Podcasts with iOS 8 using USB

I'm experiencing the identical problem with my 2014 Prius and both my gen 5 Touch and iPhone 5s. Every podcast showed as having been played and marked for deletion. Trying to play one just results in the system hanging. Regular music seems to play fine: so this appears to be an issue with the podcast application on iOS8 and the Toyota system. I'm hoping that somebody up high sees this and makes some changes.

 

I haven't tried playing Podcasts since updating to iOS8, but I've always had big problems with control under iOS7. First, it's a pain to get one started... Even if I have one playing already when I plug in my iPhone, it switches immediately to playing music. So then I have to reselect the podcast. If I hit pause (either on MFD or on phone), it either won't pause at all, or if it does it has problems starting again. OK, easy solution to pause not working is to just hit the power button, right? Well if I hit the radio power button to shut it off, the podcast *keeps playing silently in the background*, so I lose my place. If a phone call comes in and interrupts the podcast, when I hang up it resumes playing music instead and I have to reselect the podcast again. Sometimes after one podcast episode ends, it just stops and won't continue onto the next one. After any of these circumstances, I often have to replug USB to get it to continue (see above: it starts playing music AGAIN).

All of this is incredibly frustrating/difficult/dangerous while driving. I never had any of these issues in iOS6 when you could play podcasts from the Music app. Once they separated it to its own app, the Prius got very confused by how to control it. Our Nissan Leaf has none of these problems. Please Toyota, fix the Entune software to not get indigestion from music playing from "other" apps on an iOS device!!

 

I have had similar problems with my iphone 4S and 2012 Prius. I'm very interested in any solutions/workarounds the community finds.

 

I have a different setup but tested the operation on my commute home today. iPhone 6 (iOS 8.0.2) connected to the car’s USB input and using the Podcast App for playback.

Everything was working as expected and I couldn’t duplicate any of the issues others have described. One difference might be that I didn’t use my iPhone 5 backup when first activating the iPhone 6. To avoid any problems I setup the iPhone 6 as new and synced apps, iCloud data and music. The result has been positive with no battery problems, crashes, bluetooth or syncing issues.

 

Thanks everyone for post...this is reinforcing my decision to wait at least 30 days before upgrading to IOS8 on my iPhone 5S...

 

Apple folks still have to connect their phone via a wire?

How crude.

Signed,
Android.

 

I am using IOS 7.1.2 and use Bluetooth Exclusively. So far, the only reason that I use a cable is for charging. At least in my 2014, it seems to work 100% on Bluetooth...

 

I finally got to trying to play a Podcast from my iOS8 iPhone. It works, but with even more caveats than before. If I start a Podcast and then connect the USB, the MFD just sits on "Loading" forever and never plays anything. I have to unplug it, start playing music instead, plug it in, wait for it to start playing (which it does right away), and then switch to the Podcast. Pretty damn irritating to have to do every time I turn the car off and back on...

And for what it's worth, I do actually use Bluetooth when just driving short trips around town. Only use USB when on a road trip so that it keeps charged and I (or a passenger) have easy access to it.

 

i am using an iPhone 6 and the most recent iOS 8.x everything works well. you need to go to the dealer and they will put a usb dongle into the USB port and flash update the software. Your car needs a software update, if you are having problems with the bluetooth.

 

I am also more successful now. I do normally use USB connection because it charges. However, sometimes, I end up having to switch to BT to get the podcasts to play.

I am most successful when I avoid using the in-dash controls. I really miss them, but too often I hit that infinite "loading" screen. So, now I use the podcast app on the phone & pre-load a set of podcasts onto the "on-the-go" playlist. Then, after I connect the USB, I start the app & navigate to the on-the-go screen. If it isn't working, I sometimes switch then to BT which usually loads up properly.

That usually lasts me the 30-40 minutes it takes to get to work, with the podcasts changing & displaying on the screen. Sometimes the elapsed time bar seems to be set for the previous podcast on the list, so it either fills up in the first 5 minutes of a 30-minute show or vice-versa...but I can live with that. I don't look at the screen while driving that much anyway.

Recently, after the 8.1 update, I was able to use the in-dash controls...but I haven't tried it very much because I don't want to have to fiddle while driving...better to set it up before I start & let it run.

 

See all the problems I reported earlier? I'm running 3.2.

Additional problem I've had several times now with iOS8 (but not always): When playing music, and I hit the next track button, the display advances to the next song, but the music doesn't. Very odd one there, and it gets rather confused when the track "ends" when it didn't think it should...

 

Another frustrated podcast listener here, in my 2012 IV. Podcasts always played fine over USB on my iPod Touch. New iPhone with iOS 8.1.1, and podcasts won't play over USB, they show up in the list, but when selected, the "loading" graphic stays there forever. Music plays fine, whether selected by genre, playlist, song, etc.

It looks like my options are 1) Try using BlueTooth, or 2) Contact dealer for a firmware update to the audio system. Suggestions welcome!

From a music/podcast point-of-view, are there any downsides to using BT?

 

Or, perhaps, using the podcast app. I resisted it for many years, but now that I'm in the habit of queuing up podcasts beforehand, I do see some advantages.

I didn't like using BT so much because the in-dash controls seem less rich when using BT for music...specifically, finding content by artist/song name, etc gave more options & better performance over USB than through BT.

 

Well, I've been using BT for podcasts, using the podcast app. It works, but the in-dash controls are mostly disabled. The only thing it allows is skip to next/previous podcast. No list, no browse, no artwork, etc. The FF/REV within a podcast does not work nearly as well, sometimes getting stuck in FF, other times triggering the "Loading..." screen.

 

On my Tacoma with Entune, I moved my podcast listening from the iPod Classic to the Turn off signatures in Tapatalk BT. It has been working well for me. On the iPod, the podcasts were getting all out of sync with the display and it wouldn't hold my bookmark when I shut the car off. But with BT and the iPhone, that all seems to be resolved. But I have to set up my podcast before driving since the MFD is relatively useless for selection. I still prefer to listen to music from my iPod for the richer sound and convenience of using the MFD. But Entune is still buggy.