C4 Picasso Bluetooth disconnects when USB cable plugged in

[KDM]

Hi.

I have the c4 Picasso. I can connect my iPhone by Bluetooth and play my audio books as I drive. I thought I should be able to charge my phone at the same time, however, when I plug the cable into the USB port, the Bluetooth disconnects from the radio (although the iPhone still shows it as connected). Instead of the Bluetooth source, I have an iPod source, but that's unable to lay my audiobooks.

Am I being silly, or is it the iPhone or the car?

Other than obtaining a "power only" USB cable, can this be made to work, please?

Thanks.

[GiveMeABreak]

You can't really do both as once you connect to the iPhone via cable (normally this would activate Apple CarPlay for compatible vehicle Head Units), then it assumes you will be using the cable to play music from your iPhone. You can't have two simultaneous connections.

So the solution in your case is to get a 12V USB lighter accessory that will provide USB power to your iPhone. As this is not connected to the vehicle Head Unit, it will not be able to use it as an iPod and should allow the phone to charge whilst you stream via Bluetooth.

[KDM]

Indeed, no, I don't want two simultaneous connections. I wonder why they chose to disable the one option. It means I'm forced to use a feature which I have no ability to use. Why on Earth would they default to this when the head unit doesn't have CarPlay (as far as I know). My guess is this was done under licence from Apple. They would have this kind of corporate monopoly built in to their Terms and Conditions.

Yes, my audiobooks are on Amazon Audible and the iPod mode doesn't want to access them.

I've modified an old charging cable by cutting the data lines cut. Pain in the ass, but there you go.

Thanks.

[GiveMeABreak]

It's not disabled, it wasn't there to start with and I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "It means I'm forced to use a feature which I have no ability to use".

iPhones treat connections differently depending on the equipment they are attached to.

• You can plug it into a USB to 12V accessory socket and it will charge only - this won't affect streaming via Bluetooth as there is no data connection to the Head Unit via the cable.
• You can plug it into a USB port on the vehicle that is attached to the Head unit to charge, or to charge and play music.
• If you have a CarPlay equipped Head Unit, you can plug in via USB and the iPhone will charge and mirror certain apps to the touchscreen on the vehicle. This will allow certain approved third party apps and like music / podcast playback, navigation apps etc. to work.
• Or just leave the phone connected via Bluetooth for streaming music and phone calls.

As I don't know what system you have I can only speak generally here. You'd have to provide your VIN so I can see what head unit you have installed at factory.

[KDM]

Bluetooth "becomes disabled" (greyed out on the car, not selectable) when I plug in by USB. When I plug into USB, iPod mode becomes enabled (ceases to be grey on the car radio) I can no longer use bluetooth: I'm forced to use iPod mode. However, my iPhone is not an iPod, and the car does not "see" any of the audio files on it; these are normally streamed by bluetooth to the car from my Amazon Audible player app.

Your points:
- Absolutely 100% agree.
- This is where we've maybe misunderstood each other. I cannot plug it into a USB port on the vehicle that is attached to the Head unit to charge and play music, because when I do, Bluetooth becomes disabled. that is to say that the stream of audio stops, and right there in front of my eyes the bluetooth icon goes grey and an iPod icon appears.
- I don't know what CarPlay is.
- If I leave the phone connected via Bluetooth for streaming music and phone calls, but plug in a USB cable to charge, bluetooth becomes disabled.

This is clearly uncommon; I feel like you would have heard of it otherwise. Am I still not making sense, please?

[GiveMeABreak]

Ok let's see if I can be clearer:

The vehicle's USB port (s) are connected to the Head Unit. Therefore as well as charging the phone, with an iPhone is connected via USB, the Head Unit goes into iPod mode.

I appreciate an iPhone is not an iPod, but it it provides the same functionality that iPods did and that's why they were discontinued as the iPhone developed. iPhones can have audio files stored on them. So this is why the Head Unit assumes you want to play any stored audio files as if it were an iPod.

iPods use Apple's proprietary file formats for music files but can play Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, and 4), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV.

But as you are using Amazon's bespoke music player to stream these music files, the files themselves will be encoded to only work using Amazon's player, (DRM - Digital Rights Media) so your iPhone won't be able to play them. That clears up that issue and why it can't play them via a cable in iPod mode.

This is why I suggested that you get a cheap 12V accessory gizmo that has USB ports in. This way you can charge your iPhone by plugging it onto the 12V cigarette lighter accessory, and then carry on using your iPhone to stream via Bluetooth. This should work because the iPhone is not communicating with the vehicle's Head Unit and will therefore not go into iPod mode

[KDM]

I'm afraid I know all of the above, which is why my solution of cutting the data pair in my USB cable works for me, serving the same function as your suggestion of using a cigarette lighter adapter. I completely understand that iPod doesn't work for me because Audible doesn't use that protocol. I completely understand why iPod mode becomes enabled, because the iPhone has that protocol.

The core question is still: why does bluetooth on the head unit become disabled?
Secondary question: having disabled it on the car head unit, why does the phone still think it's connected by bluetooth?

[GiveMeABreak]

Because you can't have more than one connection at the same time, if that's what you mean? so, and because although you may have butchered the USB, the Head Unit still detects a wired connection and disables Bluetooth.

I suspect the phone still maintains the Bluetooth connection, but the Head Unit is ignoring it until the USB plug is disconnected, so that the Bluetooth connection is ready to take over straight away.