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iPhone: Voice Navigation in Background Does Not Work

Post by tateu3cX
iPhone 4s, iOS 5.1.1 on AT&T in the USA, Waze v3.1.1.0

I recently upgraded from iOS 5.0.1 to iOS 5.1.1 and voice navigation prompts no longer work while Waze is in the background or my phone is asleep. Does anyone know if something changed in iOS 5.1.1 to break this feature? It used to work. When I upgraded, I backed up my phone in iTunes, installed 5.1.1 and then restored from backup. I have since deleted and reinstalled Waze but it still does not work correctly.

I have a video player app, AVPlayer, and it is still able to continue playing audio while in the background so it doesn't look like it is a system wide problem.
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iPhone 5s, iOS 7.0.3, Waze 3.7.6.0

Post by AlanOfTheBerg
When backgrounded, Waze cannot play navigation commands to the iPhone (speaker/headphone jack) if it is connected via bluetooth to a streaming device like a car stereo.

What are your Sound settings in Waze, and what BT devices might your phone be paired to at the time this happens?
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Post by AlanOfTheBerg
In the background, it should default to playing over bluetooth. It does for me. Using Ford SYNC as well. I can't get it to not play over BT when in the background.
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Post by AlanOfTheBerg
I am using 5.0.1. Because I jailbreak, I've been waiting for 5.1.1 to be untethered, which was just released two days ago. I'm going to wait another week to ensure the bugs are squashed and then I will upgrade.

(Just noticed I forgot to change my sig to note jailbroken state. Changing it now.)
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Post by MaFt
I think it's an issue with iOS 5.1.1 (and iOS 6 from what I understand)

We have seen the same issue in our CamerAlert app where iOS doesn't seem to allow audio to *start* playing when in the background. Note the important word is 'start' - if audio is already playing (such as the OP's media player) then it carries on OK. But our app, like Waze, needs to start playing audio while it's in the background - i.e. for directions or, in our case, speed camera warnings. But this seems to have been messed with in iOS 5.1.1

I think Navigon is doing the same too but the odd thing with Navigon is that when you then put it into the foreground you get a slew of all the commands that it hasn't managed to play in the background which then gets really confusing!!

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Post by tateu3cX
I connect to my car stereo system via bluetooth or USB. I was pretty sure that bluetooth audio used to work when Waze was in the background, but I wouldn't bet my life on it. I tried USB audio this morning and it does work correctly in the background and while the phone is asleep. Is there a reason that USB audio works and Bluetooth doesn't? Is it another stupid limitation imposed by Apple?

I currently have it set to Navigation guidance = Full, Play to phone speaker = off and Prefer Bluetooth = On and it is always paired to my Ford Sync system.
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iPhone 5s, iOS 7.0.3, Waze 3.7.6.0

Post by tateu3cX
Are you still on iOS v5.0.1 like your signature says? I seem to remember it working correctly up until a few days when I upgraded to iOS v5.1.1, although my memory is a little hazy because I haven't used Waze much in the past month or so.
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iPhone 5s, iOS 7.0.3, Waze 3.7.6.0

Post by tateu3cX
I'm jailbroken too, that's why it took me until just a few days ago to upgrade to 5.1.1. I have my blobs saved for 5.0.1 so I could restore backwards to retest Waze but I don't really feel like spending a few hours restoring configurations, tweaks, files, etc.
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iPhone 5s, iOS 7.0.3, Waze 3.7.6.0