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iPhone Users Report CarPlay Connectivity Issues With iOS 18.4 Update

CarPlay has been so broken for me since the launch of iOS 18.

I have an older car (2018) that I need to plug in for CarPlay. The biggest issue for me is when I’m listening to music, if any other “audio event” happens (I listen to a text message, I take or receive a phone call, etc), when it goes back to the music the quality sounds like an AM radio from 1985. I have to unplug and plug back in for it to work. It never did this before 18.

Other issues include spotify jsut being a blank screen about 20% of the time. I have to force close it on my phone then open back up to get it to work.

Also with Google Maps, the GPS is often totally borked. Same thing where I have to force close G-Maps and open back up.
 
I wonder how CarPlay 2 would handle a situation like this. With CarPlay 2, the dash part is rendered by the car itself with the phone sending parts that are composited together by the car.

I wonder what their failure modes look like. Like does the whole system just revert back to the built-in system or does it continue showing the CarPlay-style dash with the built-in infotainment.
 
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If this helps anyone having problems, try rebooting your vehicle's entertainment system. Usually, it's just holding down the button in the volume control knob until the restart of the entertainment system is complete.
 
Audi Q4 here (2023), same problem for me. CarPlay had been working fine, but post-18.4 it refused to connect at all.

I had to completely remove and then re-enable CarPlay in my iPhone 15 Pro, but this took three attempts before it actually paired and started working. Not good enough for a supposed „premium“ device.

And I have zero confidence that this won‘t happen again, the next time I get in the car.

This sort of rubbish is infuriating. Every single iOS „upgrade“, Apple manage to break something. But oh, look, loads of useless junk like new emojis.
 
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icwhatudidthere said:
I wonder how CarPlay 2 would handle a situation like this. With CarPlay 2, the dash part is rendered by the car itself with the phone sending parts that are composited together by the car.

I wonder what their failure modes look like. Like does the whole system just revert back to the built-in system or does it continue showing the CarPlay-style dash with the built-in infotainment.
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I posted about this a long time ago on one of the CarPlay 2 articles. I love CarPlay, but it has bugs and can freeze or fail and I’m glad my instrument cluster isn’t at its mercy. Could be dangerous.
 
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wanha said:
any individual software quality incident by itself is proof of nothing, but taken together they paint a concerning picture of steadily declining software quality at Apple

what we can debate over is what the cause of all this is:

- Is it an increased focus on revenue and profit? ("the Tim Apple" crowd)
- Is it the result Apple's rapid head count growth and the ensuing complexity of communication and coordination?
- Is it the growing complexity of software over time?
- Is it the lack of a singular focus at the top? ("everything would be different if Steve were alive")

My hypothesis is that it's a combination of all four.

It's also why I am pessimistic about Apple's ability to fix this to any significant degree.
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I'd agree. I am frequently experiencing bugs directly relating to the "ecosystem" for things that are supposed to work together. Examples: FindMy notifications for things left behind that are actually in my pocket, Workouts stop recording on my Watch if I start listening to podcasts on my phone, Calendars don't sync to MacOS if I subscribe on my phone, Powerbeats do not automatically connect to phone - need to select in BT menu, etc.

These things are basic and don't work at the core of the expected function. So why continue to pay the Apple premium? I question this more and more and no longer recommend the ecosystem to friends. I also sold the bulk of my Apple stock about a month ago because I do not have the confidence that this will turn.
 
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wanha said:
any individual software quality incident by itself is proof of nothing, but taken together they paint a concerning picture of steadily declining software quality at Apple

what we can debate over is what the cause of all this is:

- Is it an increased focus on revenue and profit? ("the Tim Apple" crowd)
- Is it the result Apple's rapid head count growth and the ensuing complexity of communication and coordination?
- Is it the growing complexity of software over time?
- Is it the lack of a singular focus at the top? ("everything would be different if Steve were alive")

My hypothesis is that it's a combination of all four.

It's also why I am pessimistic about Apple's ability to fix this to any significant degree.
Click to expand...
Bugs are a fact of life. Zero day vulnerabilities are a fact of life. These aren’t going away. And for what it’s worth my limited ecosystem of iPhone, iPad, air pods, atv and Apple Watch work fine. I’m not saying perfect but great.
 
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I have a 2017 Honda Civic (wired) and a 2025 Honda CRV ( Wireless) I get the same behavior on both... works fine until I make a call... at some point during the call it will disconnect... for wired, I can unplug and replug... on wireless it will reconnect after about a minute, but it is very consistent with longer phone calls... not sure if it is tied to switching cell towers but any call over a few mins it happens
 
I7guy said:
Bugs are a fact of life. Zero day vulnerabilities are a fact of life. These aren’t going away. And for what it’s worth my limited ecosystem of iPhone, iPad, air pods, atv and Apple Watch work fine. I’m not saying perfect but great.
Click to expand...

why is it so hard for people to understand the first sentence in that post?

I've never said there can be bug free software. In fact, I've often argued that it's inevitable and normal.

What I am suggesting here is that Apple software quality is clearly declining. Heck, even John Gruber agrees with that.
 
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wanha said:
I've never said there can be bug free software. In fact, I've often argued that it's inevitable and normal.

What I am suggesting here is that Apple software quality is clearly declining. Heck, even John Gruber agrees with that.
Click to expand...
I would agree, and this is why, in software development, you have quality assurance and testing.

Did nobody at Apple think to connect an iPhone running any version of 18.4, prior to release, to CarPlay?

It should not be up to Apple‘s customers to do their testing for them - but this seems to be Apple‘s attitude recently.
 
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chriscl said:
I would agree, and this is why, in software development, you have quality assurance and testing.

Did nobody at Apple think to connect an iPhone running any version of 18.4, prior to release, to CarPlay?

It should not be up to Apple‘s customers to do their testing for them - but this seems to be Apple‘s attitude recently.
Click to expand...

I would imagine the problem is that different cars run on different HW configurations, which makes it impossible to test every permutation.

But your point about QA is spot on about Apple in general
 
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siddavis said:
I'd agree. I am frequently experiencing bugs directly relating to the "ecosystem" for things that are supposed to work together. Examples: FindMy notifications for things left behind that are actually in my pocket, Workouts stop recording on my Watch if I start listening to podcasts on my phone, Calendars don't sync to MacOS if I subscribe on my phone, Powerbeats do not automatically connect to phone - need to select in BT menu, etc.

These things are basic and don't work at the core of the expected function. So why continue to pay the Apple premium? I question this more and more and no longer recommend the ecosystem to friends. I also sold the bulk of my Apple stock about a month ago because I do not have the confidence that this will turn.
Click to expand...

The problem really is that there is no better alternative to Apple.

As bad of a run as Apple's software is on, competitors are even worse.

Which is bad for all users.
 
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24 Honda Civic, iPhone 16 Pro

CarPlay launched, but no audio would play. Nothing seemed to work until I reset the car infotainment system to factory settings and reconnected.
 
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chriscl said:
[…]

It should not be up to Apple‘s customers to do their testing for them - but this seems to be Apple‘s attitude recently.
Click to expand...
I know, imo, the above is easy to put in a post and as such an easy target for criticism. But us thinking persons knows the above isn’t really how it is.

But in the spirit of the thread, I haven’t noticed CarPlay issues with 18.4.
 
1966 Mercedes 230SL… I just turn the knob, I hear the mechanical click, and the transistor-based radio just works.

So, no CarPlay for me and thus no issues.

“It just works” … that once was Apple’s mantra. Maybe those heady days of difference will return.
 
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Ugh, haven't been in my car since the update. Not looking forward to this, .4 has already been the buggiest update ever for me...
 
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