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

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 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

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.

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.