I’m trying to figure out how the “sound to speaker” function works.
Using an Android (Galaxy S3) if I have checked the “Route Sound to Speaker” button and if the phone is communicating with my bluetooth radio will the navigation info “punch through” whatever is playing on the radio? Or is this a radio-dependent issue?
Does it matter what input the radio is set for? The choices are:
Tuner (the usual as I am an NPR junkie)
Aux "(which might be what I need but I thought that was just for a mini-plug connector if you’re using one)
USB (I could connect to the Android via USB but I’m usually charging my phone via the 12 volt socket
XM Tuner
I fear that unless I am set to Aux I’ll not hear the navigation. But if so what is the Bluetooth doing for me (other than answering phone calls).
This may be as much an Android question as a Waze query but who knows, maybe someone has the answer.
I also have the sgs3 and originally had the “route to speaker” checked.
because I had my headphone jack plugged into the car stereo where i was streaming music.
i wanted waze to come out the phone speaker, while the streaming music routed out the headphone jack. this did NOT work.
no audio came out of the speaker, both waze and streaming app came out the headphone jack.
BUT i found out that having this set this way, every time waze would speak, it would cause my streaming app to stop streaming, and i had to restart the streaming app, which was very annoying on a long drive.
so i turned off/unchecked the route to speaker option and still waze and the streaming app would go out the headphone jack over the car’s radio, however this time, the streaming app was NOT stopped or affected. so while this wasn’t ideal, it did work and i was no longer annoyed by waze.
i have a related question, also with an S3 and the abominable Ford Sync System.
I tried selecting “Route sound to speaker” while the phone was paired with the car, and then I heard nothing at all from Waze. When I unchecked “Route sound to speaker” I still couldn’t hear any of the voice nav from Waze. I tried various things in the Sync settings such as Bluetooth Streaming on/off and still no voice nav from Waze.
Now that I’m away from the car, Waze is talking to me again, but I fear when I approach the car again, it’ll lose its voice.
Also, what exactly does “Route sound to speaker” mean? Does it mean the S3’s speaker? The bluetooth connected device? If it’s not routing sound to the speaker, where is it supposed to go?
Eric, speaker is the phone speaker. Otherwise, waze will use BT streaming (Sync phrase). If “Prefer BT” is selected, then it will use the BT phone style connection and interrupt any playing audio on the car stereo just like a phone call does.
Just a couple of things: First, I couldn’t find the “Prefer BT” option. In the “Sound” settings there’s only “Route sound to speaker” and a “Prompts volume” control. Second, by default “Route sound to speaker” is not selected, and the prompts come through the phone speaker anyway. When I did select “Route sound to speaker”, that’s when I lost all sound from the prompts.
I’m fully ready to blame the Sync system for this, or myself Do you have any idea if I would need to set anything in the Sync system, other than pairing the phone with it (which it is?) I can make/receive phone calls through Sync no problem. If I select “Bluetooth Streaming” on the Sync, then it assumes that’s how I’m playing music through it and so can’t listen to what I really want to listen to. Other possibly helpful tidbits: In the Bluetooth settings, I have both “Call audio” and “Media audio” checked. I have Waze 3.2.2.2 on a Samsung Galaxy S3, Android version 4.0.1.
Certainly! I drive a Fusion, so have figured out most of this, I think. There are issues with app/iOS which muddy the situation. Here’s some info/tidbits, hopefully helpful stuffz:
iOS only allows the phone to output sound via one method at a time. Each output type (speaker, headphone, BT, dock) has its own volume setting iOS stores.
Make sure your phone and Sync and paired and that BT is enabled on both
Waze should have “Always output to speaker” and “Prefer bluetooth” options under Device/Prompts volume sliders. These two options are mutually exclusive. You cannot turn both on at the same time.
Waze’s “device volume” doesn’t update when another app changes the volume when Waze isn’t running for the selected output method. Therefore, the speaker volume could be set very low or near zero and the device volume slider may not show that. The only way to adjust the audio up within Waze is to have Waze play a sound, such as activating voice commands, and while the sound is playing use the volume+ button to increase the volume.
When both “speaker” and “prefer BT” are off, Waze will use whatever output was last used, or whatever output is currently in use by another audio-outputting app like Music, Pandora, etc. In this mode, iOS will fade the other audio app output and allow Waze to overlay the other audio program. This will happen even if the other app is outputting to the speaker.
When “speaker” output is selected, iOS will force any app currently playing audio to stop playback and then play the Waze sound outputs. This will happen even if the other app is using the speaker.
When the iPhone is outputting audio/music to Sync, this is almost always via bluetooth streaming, but could be via the dock connector.
Dock connector, Waze, and iOS do not play well at all together. Long-term user Shorty-CM from BC, Canada, has been diligent in documenting issues with each beta release of the app.
“Prefer bluetooth” will send Waze sounds through the bluetooth “headset” mode (whatever that’s called, I forget), which will make Sync see this as an incoming call, which will interrupt whatever audio is currently playing on the car stereo. This option also allows giving voice commands to Waze via a bluetooth headset or Sync.
Aw, crap. :roll: Um, so a lot of it should apply, but I am not sure of the OS-level portion and how that affects it. I’m sorry, I knew that from your initial post, but somehow, went off on my tangent anyway. For example, I don’t know why you wouldn’t have the “prefer bluetooth” option in Sound settings.
Well, I suppose if “Route to speaker” and “Prefer BT” are mutually exclusive then, technically, you only need one.
I’ll have a closer look at your comments when I have a chance. I’m sure there’s some crossover between platforms. In fact, I’ve gotten bitten by the volume one you mention. I think. There are a few volume sliders in the Android settings->Sound panel, and Waze has its own. I had the “main” volume down at one point, and Waze was quite audible, but on another occasion it wasn’t until I turned up the “main” volume.
Very confusing!
Thanks again for your help… if it doesn’t apply to me directly, I’m sure it will help some iOS user with the same question(s!)
From some mucking around today, I’ve discovered the following… I think… it got confusing.
If “Media Audio” is set to “on” for the Bluetooth device (Sync) in the system Settings, then sound will come through the sync system if the Sync system is set to Bluetooth Streaming. If it’s set to Bluetooth Streaming it doesn’t play anything other than what’s coming in through Bluetooth, which means no playing the radio, CD, anything else. It doesn’t matter what the Waze “Route sound to speaker” setting is.
So, so far, I haven’t found the necessary voodoo spell to get Waze voice nav to interrupt what’s playing through the Sync system, like a phone call would. Maybe the Android version is awaiting the “Prefer BT” option? For now, it’s all through the Samsung’s speaker.
Stay tuned to this channel for more late-breaking developments as they happen…
Sorry to ressurect an old thread, but I’m having similar problems. I just got a car with bluetooth, and ever since I did I’ve lost my directions. I’ve tried the ‘route to speakers’ option both ways, and I never hear the guidance.
Like serveral folks in the thread, I have a Galaxy S3. Has anyone found how to configure it to get the sounds from Waze?
The only way for sound to come out of you car stereo from Waze (on Android anyway) is to have it as your Bluetooth media option on the car stereo. You cannot have Waze interrupt radio or CD operation on your car stereo. You either have to live with having the navigation directions come out of the phone’s loudspeaker or streaming music from your phone with the Waze audio playing with it.
I would love to get the directions from the phone’s speaker. I don’t get them at all when it’s connected to BT, regadless of how I configure the sound settings in Waze.
Maybe it’s a bug in Waze. Maybe it’s hardware or rom-specific. It does work on ios even when bt streaming music. I’m not touting iOS, but saying that it would be expected to have parity on android.
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If it looks strange, or I used bad grammar or misspelled anything, it’s my phone’s fault.
This is very strange, i’m beginning to think it’s an actual setting on your phone, perhaps in the bluetooth options
the fact that you can stream music over bluetooth without issue, waze uses the same setup, it’s considered media
troubleshoot time…start with uninstalling waze, and use a file explorer to remove the waze folder…your favorites will be restored when you re-install…the only thing you will have to re-set are the actual things in waze, such as your car type, etc etc
if that fails, look in your bluetooth options
EDIT, perhaps the easiest solution…do you have your car set to the bluetooth streaming station?..for instance my button on my car is ‘cd/aux’…obviously it is the ‘aux’ part of it
Just to clarify, I’m not looking to have the sounds played over bluetooth. I’d like it over the phone speakers so I can get the notifications regardless of whether I’m listening to a BT source or just the regular radio.
Do you have any idea if I would need to set anything in the Sync system, other than pairing the phone with it (which it is?) I can make/receive phone calls through Sync no problem. If I select “Bluetooth Streaming” on the Sync, then it assumes that’s how I’m playing music through it and so can’t listen to what I really want to listen to. Other possibly helpful tidbits: In the Bluetooth settings, I have both “Call audio” and “Media audio” checked. I have Waze 3.2.2.2 on a Samsung Galaxy S3, Android version 4.0.1.