Apple Music, YouTube & the Connect+ subscription

[nyckkr]

Connect+ is seeking payment for an LTE connection when the phone hotspot is 5G. That is one of the reason why we don't pay for Connect+. The other is that the user interface does not allow for native video streaming apps like Netflix, prime, HBO etc even when parked. Google Cast is suboptimal solution and even that is limited.

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[Beau Life]

Same feeling here. First, I don’t subscribe to Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal or Audible. I do use Amazon Music, YouTube Music. Podcast and Libby. So Connect+ has no value to me and I do not subscribe. I found using my own hotspot to be very hectic because it disconnects too often to be enjoyable. My only solution is using my iPhone for all media contents via Bluetooth which has stable connection. I created a page in iPhone just for driving and put it next to driver display as a third screen.

Now that sounds like a good thingn.Can you provide any direction on or where to get them, to do that?? Thanks

 

[jrothman]

Connect+ is seeking payment for an LTE connection when the phone hotspot is 5G. That is one of the reason why we don't pay for Connect+. The other is that the user interface does not allow for native video streaming apps like Netflix, prime, HBO etc even when parked. Google Cast is suboptimal solution and even that is limited.

Thanks for this suggestion. I went out and tried it in my car immediately. Switched the cellular setting on my phone to only connect to LTE. Then connected to my phone as a hotspot. However, it didn't work. Apple Music continued to say that it was trying to connect.

I'm not sure if there is a difference in behavior between Gen 1 and Gen 2 vehicles. I'm in a Gen 2.

 

[jrothman]

Everything is a subscription today not just this stuff. While I don't love it I get it. There is constant development that happens on this software and features that get added over time. That costs money and to cover that costs they charge for it. What can we do? Buy a firewall, subscriptions for the features. Buy a router or switch, same thing. You can get the canned functions but not the advances without a subscription.

I understand your point, but this falls apart when you know that the radio tuner and bluetooth apps are maintained and updated to roughly the same degree. They need to be maintained to work with OS updates. So I still don't know why Rivian won't allow the use of Apple Music or Spotify when you're using your own hotspot.

 

[lefkonj]

I understand your point, but this falls apart when you know that the radio tuner and bluetooth apps are maintained and updated to roughly the same degree. They need to be maintained to work with OS updates. So I still don't know why Rivian won't allow the use of Apple Music or Spotify when you're using your own hotspot.

I hear you but development costs money, period. BMW and Audi are doing a similar thing. This is the future of car ownership .

 

[hudesigns]

Now that sounds like a good thingn.Can you provide any direction on or where to get them, to do that?? Thanks

I presume you know how to connect your phone to Rivian via Bluetooth. In case you didn’t you can use ChatGPT like “How to connect iPhone to Rivian via Bluetooth” for steps or check with Rivian manual.

Here’s what I got

“Step-by-Step Bluetooth Pairing
1. Turn on Bluetooth on your iPhone
• Open Settings → Bluetooth and make sure it’s On.
2. On the Rivian’s center display:
• Go to the Bluetooth option in the Phone/Media/Settings menu.
• Tap Bluetooth to start searching for nearby devices.
• Choose Add to begin pairing a new phone. 
3. When your iPhone appears on the vehicle display:
• Select your iPhone from the list.
• A pairing code should appear both on the car display and on your iPhone.
4. Confirm the code:
• Make sure the code on the Rivian display matches the one on your iPhone.
• Tap Pair on your iPhone. 
5. Complete the connection:
• After pairing, the vehicle stores the phone so you won’t need to repeat this every time.
• You can also adjust Bluetooth permissions (calls, contacts, media) on the vehicle’s display. 

After Pairing

Your iPhone should automatically connect to the Rivian each time you get in with Bluetooth on.
Once connected, you’ll be able to use phone calls and play audio over the car’s system.”

I created a page in iPhone like this:

 

[Jonjon09]

Same feeling here. First, I don’t subscribe to Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal or Audible. I do use Amazon Music, YouTube Music. Podcast and Libby. So Connect+ has no value to me and I do not subscribe. I found using my own hotspot to be very hectic because it disconnects too often to be enjoyable. My only solution is using my iPhone for all media contents via Bluetooth which has stable connection. I created a page in iPhone just for driving and put it next to driver display as a third screen.

Glad it's not just me having the disconnecting issues with hotspot. It's so frustrating and I see no rhyme or reason to it. Some days it works 100% fine and others it will disconnect multiple times within the same song.
And to OP's point - it was never an issue in my Tesla (and still isn't on my wife's model Y) so it's not a phone or network issue. I do hope it's a simple software fix in the future (really wishful here on gen 1) and not a hardware issue. I will bring it up to the tech when I am at the SC on 1/12 and see what they say.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Thanks! To clarify - I know how to and do use my phone as a hotspot. Up until August, doing so provided some benefit - namely, it allowed me to use Apple Music via the car's interface. But this started to get buggy in August and became less and less usable throughout the month. I contacted service and asked them for help. They actually sent out a mobile tech to address this issue (and one other thing). When he couldn't resolve the issue, the mobile tech told me that Apple Music is not supposed to work without Connect+. Even when connecting your own hotspot.

He acknowledged that others were frustrated with this, but said that it's Rivian's policy. Apple Music - and the other streaming platforms - only work via Connect+.

This sounds like a case of a tech making up an answer because they didn’t have one. His answer doesn’t even make sense, because if it were true that Rivian didn’t allow you to use your own hotspot why did they even send a tech out to look at it?

It might be a software bug, or a problem with your hotspot or vehicle but AFAIK external hotspot is an allowed way to use the media interface and the only thing that won’t work is casting as that requires being signed on to Rivian’s internal hotspot.

With that said, I subscribe to Rivian’s connect+ simply because in the foothills of the mountains cell reception is spotty and the big antenna on the roof tends to pick up a signal more reliably than my phone in my pocket through the glass of the vehicle.

 

[jrothman]

I created a page in iPhone like this:

[/QUOTE]

This is definitely helpful. Thanks!

 

[Donald Stanfield]

FWIW I think the OP was fair about their complaint in here. This wasn’t framed as Rivian being incompetent or the worstest ever like some of these other ones.

 

[jrothman]

I did my best to pre-empt posts like yours, but so it goes. It's too bad that social media has cultivated and semi-normalized this way of interacting.

 

[jrothman]

Casting/YouTube isn't supported using hotspot. I don't need it, so I don't pay for it. I rarely find myself waiting in the car for something, so the video has no value for me.

I hear you. I wish I didn't need to watch video in the car. If I could charge at home, I never would. But I live in an apartment with no place to park and charge. So I use public chargers and find myself with 30-45 minutes on my hands from time to time. It was nice being able to stream video via the Tesla's screen from time to time on my own hotspot.

 

[r2fb]

I have an extra line from verizon. Cars like Rivian/Tesla etc should just let you use your own sim/esim for connectivity.

 

[godfodder0901]

I have an extra line from verizon. Cars like Rivian/Tesla etc should just let you use your own sim/esim for connectivity.

I believe the R2 uses eSIM. Doesn't mean they'll let you bring your own provider, though.

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