When using Waze on CarPlay while listening to a podcast—whether through Apple’s native Podcasts app or third-party apps like iVoox—the podcast playback stops whenever Waze issues a voice alert. Although the setting to mix both audio sources is enabled, the podcast still pauses instead of playing simultaneously as expected.
Hi @ars1614 , welcome!
This is probably WAD (working as designed), though I don’t know all the mechanisms under the hood about which software decides whether the audio playback pauses completely or reduces its volume (“ducks”) while Waze speaks an alert or turn instruction. Behavior may be different on different devices. My personal experience on Android and Android Auto is that my usual podcast app (AntennaPod) will also pause when Waze speaks, and it did this on Google Podcasts too, before that app was discontinued. Spotify seems to behave differently whether it’s playing music (playback continues, but volume decreases) versus when it’s playing an audiobook or podcast. But Spotify is also a “supported” audio player, and AntennaPod is not. I’m not sure about Apple Podcasts or iVoox – they aren’t listed on my version of the Android app. Perhaps others have experiences with these or other apps.
Personally, I like this behavior. I want to hear and understand the speakers on my podcast, even if they get interrupted and the playback rewinds 1 second after Waze butts in. Waze and my podcasts speaking simultaneously would make both of them unintelligible. On the other hand, with music, you don’t want to interrupt the tempo and rhythm, so “ducking” the audio makes more sense.
Best case would be if this behavior were customizable by the user, whether in Waze’s settings or the audio playback app. It might be up to the audio app developers to build in support for Waze, which they can do by signing up as a partner to get access to the Waze Audio Kit, which I assume is an SDK.
In any case, this Map Editors Community page isn’t the place to get any action on this request. The volunteer map editors can’t fix issues with the Waze app or 3rd party audio apps. You might be able to get a suggestion or feature request escalated to staff by using the Waze Suggestion Box, and you can get app help at the Waze Help page or from the Waze Community Support product experts.
Hope that helps!
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100% Agree.
And yes, i think it’s WAD, beacuse Apple Podcast it’s…a Podcast App.
This does not happen with Spotify, but… i’m not sure what Spotify does when you are here a Podcast within their app. I’ll check, and that maybe will confirm that is a decision made by the app.