Try another cable. It should work with any USB-C cable though, because even the non data cables run at USB 2.0 speeds which is what lightning was anyways. I completely replaced the cable, USB A to USB C, no adapters.
Why would they though? Apple never said they were dropping this feature and the feature had nothing to do with Lightning. It has to do with the iPod legacy (which was what the Music app was called over a decade ago).
When they replaced the lighting port they also replaced the circuit board that drove it as well as drivers. It would be the second time they would have any reason to consider dropping it to keep the code base lean, since lightning has not changed on iPhone since the first one to have it… not even speed. The first would indeed be music —> apple music, however that would have been less than 5 years after the last cars to support this mode. Now it has been more like 10.
Yes, this is true. My Spotify using friend keeps one song downloaded on his phone just for when he rides in my car. It will work with nearly every audio outputting app as long as you have one song.
iPod Mode or USB Playback has nothing to do with the port or the circuit board. It’s simply a mode supported by the iPhone, just like CarPlay, which has nothing to do with lightning.
this is the difference between "in theory" and the OP's "in practice"
Both are valid.my point is simply that USB Playback mode isn’t linked to lightning as the name suggests.this is the difference between "in theory" and the OP's "in practice"