iOS 26 Carplay Podcast Audio Clipping (Distorted)

-Carplay latest OS iPhone SE 2020

-2024 Honda Civic Touring

-Music at 20/40 sounds good, normal as ever

-Podcast at 8/20 is so distorted it's unlistenable (youtube app sounds fine and is normal)

-Went from Music to Podcast, keeping car audio level at 20 and my speakers nearly blew

This must be some bug they overlooked when they were all excited about boosting speaking volumes.

Extreme clipping on iPhone 11, all spoken word apps. Even apps the play music and books (Spotify) treat podcasts with the same distorted audio profile, while music plays clearly and not distorted.

I saw on Reddit that iPhone 12 users were having this issue as well.

I have the same issue.

iPhone 11 Pro. The clipping began the day I installed iOS 26.01

Happens on Chevy bolt 2023 and Mitsubishi Outlander 2018.

Clipping occurs on wireless or wired CarPlay in both podcast and Wondery apps.

Clipping does NOT occur with Apple Music app.

I have the same issue on SE2020 (ios 26.0.1). Music app plays fine, other music apps like Plexamp - fine too. When it comes to podcast app, or any other similar app, like Overcast - sound is horrible

Same issue noticed this morning after updating my iPhone 11 Pro to iOS 26 this weekend. Audio in PocketCasts is blown out and distorted in wired CarPlay. Other apps like Apple Music are OK.

I also have this issue. Carplay's audio sounds like AM radio. I could reproduce this problem with iPhone 11 Pro Max on a Honda City and on a BMW X7.

I have the same problem. I have an iPhone 11 and use it in both a 2016 VW Passat and a different car with a 2023 Alpine iLX-F905D. Podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Overcast sound distorted.

This has nothing to do with aging batteries. There are hundreds of people reporting the same issue. It’s a bug that Apple needs to fix.

I'm having this problem, too, and there are various threads in Reddit about it.

I have an iPhone 11 Pro. Many of the Reddit posts that I just reviewed also mention iPhone 11 models. Is this problem unique to the 11 models?

I am having the same issue! It’s only a problem on podcasts. Music works fine. The sound on podcasts is slightly distorted. I drive a Polestar 2 2021 model and had no issue until I updated to iOS 26. Very annoying problem.

I am experiencing the same issue. One thing I attempted which was something I could do prior to the update is to adjust the volume on my phone. I am unable to do so since the update. I even when into Apple Music settings to change the EQ settings with very little improvement to the distortion. Seeing some say the camera is a workaround is more than likely because the camera compresses the audio similar to when a video is playing and then the camera is opened in anticipation to use the audio for video recording. Hopefully someone from Apple will be able to fix this bug.

Bonjour,

Justement, je viens d'acheter un écran CarPlay pour ma voiture relativement ancienne. Avec mon iPhone 12 sous iOS 26, je rencontre ce problème de son avec une forte saturation pour la musique mais aussi pour écouter des radios en ligne (la transmission de l'audio a lieu par un transmetteur FM).

Comme lu précédemment, il est également impossible de diminuer le volume du téléphone lorsque celui-ci est en CarPlay.

En espérant que le problème soit résolu au plus vite!

Same issue - iphone 11 upgraded to ios 26 has heavy clipping and distortion playing podcasts and audiobooks through carplay in my mini countryman.

camera trick works in the short term but then the app eventually turns off and the distortion comes back immediately.