Phone connected via USB sometimes plays through phone speaker, not car speaker?!

I've had my car (2012 335i) for 3 days now and noticed something very odd: sometimes when I connect my iPhone4S via the USB jack in the arm rest, the sound plays through the *phone* speaker and not the car speaker. I never once saw this in my E9X, and it's not consistent. Sometimes it's just fine, other times it's not. The USB connector cable is brand new, so that shouldn't be the issue. However it happens at least once a day.

The phone knows it's connected, it shows the "Accessory Connected" screen and can be controled from iDrive, as well as the currently playing track showing up in the entertainment details. Everything appears to be a-ok except the sound is coming from the phone.

If i unplug and re-connect the phone, it doesn't help. Once i had to force-quit the iPod app, the other time I re-selected the song on iDrive and it corrected itself (started playing through car speakers).

Anyone else seen this (or heard this)? Is there a workaround? Am I alone?
-Mike

Originally Posted by mikepinkerton

I've had my car (2012 335i) for 3 days now and noticed something very odd: sometimes when I connect my iPhone4S via the USB jack in the arm rest, the sound plays through the *phone* speaker and not the car speaker. I never once saw this in my E9X, and it's not consistent. Sometimes it's just fine, other times it's not. The USB connector cable is brand new, so that shouldn't be the issue. However it happens at least once a day.

The phone knows it's connected, it shows the "Accessory Connected" screen and can be controled from iDrive, as well as the currently playing track showing up in the entertainment details. Everything appears to be a-ok except the sound is coming from the phone.

If i unplug and re-connect the phone, it doesn't help. Once i had to force-quit the iPod app, the other time I re-selected the song on iDrive and it corrected itself (started playing through car speakers).

Anyone else seen this (or heard this)? Is there a workaround? Am I alone?
-Mike

This happens occasionally to me with my 2012 E93. I haven't pursued it to find out the problem.

Hrm, so how do you fix it when it happens? Is there a trick that always works?

Originally Posted by mikepinkerton

Hrm, so how do you fix it when it happens? Is there a trick that always works?

Haven't found one yet. Usually I just start using the bluetooth connection instead. It never seems to have that problem (and allows control from the phone, so you can listen to podcasts and other stuff in addition to the playlists).

Originally Posted by Boghopper

Haven't found one yet. Usually I just start using the bluetooth connection instead. It never seems to have that problem (and allows control from the phone, so you can listen to podcasts and other stuff in addition to the playlists).

FYI, if you hit the magnifying glass (search) icon above the playlist icon on the media screen, you can access all artists, songs, albums, and genres (which incudes podcasts) from iDrive. Much easier than trying to access things on the phone while you're driving (and much less dangerous).

I've found that there's really no benefit to using BT Audio (besides maybe avoiding this weird sound issue...but this seems like the wrong solution).
-Mike

My car had the same problem. I have BMW aps and my CA says I didnt need the black cable with USB and audio out. He says using the white cable (iphone charger cable) would work, but music keeps coming through the iPhone speaker. I went back to him after not able to find a solution. We tried the black cable and it worked like a charm. If you already have the black cable, I would make sure the audio out plug is secure as a lose connection will result in music coming out of the iPhone instead of the car. I hope this helps

P.s. I have the iPhone 3GS.

I switched to my old black cable from my E90 and so far zero problem. Weird.