iPhone 13 pro Apple CarPlay crashing as soon as music plays (Apple Music)

Hi there,

You might have better luck asking this question over in Apple Support Communities run by Apple Support.

You won’t have any better luck in the support community. Support has zero clue what is causing the glitch & they aren’t even aware of how widespread it is. This issue is happening to multiple vehicle manufacturers, stock head units & aftermarket. It’s been/being discussed on multiple forums and websites also.

Some people have had luck with resetting network settings and restoring a backup. This was not my experience of course. I did get CarPlay to work after erasing all settings but as soon as I restored my backup it was gone again. The restore was done with a clean ipsw but still nothing. If you’re willing to go without your backup it seems like you can get up & running.

Support has tried to be helpful, but to be honest running me through how to reset CarPlay wasn’t doing much. They did say they’d try and get back to me by Tuesday though…yay!

Just like the OP my iPhone 11pro running iOS 15 with the same build number has zero issues with CarPlay. I’ve literally done everything. This is an Apple issue.

Good luck, if you find a fix that allows you to keep your info please update us. I’ll do the same.

I haven’t actually tested this yet but I’ve seen several tweets saying the bug appears to be linked to the equalizer in the music app, possibly even more specifically to the late night setting. The posts I saw all said turn off the EQ, several mentioned the late night as the setting they were using prior to shutting it off.

Can confirm. Was seeing this issue with 2021 Chevrolet Equinox all with iPhone 13 ProMax. Suggested fix of turning off late night EQ in the Apple Music app corrected it. Impacted Spotify.

Having this issue with my 2020 Ford F-150, my EQ was on “Loudness” turned it off but no improvements. Will try again later to see if there are any changes. This is with an IPhone 13 Pro Max.

Got my 13 pro max Friday, same issue for me in my 2021 Highlander. Wasn’t an issue with my XS Max running ios 15. EQ was off for me by default

I was having this issue with my 2019 Jeep Compass my iPhone 10 Xs max worked just fine when connected to CarPlay. Friday after switching to the new 13, CarPlay would display when plugged in but crash when I tried to play music or use the map. Changing the equalizer from “Late Night” worked for me! Yay!!!!

I’m having the same issue. Everything else works but immediately crashes when I play music

I am having the same issue. I have the 13 Pro 256GB phone and when I plug it into my 2020 Honda Civic Hatchback’s CarPlay system it will shut down after starting music or within a couple of seconds.

This was happening in my car too!! I listened to the top comment that said change from “Late Night” EQ, and it worked!! Everyone try that!

I am having exactly the same issue on my 2020 BMW 5 series. I have spoken to Apple support and they have confirmed they are aware of it and working to resolve it.

I have CarPlay in my Ram and this issue was happening to me as well. I turned off Late Night (I only turned it on because of a TikTok video) then unplugged and plugged my 13 pro back in, immediately fixed the issue.

thank you!

I can confirm that if you change your EQ from "Late Night", and I changed my to "Increased Bass", that it does in fact work. I have a 2021 Toyota Venza Limited. My 12 Pro Max did not have this problem. I am glad to finally pin point the issue on my 13 Pro Max. I also have a wireless carplay adapter and works wonderfully. I think not using that EQ setting is better than not being able to use Carplay, although they do need to fix the issue.

If your EQ is on, unplug your phone turn it to off then try again and it should work. In my case my EQ was set on off so I unplugged it turned it on, plugged it in, it crashed, then unplugged and turned it back to off and plugged in and was good to go! Weird bug that they should work on getting fixed asap

Same thing happening on my JVC. Won’t play Spotify or Apple Music. Just crashes

I have this exact same problem with my 2020 Mercedes. I contacted Apple support to fix the problem and was connected to a senior advisor named Kiara who was extremely rude and no help whatsoever. She told me to contact Mercedes to update my car firmware when it is clearly a problem with the iPhone since every other device works perfectly fine. Very disappointed with the support received from Apple considering I just bought the iPhone 13 pro max.

Hello everyone! I think I may have found a solution, go to EQ in your settings, and just toggle it on and off and then leave it OFF (I switched from off to Late Night then back to off). After this my music began to work again, I hope it works for the rest of you!

Confirming what others have discovered:

It appears that the EQ settings provide some type of data to CarPlay when it attempts to utilize audio, but it crashes if it can’t find that data or it’s potentially corrupted.

Even if you don’t have the music app installed, like I did because my go-to is Spotify, it’s still providing some type of data that CarPlay needs. I reinstalled Music, went to EQ in Settings > Music and activated the EQ. Plugged in, crashed, unplugged, disabled EQ, plugged in, and now it’s functional with no issues.

Whatever data CarPlay needs exists within this setting, and it should function as a workaround until Apple fixes the bug.

Hope this helps!

The carplay crashes with spotify too, it crashes with apple music, google maps, apple maps, basically it crashes with just about anything. it was hit and miss with the iphone 11 where it would crash after receiving a cellular call, not an internet based call. Now with the new iphone 13 it crashes all the time. Spend a fortune on a Mercedes, spend a fortune on a new iphone and its basically unusable. Any useful support from apple....NOPE. Any useful support from mercedes.....NOPE

I have a 2020 Cadillac and mine was crashing as well until I changed my music EQ to off. They need to fix this.

Having same exact issue. I just upgraded to iPhone 13 pro from my iPhone 11 Pro. If I connect my iPhone 11 Pro back, it works just fine. If I connect my iPhone 13 pro, everything works but Apple Music crashes it. Both devices are running latest iOS version 15

Happening on my 2018 Audi Q7 and 2021 Chevy Suburban as well with a the iPhone 13 Pro Max 512gb. Turned off EQ, restarted phone and still causing immediate shut down upon attempting to play any music. Still am unable to listen to any music while driving.

Same issue here turned off equalizer than I went into car settings and removed my phone from Bluetooth and from carplay. Removed the car from my phones Bluetooth. Shut the car down and powered my iPhone down. Turned everything back on and the in I sync the Bluetooth and plugged in the CarPlay. It reset and worked.

IT works, thank you so much for the solution!! THANK YOU!!

I am having the same issue. iPhone 13 pro max on a Honda Civic 2017. The CarPlay shows up when I plug it in but as soon as I touch a button it crashes. I tried everything from unpairing all my devices on the car and phone, tried a different cable..reset my phone.