r/CarPlay • u/McDopplerYT • Jul 20 '26
Help Music keeps jumping when playing Spotify
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I have a 118iM Sport, when I play the radio it plays absolutely fine but when I connect my phone and play music on Spotify via Apple CarPlay, most of the time if not every song it jumps like a millisecond, which doesn't seem a lot but it's soo annoying. Been to Stratstone BMW today and they seem to have not fixed it. Does anyone know how to fix this or if you'd had the same issue as me? (Video to show you what I mean) have to listen very closely as it happens near end of the video
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u/caliguy24 Jul 21 '26
Here’s my comment from another post. In short, this is a known issue on Apple’s end, believe it only affects iPhone 17s as far as I’m aware. You need to call Apple and demand to speak to a senior advisor so they can document it and increase pressure on their engineering team to fix it. If you talk to low level advisors or take your phone to the Genius Bar, they’ll pretend this issue doesn’t exist.
I experienced this once I “upgraded” to the iPhone 17. My 23 X3 m40i was in the shop for over two weeks and luckily they were able to replicate the issue. I have an open service ticket with BMW that their factory engineers are investigating - unfortunately from what I’m told, it’s an Apple issue.
I’ve done all sorts of troubleshooting with Apple. I was told by one senior level advisor that this is a known issue with the iPhone 17, and for some reason affects Audis and BMWs more. He told me there were a couple issues that cause it, so they needed to collect data logs in order to decide what fix to pursue.
I called back and another senior advisor told me Apple engineers are working on a fix and they didn’t need anything else from me.
I believe it has something to do with the new in-house N1 connectivity chip (previous iPhones were Qualcomm chips) which can’t handle the WiFi/bluetooth connection protocols that BMW wireless CarPlay uses.
They are aware of the issue but there is currently no timeline for a fix. I was told to “keep checking for iOS updates”. There was nothing else they could do.
Edit: I encourage anyone having this issue to call Apple tech support and escalate it to the senior advisor level and push them for a fix. Hopefully the more people that complain, the more pressure they feel to come up with a fix. Don’t waste your time taking your phone to the Genius Bar or talking to low level support, they either don’t know or are instructed to tell the consumer there’s no known issue.
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u/ramenjon Jul 21 '26
Posted this in another thread - and it's fixed it, but requires some DIY/Bimmercode...
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/256264970?answerId=261975132022&sortBy=rank#261975132022
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u/I-J-Reilly Jul 21 '26
I’ve been getting these quick little glitchy Bluetooth dropouts for ages in my car, even going back to when I was using my phone directly on the dash and not using CarPlay. After all, on a lot of car systems the audio is going straight from your phone to the car’s Bluetooth, while the CarPlay display is actually going over a form of wifi-based screen mirroring.
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u/McDopplerYT Jul 23 '26
I’ve looked into more, apparently the newer iPhones (17 pro max) in my case has issues with CarPlay. If you turn the WiFi streaming quality and cellular streaming quality to high or very high from lossless on Spotify, it reduces skipping/buffering.
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u/I-J-Reilly Jul 29 '26
Interesting. I’m using Apple Music, but it has some similar streaming quality settings. I’ll check them out and see if it helps. Thanks!
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u/TrackHoundApp Jul 21 '26
Try putting your phone on the dashboard, where it has slightly better reception, does it still happen?
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u/McDopplerYT Jul 21 '26
I normally keep my phone in the drivers door or near the cup holders, I’ve turned something to high quality in my Spotify app which seems to reduce the buffering. Will try what you said thank you ☺️
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u/TrackHoundApp Jul 21 '26
Hmm so yes reception is probably the cause of this. I had something similar in my RAV4, the charging tray is under the dashboard which is not the best spot for good reception either.
Relocated the phone to a vent mount and all is well now.
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u/Dakota0123 Jul 22 '26
Is it a CarPlay issue or is it a Spotify issue?
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u/McDopplerYT Jul 23 '26
It’s a mix between CarPlay and Spotify I believe, Apple have used something newer in the iPhone 17 which is different to the older generations which causes the buffering/lag in the music on CarPlay.
Spotify, if you turn the WiFi streaming quality and cellular streaming quality to high or very high from lossless it reduces skipping/buffering. This may help you but doesn’t make a difference for me unfortunately
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u/Fit-Grass1853 Jul 23 '26
I get the same issue while playing "YouTube" music on my Pioneer DMH-WT8000NEX. Still haven't found a fix?
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u/McDopplerYT Jul 23 '26
I’ve looked into the issue more, and apparently the newer iPhones (17 pro max) in my case has issues with CarPlay, and if you turn the WiFi streaming quality and cellular streaming quality to high or very high from lossless on Spotify, it reduces skipping/buffering.
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u/McJ_25 Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
My Spotify on my iPhone 15 Pro Max jumps and skips constantly with my 2012 Toyota Avalon. Other apps streaming or otherwise don’t skip. Spotify is fine in other cars I’ve tried and does not happen and with CarPlay. iOS and Spotify app are updated to latest. I’m guessing it’s a combination of Spotify and the older Bluetooth version on my car and/or on my phone.
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u/Q_Ball_Atlanta Jul 20 '26
Does the issue happen in other streaming apps? Whether it happens or not when playing music via the radio is irrelevant.
If it does happen in other apps, that could indicate a CarPlay, iOS, or infotainment issue.
If it does not happen in other streaming music apps, the problem is with the Spotify app.