Prospective Buyer - How Does Media from Phone Work?

[TexasBob]

My 2c:
Pluses - On an Apple phone the Rivian does a very good job of integrating voice control. On Android it completely sucks (which is why I returned the Pixel 10). After considerable investigation I have learned that this is a Rivian problem, not an Android problem. When you say "hey Siri" the phon commandeers the bluetooth immediately and holds it so you can issue followup commands until the task is done.

Neutral - For me, then, I find no difference in using Rivian for music playback vs carplay vehicles I often rent. I just say Siri Play Playlist _ or artist or song and it all works perfectly well. It is the same with texting/phone things. "Siri read my messages or send text to___" and it is great. No issue. And as Siri finally becomes less stupid with the roll-out of a Gemini-based assistant, this should be excellent. (Again, actual Gemini is better for me, but the Rivian-Android bluetooth integration blows in my experience.)

Awful - Where it sucks big time for me is where I use it most: streaming podcasts. Rivian does not have Apple podcasts. Because I have subscription podcasts (The Economist) the only built-in streaming service that works is Spotify and it is crap and requires a subscription which is not going to happen, ever. So I end up having to say Siri open podcasts and the manage from the phone screen. It completely and totally sucks. And to be clear that is WITH a connect+ subscription.

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[Dweezil]

Thanks all for the input!

Unfortunately, it sounds like what I was afraid of, which is a major step backwards in terms of phone/media integration if I don't want to give in to streaming. It sounds barely a step above where my old 2009 GMC was.

I don't want to beat a dead horse or get into a giant CarPlay debate, but I do want to make one point: I think the automakers' excuse of "Apple wants too much control" is BS. On both my old Challenger and my current Charger, phone integration is just one tab in the center screen. There's a tab for media, climate, settings, drive modes, and "phone". Only on the phone tab does Apple "control" the "experience" and it pretty seamlessly integrates into the rest of the car's volume and next/previous track controls. The rest is all Stellantis' Uconnect system (for better or worse).

The phone integration isn’t the best. However, it’s something one easily learns to work with. Would I prefer CarPlay? Absolutely…but it wasn’t a deal breaker, I didn’t purchase my truck to be an infotainment hub. My biggest complaint with the phone integration is receiving messages. Unless you have your phone mounted somewhere visible in your periphery and turned up, you won’t know if/when you receive a message. As for responding to a text message…it’s just as easy as asking Siri to send your message for you. Honestly, it hasn’t been a big deal. All said, I DO pay for a couple of streaming services that work wonderfully through the Rivian system.

I dunno, I think folks make a bigger deal out of CarPlay than is justified. Just my .02 cents worth…Your mileage may vary. Please don’t let something like CarPlay integration keep you from purchasing a great vehicle. Who’s to say we won’t get it someday, or perhaps something even better? In the meantime, what’s provided works fine. Again, this is just like my opinion, man, we’re all friends here!

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

The phone integration isn’t the best. However, it’s something one easily learns to work with. Would I prefer CarPlay? Absolutely…but it wasn’t a deal breaker, I didn’t purchase my truck to be an infotainment hub. My biggest complaint with the phone integration is receiving messages. Unless you have your phone mounted somewhere visible in your periphery and turned up, you won’t know if/when you receive a message. As for responding to a text message…it’s just as easy as asking Siri to send your message for you. Honestly, it hasn’t been a big deal. All said, I DO pay for a couple of streaming services that work wonderfully through the Rivian system.

I dunno, I think folks make a bigger deal out of CarPlay than is justified. Just my .02 cents worth…Your mileage may vary. Please don’t let something like CarPlay integration keep you from purchasing a great vehicle. Who’s to say we won’t get it someday, or perhaps something even better? In the meantime, what’s provided works fine. Again, this is just like my opinion, man, we’re all friends here!

And text messaging will be addressed this year, with Google AI powered assistant, if all goes according to plan. Demo’ed in December on Autonomy Day.

 

[loqueid]

Honestly, it's not a deal breaker. I just installed a phone mount that I 3D printed and I can run anything from my phone right there via Bluetooth. I'm not sure why everyone has such a hard time with this. If you love something, make it happen!

Picture notes:
- the color is nasty and the cable is loose. This is just the beta run. I've already purchase the EveryAmp OBD2/USB adapter.
- yes, I'm driving in a river. Cheating cause it's winter time. Rivians are so much fun!

 

[Dweezil]

And text messaging will be addressed this year, with Google AI powered assistant, if all goes according to plan. Demo’ed in December on Autonomy Day.

That.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Honestly, it's not a deal breaker. I just installed a phone mount that I 3D printed and I can run anything from my phone right there via Bluetooth. I'm not sure why everyone has such a hard time with this. If you love something, make it happen!

Picture notes:
- the color is nasty and the cable is loose. This is just the beta run. I've already purchase the EveryAmp OBD2/USB adapter.
- yes, I'm driving in a river. Cheating cause it's winter time. Rivians are so much fun!

Because some don't want to solve problems. They want a polished and prepackaged solution that is already installed... because they paid "this much for a car". It's mostly a mental hurdle, rather than an actual one. And if they have an iPhone, text messaging can easily be handled right now through Siri (along with her quirks).

 

[P.S.Mangelsdorf]

The phone integration isn’t the best. However, it’s something one easily learns to work with. Would I prefer CarPlay? Absolutely…but it wasn’t a deal breaker, I didn’t purchase my truck to be an infotainment hub. .....

I dunno, I think folks make a bigger deal out of CarPlay than is justified. Just my .02 cents worth…Your mileage may vary. Please don’t let something like CarPlay integration keep you from purchasing a great vehicle.

This is where I go back and forth. Even in the short test drive I did, I can tell the vehicle is overall fantastic, but I do a TON of longer drives, where control/management of media, calls, texts, etc really is something that can get infuriating. My experience with Carplay has been that it makes everything simple, intuitive, and unobtrusive. I've missed it when I've been in cars without it.

I find the music situation (not just this bluetooth/owned music libraries thing, but also the lack of a decent EQ and poor performance and support for the onboard Tidal and Apple apps)

Can you tell me more about this? Is the music quality lacking?

Wait..... "1940 Chevy EV conversion" -- what is this??? I'm much more interested in this than music streaming.

Yeah 1940 Chevy coupe, Tesla Sport LDU, two Chevy Volt batteries in parallel, Chevy Bolt OBC and DC-DC. Finished Hot Rod Magazine Drag Week 3 times in it, best 1/4 mile time so far is 11.4sec @ 114mph. Still dealing with a nagging tune issue where it hits a safety on track if I try to push as much power as I can on the street. Based on weight and potential power it should eventually get into the 10s.

 

[Dweezil]

This is where I go back and forth. Even in the short test drive I did, I can tell the vehicle is overall fantastic, but I do a TON of longer drives, where control/management of media, calls, texts, etc really is something that can get infuriating. My experience with Carplay has been that it makes everything simple, intuitive, and unobtrusive. I've missed it when I've been in cars without it.

That’s fair…I know back when I was among the unclean and owned a *gasp* Tesla, I missed CarPlay…for about a week, then I got used to doing things in a different, but easily workable way. But yeah, for long trips and stuff…and even daily function CarPlay makes things easier, especially if that’s what you’re used to using like so many other folks, but not to the point that I find anything overly annoying or unusable. All said, if Rivian and Apple decided to just throw caution to the wind and provide CarPlay to us, I wouldn’t complain…but I’ve adapted to things and am quite happy with what I have. Again, what works for me may not be acceptable or work for others (for various reasons). I’m just super happy to own such a capable vehicle that does essentially everything I need it to do!

 

[rogersmj]

In my experience, Apple Music through the center console does not work. It will play 2, perhaps 3 songs then stop.

Same. It's so disappointing. One of the many, many things that I just can't believe are still broken in this software. I basically HAVE to use Bluetooth from my phone because the Apple Music app built into the Rivian is so broken (and so is the FM radio app, for that matter, but in different ways). No amount of resets have had any effect.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

This is where I go back and forth. Even in the short test drive I did, I can tell the vehicle is overall fantastic, but I do a TON of longer drives, where control/management of media, calls, texts, etc really is something that can get infuriating. My experience with Carplay has been that it makes everything simple, intuitive, and unobtrusive. I've missed it when I've been in cars without it.


Can you tell me more about this? Is the music quality lacking?


Yeah 1940 Chevy coupe, Tesla Sport LDU, two Chevy Volt batteries in parallel, Chevy Bolt OBC and DC-DC. Finished Hot Rod Magazine Drag Week 3 times in it, best 1/4 mile time so far is 11.4sec @ 114mph. Still dealing with a nagging tune issue where it hits a safety on track if I try to push as much power as I can on the street. Based on weight and potential power it should eventually get into the 10s.

IMO, much of the pain is from multiple reasons: familiarity, adopting to something new (and new way of consuming media, streaming vs owned) and reaction to current state/scope of Rivian software.

Prior to delivery, I did not have a Spotify account. I signed up and started transferring and building a playlist—a mix of tracks I like, owned and not owned. Once that's done, I don't miss not having any tracks stored on my phone. And you know what? Without all those tracks taking up memory, and with a new battery, my 5 year old iPhone 12 runs so well that I have no desire to replace it with a newer one. Considering how much a new one costs, that's a significant saving.

It's almost moot to poll the internet because, predictably, you will get polarized feedback and everything in between. IMO, nothing beats first hand experience. Book a demo and tell them you'd rather spend most or all of the session deep-diving the infotainment system. While keeping firmly in mind what the system can/can't do today isn't necessarily going to hold true in the future. Every reasonable gen 1 owner can tell you, what it is today is very different from the early days in Spring '22. And software development continues.

 

[Whale Blubber]

This is where I go back and forth. Even in the short test drive I did, I can tell the vehicle is overall fantastic, but I do a TON of longer drives, where control/management of media, calls, texts, etc really is something that can get infuriating. My experience with Carplay has been that it makes everything simple, intuitive, and unobtrusive. I've missed it when I've been in cars without it.


Can you tell me more about this? Is the music quality lacking?


Yeah 1940 Chevy coupe, Tesla Sport LDU, two Chevy Volt batteries in parallel, Chevy Bolt OBC and DC-DC. Finished Hot Rod Magazine Drag Week 3 times in it, best 1/4 mile time so far is 11.4sec @ 114mph. Still dealing with a nagging tune issue where it hits a safety on track if I try to push as much power as I can on the street. Based on weight and potential power it should eventually get into the 10s.

That's amazing. If you have a link to any posts or media on it I'd love to check it out.

Anyway, regarding the quality of the sound.

First, to be totally fair, the OTA tuning updates have vastly improved things pretty much across the board over time, from what I hear in mine and what I've heard from others. But the overall quality really depends on the model and generation and options (ie Gen 1 vs Gen 2, R1T vs R1S, Meridian vs not), so sound quality can range from pretty good to pretty ok.

One of members of this board has engaged in some highly professional in-car testing and measurements and offered EQ settings to help maximize the various models' capabilities, which further refines the quality you can get in the cars. But the onboard EQ UI is pretty minimal, with only a few channels, and seems like it could be enhanced with a little coding in an OTA, if that were a priority, but I have not heard that there's any Rivian roadmap to improve it. So fine tuning the audio is somewhat minimal.

Moreover, the built in streaming apps (Tidal Apple Spotify etc) all seem to have different data throughputs, which could affect to greater or lesser extents the quality of the sound experience.

Likewise, in my experience the UI quality of the built in apps could also be improved—e.g., the Apple Music app is pretty poor in terms of its seach functionality and other playlist capabilities, and (minor annoyance) doesn't display the jacket artwork consistently or, in my case, hardly ever.

Finally, the subwoofer in Gen1 and Gen2 R1 is just anemic, and coupled with the lack of clear guidance from Rivian for third party aftermarket work and wiring diagrams and so forth, it gives me the willies when it comes to paying a sound shop to replace the sub and amp with better equipment, although I know others have done so. And given our conversation above, perhaps you have the expertise and internal fortitude to undertake a hardware improvement!

 

[IntheCatskills]

Absolutely love our R1T. I use TuneIn premium a great deal. Enjoy many of their podcasts. To date we have never had a problem with Apple Music.

 

[KBabione]

I use Apple Music (native Rivian App) for music, but stream my audiobooks through Bluetooth at 1.7x speed. The ONLY time I've ever had audio issues with my Bluetooth streaming is when I continue to listen after putting the Rivian in park. There's a consistent 1-2 seconds where the audio is a bit garbled, but then it returns to normal.

And, for those who require it, there is now an integrated CarPlay solution from EVPlay. I have it and it works really well, but note that the audio will ALL come through Bluetooth so you're not changing that quality. It does turn the infotainment screen into the CP screen with the touch of a button (and back again with another push). I really only use my EVPlay unit for Waze and continue to stream other audio through Bluetooth.

 

[BigSkies]

Thanks all for the input!

Unfortunately, it sounds like what I was afraid of, which is a major step backwards in terms of phone/media integration if I don't want to give in to streaming. It sounds barely a step above where my old 2009 GMC was.

I don't want to beat a dead horse or get into a giant CarPlay debate, but I do want to make one point: I think the automakers' excuse of "Apple wants too much control" is BS. On both my old Challenger and my current Charger, phone integration is just one tab in the center screen. There's a tab for media, climate, settings, drive modes, and "phone". Only on the phone tab does Apple "control" the "experience" and it pretty seamlessly integrates into the rest of the car's volume and next/previous track controls. The rest is all Stellantis' Uconnect system (for better or worse).

Agreed. Playing music we own is table stakes. That's been basic functionality in cars since the 8-track was invented. Enshitifying that experience to push streaming services is inexcusable.

There are alternatives if Apple doesn't play nice. Bluetooth is convenient, but I'd put my music on a USB drive. I'm already plugging in a USB drive for gear guard videos so it's not exactly a big deal.

That being said, I remain hopeful that an improved experience will be delivered by software update. Rivian's never addressed the issue directly AFAIK.

 

[Zorg]

Only used Android Auto a couple times when renting a car. I much prefer the Rivian interface. That being said, I got no music stored on my phone

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