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USB Connection and iPhone -- Treated Like iPad or Just Charging?

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I've tried searching the forum (terms like usb and ipad show nothing, and usb and iphone show pretty much everything), but when you plug an iPhone into the usb port, is it treated like an external audio source that plays through the media system, or does it just charge?

I'm asking because I have to plug my iPhone into USB to get a reliable connection on my infiniti (bluetooth will drop the connection after 10-30 minutes of playing audio and I need to shut off bluetooth and come back to have it reconnect), and it sounds like the BT on the S is similarly flaky for some (many? a few? hard to tell on forums) folks. Given that I have issues with my Infiniti, I'm just assuming I will have issues with an MS.
 
I've tried searching the forum (terms like usb and ipad show nothing, and usb and iphone show pretty much everything), but when you plug an iPhone into the usb port, is it treated like an external audio source that plays through the media system, or does it just charge?

I'm asking because I have to plug my iPhone into USB to get a reliable connection on my infiniti (bluetooth will drop the connection after 10-30 minutes of playing audio and I need to shut off bluetooth and come back to have it reconnect), and it sounds like the BT on the S is similarly flaky for some (many? a few? hard to tell on forums) folks. Given that I have issues with my Infiniti, I'm just assuming I will have issues with an MS.

Plugging an iPhone into the USB port will get you charging only. The iPhone will interface with the car using Bluetooth only.
 
I'd like to make sure I understand this...
If I plug in my iPhone to the MS I cannot play my media through the USB like I can with practically every other vehicle on the market? This seems like a huge miss on the part of Tesla. I have streamed music over bluetooth and the results are mixed. Sometimes you see metadata, other times you don't. Also in my Ford with MFT (yes, I know) bluetooth is extremely picky and if you lose your bluetooth connection it often takes turning off the car and restarting it to fix the connectivity. Is the MS better at this?

I am a Model X wannabe and I know that the audio interface isn't likely to change at all from the Model S to the X however I'm sure it will improve over time. I'm still years away from being able to buy a Model X. The reason I connect my phone as opposed to using a USB drive with music on it (which I also have and works well in my Ford and GMC) is because I like to use Waze as my navigation of choice. When you connect over USB you get good sounding music, rich metadata (album art and so on) and Waze directions overlayed over the music that ducks out of the way. I know you can do all of this over bluetooth but the quality of A2DP streaming over bluetooth just isn't up to par for me. Also I will always trust a wired connection over a wireless connection.

This is my first post here and although I've been reading everything I can get my hands on about Tesla I'm guessing that it will only take me sitting in a Model X to convince me to get one.
 
I'd like to make sure I understand this...
If I plug in my iPhone to the MS I cannot play my media through the USB like I can with practically every other vehicle on the market? This seems like a huge miss on the part of Tesla. I have streamed music over bluetooth and the results are mixed. Sometimes you see metadata, other times you don't. Also in my Ford with MFT (yes, I know) bluetooth is extremely picky and if you lose your bluetooth connection it often takes turning off the car and restarting it to fix the connectivity. Is the MS better at this?

Same boat, and yes, I believe you're understanding it correctly.

I've got a 24-hour test drive coming up in a week so I will have a better feel for BT performance for me after that.
 
On my most recent test drive of a 70D without Premium Sound system, I did bring along a USB thumb drive and then plugged it into the USB port.
I was able to play the music on the USB thumb drive and also invoked shuffle. I had a few Moody Blues albums on the USB thumb drive.
They sounded pretty good as I had ripped them myself.

Alas, I did not plug in my iPhone as I did not have the cord with me to do so. However the S and the iPhone attempted Bluetooth pairing but I did not want to waste time doing that so I ignored that.
 
You understand correctly and yes, it is a big miss. I expect they will remedy this at some point. The bluetooth sound quality is very poor compared to using a USB stick. The interface continues to need work to get it relly good. But I think it is really nothing more than Tesla dedicating resources to some robust programming in this area. V7.0 is supposed to be a complete overhaul of the UI, along with AutoPilot features (I pray!). So we shall see.

I'd like to make sure I understand this...
If I plug in my iPhone to the MS I cannot play my media through the USB like I can with practically every other vehicle on the market? This seems like a huge miss on the part of Tesla. I have streamed music over bluetooth and the results are mixed. Sometimes you see metadata, other times you don't. Also in my Ford with MFT (yes, I know) bluetooth is extremely picky and if you lose your bluetooth connection it often takes turning off the car and restarting it to fix the connectivity. Is the MS better at this?

I am a Model X wannabe and I know that the audio interface isn't likely to change at all from the Model S to the X however I'm sure it will improve over time. I'm still years away from being able to buy a Model X. The reason I connect my phone as opposed to using a USB drive with music on it (which I also have and works well in my Ford and GMC) is because I like to use Waze as my navigation of choice. When you connect over USB you get good sounding music, rich metadata (album art and so on) and Waze directions overlayed over the music that ducks out of the way. I know you can do all of this over bluetooth but the quality of A2DP streaming over bluetooth just isn't up to par for me. Also I will always trust a wired connection over a wireless connection.

This is my first post here and although I've been reading everything I can get my hands on about Tesla I'm guessing that it will only take me sitting in a Model X to convince me to get one.
 
I am a Model X wannabe and I know that the audio interface isn't likely to change at all from the Model S to the X however I'm sure it will improve over time. I'm still years away from being able to buy a Model X. The reason I connect my phone as opposed to using a USB drive with music on it (which I also have and works well in my Ford and GMC) is because I like to use Waze as my navigation of choice. When you connect over USB you get good sounding music, rich metadata (album art and so on) and Waze directions overlayed over the music that ducks out of the way. I know you can do all of this over bluetooth but the quality of A2DP streaming over bluetooth just isn't up to par for me. Also I will always trust a wired connection over a wireless connection.

This is my first post here and although I've been reading everything I can get my hands on about Tesla I'm guessing that it will only take me sitting in a Model X to convince me to get one.
You're "still years away from being able to buy a Model X" but you're concerned about the audio interface on the current Model S? We don't know what the audio and navigation will be like on the first Model X software, much less what it will be like by the time you buy one. Anyway once you drive a Tesla you'll likely find that these issues take a back seat to what's amazing about the cars.