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These forums are specific to the Waze mobile app. Post here if you experienced a problem while using the app, have a question about the app functionality or a feature such as navigation or search.
Post by Flamewinger
Since the latest upgrade I to, have not been able to hear prompts and other sounds through my vehicle's Bluetooth system. I can hear music from the iPod and other sounds and using the phone is fine. Have tried all settings and no change. Something got broken at last update?
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Post by gildan2020
Hi,

I am using Samsung Galaxy S3 GT-I9300 with Android version 4.1.2. My phone is connected to the car stereo via bluetooth for music listening.

Whenever I start Waze to navigate anywhere, the voice navigation (or any sound from Waze) will interrupt my music app.

Music playing -> Music paused -> Waze voice navigation provide instructions -> Music resumed

Waze used to allow the music to continue playing in the background while it provides the voice navigation. In case you are wondering, the "Route sound to speaker" option is already off.


Any idea how to resolve this? Thanks in advanced.
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Post by maxvo2
I'm going to piggyback on this post since my question is at least related...

I've been using WAZE for a couple of months. Lately I've had issues with the Device volume going so low that I can't hear anything at ambient noise levels.

The final straw now is I can't get any audio to work. The DEVICE and PROMPTs are both turned up. Nav guidance is set to minimal; Play sound to phone speaker is ON; Prefer Bluetooth is OFF.

The SPEAKER at the bar in the MENU window is not disabled.

I tried reloading the application but the only thing I accomplished in doing that was I lost my usual destinations.

Any help with this puzzle is really appreciated.

The DEVICE is an iphone 4. The ringer volume is ON and the level has been maxed out.
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Post by maxvo2
Sorry, the missing sound issue was not limited to Waze.

It turns out all app sound didn't work on the iphone. I rebooted the phone and all appears normal.

I realized I had a phone problem when I couldn't pick up voice mail...

Thanks,
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Post by rjjarvis
Hey, I'm having trouble with sound too on my Motorola Roadster bluetooth speakerphone. Waze worked before, but with the update it doesn't. The phone pairs fine, and every other audio source works, including Apple Maps, MapQuest, music, etc.

Someone asked one of the forum members whether audio is muted, and pointed to a small icon in the main menu. OK I looked at it and my audio IS muted. But I can't find any way to UNmute my audio. Maybe I'm just being stupid, but it is certainly not intuitive (i.e., nothing happens when you touch the icon), and there does not seem to be a settings choice in any logical place.) S

So, how do I unmute (and why am I suddenly muted in the first place, when that never happened in prior versions of Waze)?

Thanks
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Post by rjjarvis
Scratch my prior post.

I was fat-fingering the audio icon. When I kept trying I ultimately got it to unmute.
So......never mind.

For other similarly situated folks, the audio icon mutes an unmutes when you touch it, assuming you actually manage to touch the microscopic icon with your giant fingers instead of everything next to it.
:roll:
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Post by sketch
twentw wrote:I've found the problem to be intermittent. Sometimes it works fine, other times not. One thing that may be an issue - there are only two output choices in Waze - bluetooth or built-in speaker. There is no selection for digital audio output, which is how I listen to music. This may be a source of some of my issues.
Make sure both Bluetooth and phone speaker settings are set to off. In this case, Waze will send audio over whichever connection the iPhone would use if you played music—if it's USB, Waze prompts should play over USB, whether you're using Spotify or the built in music app.
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Post by sketch
AggieJM wrote:Is there a setting that will force Waze to route sounds to the phone speaker, even if its connected to a radio via USB? I have tried setting "Always play sound to phone speaker" to both on and off with no success.
I'm pretty sure there's nothing you can do. For as long as I can remember, the only sounds the iPhone will play over its own speaker when plugged into a USB/dock connector/Lightning audio player are ringtones for incoming calls and alarms. Other notification sounds will lower the music volume slightly and play the notification sound over the music through the USB connection.

I suspect this occurs because the iPhone is for some reason incapable of playing sound over both USB and the phone speaker at the same time. Rings and alarms are the only sounds the phone makes that pause the music entirely, so the phone can stop playing over USB entirely and switch audio to the phone speaker. With other alerts, the phone would not be able to play the alert over the speaker without either pausing the music or cutting the music abruptly from the USB player to the phone speaker and back. Since these alerts are typically short and don't require intervention to be stopped, unlike calls and alarms, cutting off the music would be too abrupt.

I can't speak for everything, but I've owned a FIAT and a Ford, and on both their stereos this is how it happened when the iPhone was plugged into USB, even if USB wasn't the selected audio source. If I wanted to charge my phone via USB while listening to the radio, I simply wouldn't hear any alerts for texts, Twitter, or Waze.

Occasionally, if the audio system was being screwy and the USB didn't connect properly, the phone plays all sound over the speaker, as if it were connected to any old charger. However, since it wasn't actually connecting to the stereo, I couldn't play songs from it.

If your phone doesn't act in the way I described, possibly your stereo works differently than mine. But your saying that the phone volume control is unavailable when USB is connected says to me that it's probably the same. I would wonder if it's possible you were mistaken about audio playing over the speaker instead of USB when Waze hasn't been opened yet, or if that's just a coincidence because your USB connection hasn't been picked up yet.


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Post by sketch
AggieJM wrote:I did some additional testing with it yesterday. In all the scenarios I tried yesterday, anytime USB was connected, no sound would play through the phone speaker. I'd swear I've had it in place before charging where I could hear notifications from the phone. But I was unable to replicate it yesterday. It would appear that the iPhone sees the USB connection and sends all sounds (except the phone ringer) through USB instead of playing them over the phone.
It's entirely possible that it's played sounds over the speaker when charging before—this happens to me once every couple weeks—but that isn't normal behavior. For me, it only happens when I overwhelm Ford Sync, usually by unplugging and plugging it back in too fast, such that Sync doesn't mount the USB drive but the phone still gets power over USB. When the connection works properly, though, it sends all sounds over it (besides rings and alarms) whether or not it's active.


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Post by sketch
There are certain quirks I've noticed with these kinds of settings. None of them are really Waze's fault. Maybe some of them will be helpful to you.

One in particular I've found frustrating: with "Prefer Bluetooth" set on Waze, Waze will normally use the Bluetooth handsfree (as if on a phone call) to give instructions. This happens with the stereo off or on AM/FM/CD/USB. If I'm using Bluetooth Stereo to stream music from the same phone, the Waze instructions fade the music out and come through all the speakers, which is fine.

The problem sets in when I switch from BT Stereo to the radio or something else: even though BT Stereo isn't active on the car end, the car stereo (in my case Ford Sync) is unable or unwilling to tell the phone that. So the phone still thinks the BT Stereo connection is active, so Waze is still trying to send prompts that way. To fix, I cycle Bluetooth on my phone and reconnect the handsfree.

It seems to be a limitation of either iOS, Ford Sync, the Bluetooth protocol, or some combination thereof, so it's likely nothing Waze can do anything about. Such is the price we pay for integrating a GPS app into a smartphone.
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waze global champ • beta leader • and more • new orleans

bye bye fuelly badge! i'm an EV guy now!