selection screen appears very similar. Another thing that is VERY weird is that Amazon Music often times freaks out and streams music via the speaker phone function (rather than A2DP). Usually, a solution to fix this is to open another streaming audio app, then re-open Amazon music and the music is streamed correctly.

I have been able to replicate all of these issues with both cars (wired and wireless) and on all three phones. Rebooting fixes the issue 99.9% of the time and force closing the apps also seems to work consistently to fix the issue (we shouldn't need to pick up our phones while driving as a matter of safety). The thing that I am most curious about and wonder if other users see the same is with respect to Apple Music almost always working correctly. It seems that Apple Music is using a slightly different version of the API/dev tools as the interface, including the menus and positioning of some buttons is slightly different from other apps. Could this be something that fixes this issue? I don't know, but I am curious what others think. Not having to pick up my phone and interact with it while I am driving is THE reason I paid the extra money for CarPlay in these cars. Basically at this point, unless I use Apple Music, I am back to interacting with the phone while I drive.

I too have noticed the problem with several other music streaming apps, including Pandora, but never have a problem with Apple Music. I have also noticed that the audio quality of Apple Music is a lot better than the other services and I have them set to their highest quality setting. Call me crazy, but I think this is all planned and programed this way by Apple. What better way to get people to use your music service, than too keep the others Apps/services from working properly and with lower audio quality. I'm normally not much on conspiracy theories, but this might be one.

None of these steps permanently fixes the issue. Any other suggestions or do we start logging support cases with Pandora as they are the only app with this issue.

Same issue on 2019 Uconnect. It's Pandora

It’s not necessarily because of ads, I have a one year subscription through my cell phone carrier so I don’t ever see ads and I still have the problem.

Years? Ten? 5?

Since at least iOS 10 which was released in Sept 2016. So over 2 years.