Roon ARC works great on CarPlay — what an unexpected and welcome development. Thanks!
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Did the new updates help Arc for CarPlay?
Since the last two updates to ARC, it’s taking over 5 seconds to open the app and I just get a blank screen. It used to load instantly.
Another issue on CarPlay; when you skip tracks quickly arc seems to throw a wobbly and it shows that the song is playing but, there is no sound. If you unlock the phone it shows the spinning icon…
I’m repeatedly having to close the app to get the app to unfreeze and stop the spinning circle of death.
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ARC and carplay is great.
If (and that’s a big if) it works.
About half of the time it doesn’t work at all. Pictures are not loaded, playlists and albums don’t load or play. Using the Qobuz app on carplay, I can play the same content without any problems.
If it works, ARC is kind of unpredictable. You never know when the now playing screen will crash and if the covers will change with the music. Oh, and browsing your library is a major safety concern, because search is poorly implemented, which leads to lots of scrolling.
It’s beta quality software at best, and a downgrade from a simple bluetooth connection, stability-wise.
But if it works, it’s nice.
Thank you for the great app, a dream come true!
Allow me to make a few comments.
Only 12 albums can be seen under each genre category. Maybe I found a bug?
Some feature requests:
- Shuffle albums
- Browse by genre
- Shuffle by genre
My artists weren’t showing up properly in Arc this morning. Like all out of order and it seemed like only recent ones were showing.
Since the last update to ARC a couple of days ago, I seem to have problems playing the local content on my server reliably. Tracks on Qobuz seem to play fine. I’ll get the “Poor Connection” message when trying to play a track, either manually or in Roon Radio, even when I have 4 5G bars. This was not an issue before the update, so I don’t think it is a problem with the server. The only way I seem to be able to get it working again is by manually killing the app on my iPhone and re-opening it. Things will work for a while then break again.
In CarPlay, I suppose? It seems it’s a general ARC problem also in the normal app, unaddressed for what’s by now a long time:
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For Roon Arc on Carplay and Android Auto - I would like to agree with the other comments - just adding here for Roon to see these requests for updated features are common across users:
Suggested Roon Arc updates for Carplay and Android Auto:
a) Search function for songs, albums, and artists (this is available via other apps on carplay etc., such as spotify)
b) Integration with Tidal and Qobuz - unclear if the car app is integrated with these services like on the smart phone app? I recently selected an artist to see what albums were listed- and noticed only the albums I owned showed up.
c) Smoother/faster/accurate interface - like others have mentioned- connection via mobile phone can be spotty and in my experience when there is a connection, choosing songs, albums etc., at times is not very smooth or accurate. Something must not be registering when there is lag since the app chooses want songs it wants despite what buttons I push. I have chosen the lowest quality setting - and lag still sometimes occurs.
A search feature where the passenger could enter the info. Also, have an index of sorts on the library screen so it’s much faster to get to artists starting with “S” for example.
Pressing the down arrow is too slow, have a slider to scroll faster.
Not showing all of the artists albums thru arc.
Add a shuffle option for each artist albums. Mirror Roon functionality in arc.
Buggy right now.
Roon radio would be a good option.
Great features of arc:
Sq is much better than iTunes/Sirius xm
CarPlay interface looks good with arc, artwork works just like other apps.
Once the bugs are ironed out and maybe when the new features above are implemented, I will be getting rid of Sirius xm
Roon ARC iOS App works OK but it won’t play with CarPlay or in the car either with USB or wirelessly. It worked once briefly early version, but hasn’t been able to get it to work since latest updates. The CarPlay interface has no album cover and won’t play the track, keep getting poor connectivity error; however, the other music Apps (Tidal, SXM, Apple Music, …, etc.) work fine under the same conditions. The ARC iOS App also works fine on the phone under same conditions.
The only way to play ARC music on my car stereo is with BT, but it’s audio only; the track’s metadata is not communicated to the car’s system.
iPhone 14 Pro, iOS 16.2
BMW 535i and X5e, 2019 Porsche 911 GTS
The arbitrary nature of the album and artist listing is frustrating, even adding a “last added,” or alphabetical listing would help. But otherwise, it seems to be a pretty smooth process process for listening, very little lag, and less dropouts than Qobuz app, and pretty much on par with Tidal.
iphone 14s, Honda CarPlay
My experience has been terrible. Im not going to even bother with it. Ill use Apple Music which works flawlessly.
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Well Audi charges an extra 10 euro a month to have the app on the screen compared to just use streaming from my phone… don’t see the excitement! what am I missing…?
First of all, Roon ARC, especially with CarPlay, is a next step that I was waiting for. Right direction Roon!
ARC offers the best audio quality in my car. Tidal from Roon sounds better than the Mercedes build in client. My car’s Burmester sound system shows now a next level. Great job Roon!
But, we all face issues. Missing search, scrolling through library, stability, missing cover arts, navigation via links, … The backlog is quite long 
Mercedes EQS 580
Audi charges you for CarPlay?
Yes, 8 euro a month or 200 euron for 3 years or 300 euro for lifetime……just to add the app in the MMI screen…
I will be streaming from my phone via bluetooth….
Can’t make it work. I have spent hours port forwarding/port triggering. Just not worth the effort. Radio Paradise is enough in the car.
Oh my goodness, this is insane. I know it’s what things are coming to but where does it end?
Enter your credit card if you want to unlock your car or continue using your brakes?
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I’ve got an Audi, had a few and never paid for CarPlay.