CarPlay CarPlay in its own world..

[exosteve]

So long time creeper first time poster Sorry if this was brought up before, I didn't see it anywhere, but my search terms might not have been on point.

So I listen to a lot of audio books, typically in my car. A couple of times this week I was getting into the book so continued listening on my iPhone SE when I arrived at my destination, and continued listening via iTunes on my Mac when i got settled in. My place in the book followed me just fine to each device. Even when I switched to my phone for a few minutes then back to my laptop. However after listening to over an hour of the book, I returned to my car, and CarPlay decided to start all the way back where it was when I first left the car. I've since tried it again with a different audio book, with the same result. What really sucks is that then becomes the place again across all the devices.

iPhone is running 11.4.1, Mac is 10.12.6 with iTunes 12.8, the head unit is a Kenwood DDX6903S (which I plan to flash the firmware on tonight)

Side question, anyone else have trouble with CarPlay recognizing a connected phone when the temp out is below like 40 degrees?

Anywho thanks for reading

 

[bbednarz]

I think there is some screwyness with your place in a book or podcast syncing across devices. I know I have issues with my watch, homepod, and phone all syncing sometimes. It is kind of hit or miss, sometimes it works exactly as expected and sometimes it'll start over. Considering the phone itself is controlling CarPlay I don't see why CarPlay specifically would change your spot in the audiobook, but I could be wrong.

As for the headunit not picking up CarPlay... That is an issue I had quite frequently. Seemed like 50% of the time when I would plug in my phone I would need to unplug and replug it in to get the phone to connect. Since going to wireless CarPlay that hasn't been an issue. My wired CarPlay unit was a Pioneer. I don't know if it was an issue with the headunit, CarPlay, or the cord (even though I tried a few different cables). Mine didn't happen specifically when it was below 40 degrees. Mine was screwy through all the seasons lol

 

[exosteve]

Thanks for the reply bbednarz, I'm thinking the temp thing is my head unit. As soon as it hits 40 degrees it won't recognize my phone until the car fully warms up, takes longer the colder it is, 100% repeatable.

I agree, I've had sync issues as well. The only time it hasn't been right so far, and I've tested it a lot this week since I encountered the issue, is when I go back to carplay. And you would think if the phone was the last place I listened, then Carplay should be spot on.

I've read some of the hack forums and it looks like Carplay is an entirely separate OS from the phone, the phone just triggers its launch, then there's an "activation" of sorts for the compatible apps. I wonder if it's like caching file data in "CarPlay OS" somewhere that's being loaded before it checks to make sure it's current. Another thing I've noticed, not to rant on too much, is I've updated tack info on my Mac (like fixing a misspelled title), and synced my phone and it shows up correctly there, but then I connect to CarPlay it still shows the old info. Sometimes rebooting the phone or resetting the head unit will "update" it, and it only seems to impact tracks that I've played or that are part of a playlist I've played via CarPlay. Which is what keeps leading me back to some sort of caching. I spend way too much time in my car lol.

Anywho, thanks again.

 

[PeteLP]

I'm using the Audible app for audio books, and I assume you're using Apple's Books app. I have never experienced losing my position with carplay. You might want to try purchasing your next book with Audible rather than with apple to see if that handles your problem

Some additional pluses with Audible show up when buying both audio and Kindle (text) versions of your books, as I usually do now. (kindle gives a discount when you already have the audible version):

- The ability to hear the audio version of books while reading along with kindle. Every change of page (forward or back) is synchronized with the readers voice. eg. when you go back a page (or more than a page, or forward etc), the reader will begin reading from the top of that page. I find it to be a very immersive experience.

- The ability to switch between pure audio on the Audible app, to pure reading on the kindle app (or reading and listening on the kindle app) with position synced automatically across apps (the apps ask you which book position you want when you resume). I can drive to the store listening to the Audible app, then walk into the store and while waiting on line, start reading the kindle version where I left off with Audible. When I return to the car, I can continue with Audible wherever I stopped with kindle. The synchronization is excellent.

 

[exosteve]

That's a pretty good idea, testing it out with Audible. Can it play books I already own? I was (am, I guess) sort of an audiobook packrat. I have almost a hundred audio books that purchased on CDs over the years. I've been ripping and converting them to .m4b using AudioBookBinder. I thought for a bit that maybe it was that software causing the issue, but I have dozens already ripped that work normally, and new purchases that don't.
I've messed with it some more, and have a theory, it seems like it only happens when using more than two devices. If I only go to one device then back to the car, it works. I think there's a hierarchy of which device gets to decide what the last position was. With two it just takes the one that's furthest along, maybe? With three (or more) I think there's a priority ranking, and I think Carplay out ranks the laptop lol. Apple's so weird. I'm going to poke at it some more. Thanks for all the advice, though. Much appreciated.

 

[PeteLP]

That's a pretty good idea, testing it out with Audible. Can it play books I already own?

I've looked that up, and here's what I found from one post. Audible will play books from itunes. However Audible on the CarPlay interface will only play a book from itunes if it's already the most recently listened to book within the audible app on the iPhone. I'm not sure from what i've read if it's necessary to launch audible from the phone with that book before connecting to carplay, or if that "most recently listened to Audible book" status is retained indefinitely.

The difference between the Audible iPhone interface and the Audible CarPlay interface is that the latter is generally more restrictive.

Worth a try. And please report back

I've messed with it some more, and have a theory, it seems like it only happens when using more than two devices. If I only go to one device then back to the car, it works. I think there's a hierarchy of which device gets to decide what the last position was. With two it just takes the one that's furthest along, maybe? With three (or more) I think there's a priority ranking, and I think Carplay out ranks the laptop lol. Apple's so weird. I'm going to poke at it some more. Thanks for all the advice, though. Much appreciated.

When listening to Audible on the iPhone, after first launching the app and beginning to read, it will ask with a popup message on the phone, if you want to "move to the most recent location from device xyx?". I've been using audible with my phone on a mount until recently, when I started using carplay in my new car for the first time. So honestly I don't know what audible will do with CarPlay in that situation. ie. will they (1) ask with a popup in carplay, (2) not ask, but assume you want to sync, (3) not ask, but assume you want your last position on that device.

I also don't know whether or not Apple Books asks similarly on the phone interface (while NOT asking on the carplay interface) If so, a workaround within Apple Books might be to start listening to Books on the phone to get synced up just before you plug into carPlay