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CarPlay bug

D

docprego

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 12, 2007
1,243
106
Henderson, NV
I'm having a problem with CarPlay in my new car that's really ruining the experience for me. When selecting the artists or songs tab on the right-hand side there are two arrows for up-and-down movement. In between these arrows is a an alphabet symbol that brings you to a screen where you can select a letter to view artists or songs that start with that letter.

My issue is that this symbol to bring me to the alphabet selection screen is missing 90% of the time, the area where it should be is blank. Occasionally it will reappear but there's no pattern to it.

This has been happening with my brand-new iPhone as well as the one I had previously. I've been running iOS 9.0, 9.0.1, and now 9.02, they all have this problem.

Is anyone else experiencing this or have a work around?

Thank you!
 
Last edited:
I'll have to check for you tomorrow when I go out but I haven't noticed it being gone as I use it frequently while I wait for my car to heat up. I have been running iOS 9.0-9.0.2 on my previous iPhone 6 and now the 6s for what's worth.
 
I think mine is there on the first use but disappears shortly after. I'll be very curious to hear your results. Thank you.
 
I check it out this morning and on my iPhone 6s running iOS 9.0.2 the letters on the scroll bar within the music app is there. Can even interact with it as well. What iPhone you using?
 
comics addict said:
I check it out this morning and on my iPhone 6s running iOS 9.0.2 the letters on the scroll bar within the music app is there. Can even interact with it as well. What iPhone you using?
Click to expand...

I was using an iPhone 6 Plus but just upgraded to a 6S Plus. Both phones behave identically in that the problem is random and frequent.

On my first use of CarPlay today the alphabet selector was not present and it never appeared during my entire trip into work. Some days it will be there when I first launch CarPlay and then it vanishes. It's completely random.

One other odd behavior I've noticed is that when the alphabet letter selector is missing I can only scroll down about 10 artists or songs and then it says click here for more, when I click that it brings me into Siri. However when the alphabet selector is present I am able to scroll down and look at as many artists or songs as I would like.
 
I'll have to keep an eye on this because in my experience I have not seen this issue since upgrading to iOS 9 at all. CarPlay has actually been extremely smooth compared to previous iOS 8.x versions for me. The only issue I have experienced with CarPlay is that if I leave it idle without using it it sometimes disconnects completely from my receiver and have to manually unplug and replug my iPhone to have CarPlay reconnected. Have you experience this? im not sure if it's my phone or the receiver's firmware.
 
comics addict said:
I'll have to keep an eye on this because in my experience I have not seen this issue since upgrading to iOS 9 at all. CarPlay has actually been extremely smooth compared to previous iOS 8.x versions for me. The only issue I have experienced with CarPlay is that if I leave it idle without using it it sometimes disconnects completely from my receiver and have to manually unplug and replug my iPhone to have CarPlay reconnected. Have you experience this? im not sure if it's my phone or the receiver's firmware.
Click to expand...

I have experienced no disconnects at all. But this issue I am facing has made using CarPlay such a lukewarm experience. If only this worked every time I would love CarPlay. As it stands, it's so flawed that I simply can't feel good about it.

Update on this issue for today, I NEVER saw the alphabetical selector today at all. I think that the code for CarPlay is essentially on the phone connected to the car and the car simply mirrors that. Almost like an external monitor on a computer, though I acknowledge that there is probably a bit more than that going on behind the scenes on the car's side of things. Still because most of the work is happening on the phone I would expect that I would see this problem on my phone too, but I don't. When I start the music app in CarPlay the music app on my phone also starts as you would expect. But on my phone the alphabetical selector is ALWAYS present, on my car it's anything but.

Being a huge Apple guy one of the main reasons I purchased the '16 model of my car was to wait for CarPlay. So frustrated.
 
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My receiver is an pioneer aftermarket head unit, the SPA-DA120, App Radio 4 running it's latest firmware for what is worth.
 
Anyone have any information about this? I'm rarely ever seeing the alphabet selector now. I used to get it sometimes on first use, not anymore. It's just about gone.
 
comics addict said:
I check yesterday and I'm always seeing the letters to scroll there. Have you tried a restore ?
Click to expand...
A restore of my iPhone? It's a week old and I set it up as a new phone, then synced all my music to it from my Mac.

Wouldn't you know it, the alphabet selector was present every time I tried today during a 5 minute ride home.
 
Well my previous iPhone 6 Plus also suffered from this bug so restoring from a backup will not help. I'm out of ideas.
 
Still experiencing this bug even though iOS has been updated. In fact it's worse now. I NEVER get the alphabetical selector at all anymore.
 
Haven't checked yet. Give me until Monday to see wether I have this problem. Recently restored from a backup so not sure if it has changed at all.
 
comics addict said:
Haven't checked yet. Give me until Monday to see wether I have this problem. Recently restored from a backup so not sure if it has changed at all.
Click to expand...
Thanks.

Since this bug is also tied to my inability to scroll through long lists of artists or songs, CarPlay is essentially worthless to me. As it is, I have to use Siri to find any artist or song that is not presented in the very limited list of 8-10 that are shown. And that's a disaster in its own right. When the alphabetical selector was there I could scroll endlessly through artists or songs.

Emailed apple and received no reply. I'm at a dead end.

I'm so disappointed in this feature of my C7. It was one of the reasons I wanted a '16 and now it's nothing but a let down.
 
Just verified on my pioneer head unit using CarPlay and indeed I still see the scroll letters on the right-hand side. I don't understand why you have this problem. When you said you wrote Apple did you reported the issue via their feedback page?
 
comics addict said:
Just verified on my pioneer head unit using CarPlay and indeed I still see the scroll letters on the right-hand side. I don't understand why you have this problem. When you said you wrote Apple did you reported the issue via their feedback page?
Click to expand...

A bit late with my reply, but yes I did report it, they were never to be heard from again. Do you use CarPlay regularly? Is the alphabetical selector always present?

I am still experiencing this bug, in fact I rarely ever see the alphabetical selector. And rarely is no exaggeration. In the month since my last post I've seen it once, maybe twice with usage about 3-4 times per week. I simply can't understand why this is happening, and worse why I can't get any answers from Apple.

I've now stopped using CarPlay altogether and went exclusively to MyLink which is the GM system included with the car.
 
I use CarPlay everytime I drive my car. Mind you I don't use the alphabetical list in the music app since I use playlists more often but haven't seen it disappear on me yet.
 
comics addict said:
I use CarPlay everytime I drive my car. Mind you I don't use the alphabetical list in the music app since I use playlists more often but haven't seen it disappear on me yet.
Click to expand...

What kind of car do you have?

Which phone and iOS version?

Thanks!

For those who may be following this, I've completely stopped using CarPlay. It's absolutely worthless. What a bug!
 
docprego said:
What kind of car do you have?

Which phone and iOS version?

Thanks!

For those who may be following this, I've completely stopped using CarPlay. It's absolutely worthless. What a bug!
Click to expand...
Its a aftermarket pioneer unit and it's a 6s with iOS 9.1
 
docprego said:
Interesting. I wonder then if the bug is on GM's side or Apple's? I tend to think Apple but who knows?
Click to expand...

There are two service bulletins for a slew of cars across all lines with CarPlay. At this time they are both informational meaning one is for the tech to gather information on the customers setup (cable type, iOS version, etc) and the other is a list of known problems with possible fixes, most of which I'm sure you tried and some being that GM and Apple are aware of the issue and are working on a fix.

My best suggestion is to touch base with your servicing dealer and start a TAC case in order to get the info out there. Explain to them the issue, if you can reproduce while there, even better. Note the conditions in which you can get it to happen. As long as you realize it may not be an instant fix, being patient and asking your service advisor to keep you mind if hears of anything can help. It may not hurt to ask them to check for any calibration updates while you're there. I'm not super familiar with the Y bodies anymore, but any of the infotainment modules is where I would start.

Hope this helps.
 
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