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iOS 5 Streams Track/Artist Information to Bluetooth Audio Devices

Thursday June 9, 2011 5:20 pm PDT by Jordan Golson
Buried in the hundreds of new features in iOS 5 is support for AVRCP 1.3 (or maybe even 1.4!), a Bluetooth standard that gives iPhones the ability to send artist, album and track name information to Bluetooth audio devices such as those in the stereos of some newer cars.



iOS has been stuck at AVRCP 1.0 for nearly a year, and though the iPhone allowed control of the some music playback (back, next, play/pause, and volume up/down), the device wouldn't pass on information about what song was currently playing. In iOS 5, that all changes.

For more information, check out Wikipedia's page on the different versions of AVRCP and what, exactly, each version supports.
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Smi77y
Posted: 8 months ago
Mazda 3 here (2011) no BT information from iPhone 4s either. Subscribing, hope this ends up working. Also, can anyone activate Siri from the steering wheel? It says to hold the talk button but its not working for me.
Rating: 1 Positives / 0 Negatives
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eekcat
Posted: 12 months ago

Does IOS support A2DP? Who cares if the title is transmitted wirelessly if I still have to have it connected to get it to play the music.


A2DP has been supported for a long while now. This is about AVRCP 1.3 (or 1.4), which allows for streaming of metadata, along with the basic set of audio controls.
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eekcat
Posted: 12 months ago

Anyone know if it transmits album art too? My Alpine displays album art via the dock connector and it would be cool to have it on BT too.


Not that I've seen... I'm not even sure album art is part of AVRCP...
Rating: 1 Positives / 0 Negatives
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mrfrosty
Posted: 13 months ago
working perfectly in my 2010 Volvo S60
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budman1961
Posted: 13 months ago
Confirmed, iOS5 transmits Artist/Track info to my Sync system in my 2011 Ford Edge Sport, it did not in iOS4. :D
Rating: 1 Positives / 0 Negatives
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calebkingston
Posted: 13 months ago
Does this mean I'll be able to browse my contacts on my Bluetooth stereo also? Right now, I can only see the number displayed when others call.
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stustill
Posted: 13 months ago

Does this mean I'll be able to browse my contacts on my Bluetooth stereo also? Right now, I can only see the number displayed when others call.


No, that's another Bluetooth profile. I'm able to browse my contacts over bluetooth with iOS 4.
Rating: 0 Positives / 0 Negatives
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rootyb
Posted: 13 months ago
Ummm... How do you do this? My car (2011 Mazda 3) supports it, but my iPhone on iOS5 isn't sending the data. Maybe I have to re-pair it?
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stustill
Posted: 13 months ago

Ummm... How do you do this? My car (2011 Mazda 3) supports it, but my iPhone on iOS5 isn't sending the data. Maybe I have to re-pair it?


I just paired my device and it started transmitting the data, although only the track title. The artist and album were missing. Beta 1 has been very unstable wrt. AVRCP for me, I struggle to pair with my car stereo.
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stustill
Posted: 13 months ago
Under iOS 4 and 5 I've been able to control music playback via both the iPhone music app and the car stereo/steering wheel controls.

Currently iOS5 will not stop you controlling music from the phone... who knows, maybe by the time it's released in Autumn you'll have both control options too.
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