# Will Uber ever fix the iOS app Bluetooth issues?



## JuanMoreTime (Jan 25, 2015)

There have been countless updates to the Uber Partner app since I switched from a Nexus device to an iPhone 6s in October, and every time I eagerly turn it on hoping that they fixed the bug that pauses whatever music app I'm using any time you do anything at all in the Partner app when connected via Bluetooth. They never fix the bug. I've opened support tickets, I've updated Sync in my Ford (even though I know it has nothing to do with it, since Lyft works flawlessly), all to no avail. I haven't even received an explanation for why it does this, or if it's intentional.

Am I really the only one who connects their phone via Bluetooth when they're driving and wants to hear pings and music simultaneously? Is this bug only on my specific phone?


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## JuanMoreTime (Jan 25, 2015)

I have tried other streaming apps as well. It happens with Google Play Music, Spotify, Slacker, Apple Music, etc.. I haven't tried it in a different vehicle, however.


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## walthtz (Feb 6, 2016)

JuanMoreTime said:


> There have been countless updates to the Uber Partner app since I switched from a Nexus device to an iPhone 6s in October, and every time I eagerly turn it on hoping that they fixed the bug that pauses whatever music app I'm using any time you do anything at all in the Partner app when connected via Bluetooth. They never fix the bug. I've opened support tickets, I've updated Sync in my Ford (even though I know it has nothing to do with it, since Lyft works flawlessly), all to no avail. I haven't even received an explanation for why it does this, or if it's intentional.
> 
> Am I really the only one who connects their phone via Bluetooth when they're driving and wants to hear pings and music simultaneously? Is this bug only on my specific phone?


My Car has Bluetooth built in. So My phone answers thru the speakers in the car. In the Waze app there is an option to turn that off. I have it it turned off so that I can get my directions via the phone. My Phone is in a mount that attaches to my dashboard & it in front of me so I never have to look down & it is close enough to me that I can utilize the phone if need be. I have & use the Iphone 6Plus.


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## JuanMoreTime (Jan 25, 2015)

walthtz said:


> My Car has Bluetooth built in. So My phone answers thru the speakers in the car. In the Waze app there is an option to turn that off. I have it it turned off so that I can get my directions via the phone. My Phone is in a mount that attaches to my dashboard & it in front of me so I never have to look down & it is close enough to me that I can utilize the phone if need be. I have & use the Iphone 6Plus.


But does the Uber Partner app stop music when you're streaming via Bluetooth? My other problem is that when I receive a call, I have to manually switch from my phones speaker to Bluetooth. Outgoing calls work fine.


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## JuanMoreTime (Jan 25, 2015)

It seems that my post and your reply have little or nothing in common


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## JuanMoreTime (Jan 25, 2015)

Actually, it's not a Bluetooth bug at all! I just tested the app using the physical line in and a USB connection, and it turns off the music app as soon as the Partner app loads regardless. Will the sloppy coders at Uber ever figure this out? There's been well over a dozen updates, and every single one has this issue. It bugs me enough that I very rarely drive Uber anymore.


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## walthtz (Feb 6, 2016)

JuanMoreTime said:


> But does the Uber Partner app stop music when you're streaming via Bluetooth? My other problem is that when I receive a call, I have to manually switch from my phones speaker to Bluetooth. Outgoing calls work fine.


I can tell you when I receive a call, the music in the car & the directions via voice stop, But I have Satellite Radio in the car. If the Client wants a different station, I will change it. I do not hook their phone to my system. They can use their headphones.


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## JuanMoreTime (Jan 25, 2015)

walthtz said:


> I can tell you when I receive a call, the music in the car & the directions via voice stop, But I have Satellite Radio in the car. If the Client wants a different station, I will change it. I do not hook their phone to my system. They can use their headphones.


Yeah, I have satellite radio as well, but when my car stereo isn't set to Bluetooth Audio, I can't hear pings. So I play music from my phone. I suppose you could have said that you don't use a streaming music app in the first place to alleviate any confusion from your response having nothing whatsoever to do with any of the questions or scenarios I asked about.


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## spholmes (Feb 5, 2016)

Yes, mine does the same thing. It shuts off the music app. Usually if I hit the Aux button again it starts playing again. Annoying.


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## bluedogz (Sep 12, 2015)

JuanMoreTime said:


> Yeah, I have satellite radio as well, but when my car stereo isn't set to Bluetooth Audio, I can't hear pings. So I play music from my phone. I suppose you could have said that you don't use a streaming music app in the first place to alleviate any confusion from your response having nothing whatsoever to do with any of the questions or scenarios I asked about.


Mine does the same, iPhone 6. Used to be that the BT phone didn't work either, but now the phone works and music doesn't. So, I'd say it's not sloppy coding- it's very deliberate coding.

As far as answers having nothing to do with your question, you'll have to get used to that around here.


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## Undermensch (Oct 21, 2015)

The issue is quite simple, but there is, unfortunately, nothing you can do about it.

In iOS apps you have to setup your audio session or "profile of settings". Uber has set several settings to ensure that they can play sounds when the app is in the background, etc. The primary setting there is to pretend that they are an app that plays music.

However, there is one little property that they need to set to get it to not stop other music on startup and whenever they play a sound:

AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setCategory(AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayback, withOptions: [.MixWithOthers])

It's that MixWithOthers option. With that on the music will keep going and the ping will play on top of it.

The fact that they don't change this indicates that one of two things is going on:


They believe that stopping your music and not automatically restarting it is The Right Thing To Do
They think that allowing MixWithOthers is probably fine but they either can't bring themselves to change one line or they can't get a decision made to allow the change

I can't believe they aren't aware of the issue or how easy it is to address.


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## JuanMoreTime (Jan 25, 2015)

Undermensch said:


> The issue is quite simple, but there is, unfortunately, nothing you can do about it.
> 
> In iOS apps you have to setup your audio session or "profile of settings". Uber has set several settings to ensure that they can play sounds when the app is in the background, etc. The primary setting there is to pretend that they are an app that plays music.
> 
> ...


Undoubtedly true. Lyft did it. Postmates did it. Hell, even Sidecar did it. But the almighty Uber wants to have total dominion over you and your device.


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## JuanMoreTime (Jan 25, 2015)

All of their responses have been spectacularly unhelpful, and seemingly without awareness of the issue under discussion.


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## DexNex (Apr 18, 2015)

I got around this issue by running two devices. iPhone for music/texting. iPad Mini LTE for running Uber/Lyft apps.


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## JuanMoreTime (Jan 25, 2015)

DexNex said:


> I got around this issue by running two devices. iPhone for music/texting. iPad Mini LTE for running Uber/Lyft apps.


I got around it by switching entirely to Lyft with the exception of one Uber trip per month to keep my account active in the off chance of future legal action.


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## Undermensch (Oct 21, 2015)

JuanMoreTime said:


> I got around it by switching entirely to Lyft with the exception of one Uber trip per month to keep my account active in the off chance of future legal action.


I got around it by writing my own driver app...


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## JuanMoreTime (Jan 25, 2015)

Undermensch said:


> I got around it by writing my own driver app...


That's a bit above my pay grade.


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## rocksteady (Mar 19, 2015)

JuanMoreTime said:


> There have been countless updates to the Uber Partner app since I switched from a Nexus device to an iPhone 6s in October, and every time I eagerly turn it on hoping that they fixed the bug that pauses whatever music app I'm using any time you do anything at all in the Partner app when connected via Bluetooth. They never fix the bug. I've opened support tickets, I've updated Sync in my Ford (even though I know it has nothing to do with it, since Lyft works flawlessly), all to no avail. I haven't even received an explanation for why it does this, or if it's intentional.
> 
> Am I really the only one who connects their phone via Bluetooth when they're driving and wants to hear pings and music simultaneously? Is this bug only on my specific phone?


Same thing happens when using an AUX cord and it drives me nuts. I think they do it to push that spotify crap which I have never had one passenger ask about. I gave up trying to listen to music off my iphone and just play the shit radio.


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## rocksteady (Mar 19, 2015)

Undermensch said:


> The issue is quite simple, but there is, unfortunately, nothing you can do about it.
> 
> In iOS apps you have to setup your audio session or "profile of settings". Uber has set several settings to ensure that they can play sounds when the app is in the background, etc. The primary setting there is to pretend that they are an app that plays music.
> 
> ...


There's another thread dealing with this same issue in which some daft cow chimes in a few times to pointlessly say that her galaxy note doesn't have the issue and the problem is simply that the iphone is crap. I tried to reasonably argue that it isn't an iphone issue because other iphone apps with similiar functions don't do this which points to a programming issue but she was having none of it. I wish I had the technical knowledge you have to back up my points. Not that it would have changed her mind or refocused her argument away from "my phone is better than your phone" to the actual topic being discussed.

You're using your own driver app with Uber? Is it for sale?


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## Undermensch (Oct 21, 2015)

rocksteady said:


> There's another thread dealing with this same issue in which some daft cow chimes in a few times to pointlessly say that her galaxy note doesn't have the issue and the problem is simply that the iphone is crap. I tried to reasonably argue that it isn't an iphone issue because other iphone apps with similiar functions don't do this which points to a programming issue but she was having none of it. I wish I had the technical knowledge you have to back up my points. Not that it would have changed her mind or refocused her argument away from "my phone is better than your phone" to the actual topic being discussed.
> 
> You're using your own driver app with Uber? Is it for sale?


Heh. I actually almost started believing that the sound APIs on iPhone were wonky and required magic incantations to get them to reliably play sounds. I was thinking this because I was getting pings but my app wasn't playing the sound though it was displaying the ride information.

Then I happened to get a weird ride request while running the app in the debugger. It showed that the "notification" mechanism that they use is not the only way that a ride request can come in (there is a second polling mechanism that sends you your whole schedule every 5 seconds and it turns out a new ride can show up there first). I had only been calling the sound API from the notification mechanism.

I fixed my little bug and it's been rock solid ever since.

It's not yet... but it may be, eventually.


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## Transportador (Sep 15, 2015)

It does the same thing on Android now starting a few days ago for me. very annoying.


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## Ziggy (Feb 27, 2015)

JuanMoreTime said:


> I have tried other streaming apps as well. It happens with Google Play Music, Spotify, Slacker, Apple Music, etc.. I haven't tried it in a different vehicle, however.


Happens in my Yukon too. Really annoying. Uber programmers can't replicate the issue cause they don't drive


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## BruiserB (Jul 13, 2015)

I use my AppleWatch to restart the music when it pauses. Easier than switching to Music app, restarting, then switching back to Uber Partner app. I just tap my watch face, swipe up to the music glance, tap again to restart music. Most passengers don't see me doing it and my phone never leaves the Uber partner app.


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