2017 HU with streaming music from phone
 

When I use a music streaming app like Pandora or Spotify on my phone to play over the bluetooth connection to the HU it doesn't update track info properly as new songs come on. The HU will just keep displaying the info of whatever was playing when it first connected (or sometimes it doesn't display any info) until it's turned off. I never had this problem when playing music from iTunes though, it always updated properly with that. Anyone else experiencing this or know a fix? I have an iPhone 6S if that makes a difference.

Yep the head unit sucks! Same on mine.

Apple Music works. Most other stuff doesn’t. Just get a nice exhaust and listen to that instead...LOL

Sometimes I do just listen to the exhaust, but when I want to listen to music I like to know what I'm listening to.

Same on mine. I brought it in to see if there were any firmware updates but was told there weren't any.

This problem isn't just specific to our cars. My friend has a 2016 Impreza with a starlink radio and it does the same thing when streaming Spotify.

Are you referring to the Pandora "app" or just the bluetooth connection? My phone almost never connects to the actual Pandora app. But when it's streaming just through the bluetooth connection, I just ignore whatever the screen says so long as I can listen to my music.

The lock screen on my phone displays the correct info, it's just the HU that doesn't update. Although I think I found once that it only works if Pandora was the last thing playing on my phone when it connects so it starts playing automatically - if I try to open Pandora and start it manually after it's connected to the HU it does some dumb Starlink thing.

Yup, the factory head unit sucks in both function and sound. There is an auto-launch on BT setting in Pandora (on Android, I’m not sure about the iPhone) that seemed to help some with Pandora connecting and displaying track info accurately. Ultimately, the best solution is to upgrade to an aftermarket head-unit, which is what I did just a few months after buying my BRZ. The aftermarket head unit (Pioneer AVH-2330NEX in my case) is better in every possible way than the factory unit.

Does the AVH-2330NEX work with the stock faceplate?

Yep same issue has you but I use the USB cable, for me that update the info after each song. Via Bluetooth it's hit or miss.

No. Do research on it first. The 2017 HU has the trapezoidal configuration. You'll need to buy a harness or something to cover the inevitable gaps.

This is one example: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Connects2-C...item58fc6bc56e

I used the Scosche dash kit https://www.crutchfield.com/p_142SU2...t.html?tp=3121. Just about any standard single or double din aftermarket head unit will fit with this dash kit. Obviously you’ll also need a wiring harness and several adapters depending on which functions that you care to retain such as steering wheel controls, factory USB & aux, satellite radio.

god damn this head unit sucks. I have a 2017, and thought I was going crazy trying to get pandora/bluetooth audio to work more than 1% of the time. I for the life of me can not figure out what magical process is required to get pandora to link up via bluetooth. I just works randomly once then never again for a few weeks.

have you done a soft and/or hard reset of the HU?

I'm sure just turning the car on/off is not sufficient and the unit needs to be rebooted.

This has been the case in our CX-5, where the HU froze on a song/artist for two days straight, after multiple vehicle uses.

After the soft reboot, the unit functioned as normal. During the frozen screen, music still played and we could change sources/stations, but the information displayed always went back to the same artist/song regardless of the music being played.

I've looked all over Subaru's site and Clarion's and needless to say, there is bupkis about firmware updates for the 6.2-6.5 Starlink HU.

Have you contacted Subaru customer support about your issues/dissatisfaction?

:iono:

The most reliable way I've found to get Pandora/bluetooth to work is to start playing Pandora on my phone and pause it right before I get in the car. Otherwise it will randomly just start playing from itunes instead, even if Pandora was the last app playing. Also, if you're on wifi at home that could be causing problems too. If you have a weak wifi signal as you're starting the car Pandora will go into offline mode and not play. So turn wifi off, play/pause pandora, and get in the car. Works for me most of the time, though not 100%.

the 2018 HU is garbage as well.... i had a hell of a time trying to get pandora to work in my car. i am tempted to try reading the owners manual for tips but i feel like subaru customer service might get a call. i get it, its not the best unit but at least do what your programmed to do.

The problem loading pandora (at least on the '17 HU) seems to be because starlink has some sort of pandora integration, so if you try to launch pandora from your phone after it's connected to the HU the phone is just like "lol starlink" and doesn't do anything. Presumably this means if I launch starlink and run pandora from there it would work, but starlink is such a steaming pile of garbage and takes forever for the HU to load so I don't bother. The way I do it I guess tricks the phone into resuming what was playing on pandora before it realizes what it's connected to. IIRC starlink on iphone actually requires a USB connection to work properly, it won't work over bluetooth, but the bluetooth connection is enough for starlink to block pandora from working normally.

so should i just delete the starlink app on my phone?

I don't know if that will make a difference or not, haven't tried it myself. Could be that the HU detects that pandora is playing even without starlink installed on the phone. Guess you could try it and if it doesn't fix the problem you could always reinstall the app (or not).

update i took off the starlink app and pandora works now in my car. still takes forever to load but it loads and plays music and the display keeps up with the songs

Guess I'll have to do that then. Not like I actually use the starlink app anyway. Installed it when I first got the car to try out the nav and haven't used it since.

Deleted starlink app and no change using pandora - HU still doesn't update track info.

in the app there is a setting under advance that says start pandora when your phone connects to your car try that and see if it works

What is your experience with other functions interrupting the music player? Like can Waze pause or lower the music to tell you there is something ahead, and then bring the music back up without you having to do anything?

My 2014 FRS HU worked so much better than this 17 BRZ. I'm using an iPhone.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T337A using Tapatalk