iOS 26 Carplay Podcast Audio Clipping (Distorted)

Extreme clipping.. Broken for me too. iPhone 11, CarPlay through usb, audible gain is like +10db and is clipping bad. Opening the camera app solves it while the camera is open, when I close it, it goes back to extreme gain.

This worked for me (@starwebb443). I have an iPhone 11 and while the podcast is playing, opening the camera app will immediately cause the audio to improve. Very weird.

This is happening to me as well on both vehicles using my 11 Pro Max. I have found that for some reason, when you turn on the camera app while playing the podcast, the volume will go back to normal. You just have to ride around with the camera on.

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'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 have an iPhone 11 with the same issue. I have seen other iPhone models listed - maybe it is more of an issue with older phones.

Same issue. Nothing I’ve tried has fixed it. iPhone 11 and Apple CarPlay wired.

Nice work

I'm having the same distorted audio issue using the Apple Podcast app too. Hope this can get corrected soon!

No, not unique to iPhone 11. I have iPhone 2020 SE and have the same issue.

I am replying to say I have same issue on my iphone 11. Camera trick works until it overheats the phone and everything crashes.