CarPlay Text Messages - volume and speakers... 2022 Tacoma

I just purchased a gently used 2022 Tacoma TRD Sport Premium 2 days ago that has the JBL premium sound package. I have had CarPlay in my 2 previous vehicles and have never had an issue with text messaging or speakers. I have 2 issues that so far I am unable to remedy with my JBL sound system:

#1 - Text message volume (when siri reads them back to you) is very low, almost too low to hear over normal road noise and I am unable to turn the volume up. This only happens when Siri reads a text message back to me. I have watched many many YouTube videos and searched Reddit for a fix and have come up empty. I have also done a search on this forum and no dice. Here is what I have tried so far:

• Turned up the volume settings to max in sounds and haptics on my iPhone (13 pro max, software is up to date)
• turned up every single volume control possible on my JBL head unit
• asked Siri to turn her speaking volume up
• made sure that Sound Check is turned off on my iPhone
• changed Siri's voice to a different one
• Set the Toyota Tacoma listed under bluetooth on iPhone to "Car Stereo"
• tried turning the volume knob on the radio head up while Siri is reading text messages
• tried turning the volume buttons up on my iPhone while Siri is reading text messages

None of this has worked.

#2 - Text messages, phone calls, Discord voice chat - all come through a single, front driver-side dashboard speaker rather than all speakers and the sound quality is extremely poor and volume is low. Unable to adjust. Infuriating.

Otherwise the JBL sound system sounds pretty amazing when I play the radio, SiriusXM, or even music/podcasts via CarPlay from my phone. The only issue with audio quality I am having is from the text message playback volume and the whole speaker problem.

The only thing I have not tried yet is resetting the radio back to factory settings. I guess its possible since the truck is used (15K miles on it) that maybe the previous owner fooled with some settings or there may possibly be a bug in the software. I am not entirely sure how to reset the JBL radio. If anyone has a link i'd appreciate it. I haven't tried this yet because I fully expect it to take me at least an hour to get all the audio settings, bluetooth paired, carplay set back up, etc after the reset and I just havent had the time to fool with it yet.

Please someone help. This is extremely frustrating. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the long post.

** Edit - this is not wireless CarPlay - it is plugged in via the USB port on the dash, with an authentic Apple lightning cord

 

Do nav directions do the same thing (using Maps through Carplay)?

 

Honestly I keep my navigation on mute anyway, so I am not sure. But if I was guessing I’d say yes. I got it in the shop today putting some new all terrains on it, but I may fool around with it some this evening

 

I turned the audio on my Google Maps via CarPlay on the way home, it is only coming out of the front drivers side speaker as well. And its very low volume. I was hoping to get a few more replies before I factory reset the JBL head unit, but I'm leaning towards going ahead and doing it. Something has to be wrong with the software

 

Edit #2 (and hopefully a bump and someone will see the post lol) - I tried resetting JBL head unit to factory settings. I went through setup and deleted personal data. Then I pushed the engine button twice, turned the headlights on 3 times, and held the app button til it went into diagnostic mode and held the "INIT" button until it promped "Personal Data is initialized, OK?" to which i answered yes. The JBL unit reset itself, and downloaded new software. It deleted my bluetooth (and I deleted it from my phone also), and it deleted all of my preset radio button info. I then did a hard reset on iPhone. I then plugged my phone in via the USB/Lightning Cable and it had me enable carplay again.

None of this worked

At this point idk what else to do. When i play podcasts, youtube videos, etc and music via carplay it plays over the sound system as it should and sounds literally amazing. But when i get a text message, or make a voice call, or turn on map guidance it will only play through the front driver side speaker.

Is this happening to anyone else??? ughhhhh I hate to have to take it to a stereo shop, and i highly doubt that its covered under my 36,000 mile warranty since its a radio.

 

I have noticed phone calls are very low volume too. I haven’t messed with it yet though. I only have 400 miles on it.

 

Do your phone calls only play through the front driver side dashboard speaker and no other speaker?

 

I just went out and checked and it comes through both sides.

 

Alright, so by design voice notifications are routed to the front speakers only. On my radio, I can increase/decrease the volume of navigation notifications by adjusting the volume while the Maps voice assistant is actively speaking. The volume indication bars pop up on screen and are purple.

This volume may be connected to phone call volume, and for some reason not adjustable during phone calls, sounds dumb and I don’t know if that’s true, but what I recommend is opening Maps, setting a destination, and adjusting volume to a comfortable level while the assistant is speaking. Then, check to see if that affected call/text volume.

 

Thanks I will try that

 

These problems are exactly why I swapped to an aftermarket head unit. Texts, Maps guidance, and anything else that was on "alert" volume rather than "music" volume was just too low. Not to mention, the head unit didn't turn the music down, so when it would read maps steps to me, it just spoke them at the same time as the louder music was playing, making the music a garbled mess where you couldn't hear the maps steps. Absolutely ridiculous.

If I recall correctly, the alert volume had like 7 volume levels. Even on max, it was still much quieter than my music, so I could never hear anything since it wouldn't turn down the music down. Good luck, but I don't think there is a solution to this. As far as I could tell, it's a terrible design.

 

thanks man for the reply. i was afraid of that. I've asked in a few other spots online and have got the same answer

 

I just called the car audio shop in town that has done some stereo work for me in the past on my Wrangler, the guy said its a common well known issue and theres no workaround. He even said for a premium amplified system you'd think that they would have more volume for those functions.

What aftermarket head unit did you buy? I have the first generation CarPlay stereo from Alpine (ILX-007) in my Wrangler and it lets me adjust any setting you can think of lol. But the one thing i hate about that head unit is the fact there are no knobs for adjusting the volume or adjusting channels on radio, etc. It SUCKS having to push the volume button 25 times to turn it down (thats an exaggeration but oh well). So i will never have another head unit without knobs. Do you have any suggestions should I decide to switch it out?

 

I came from Nissan Frontiers and I had a Kenwood that I moved from Frontier to Frontier. I thought I was going to sell it once I got the Tacoma. I thought to myself "sweet, finally a factory CarPlay truck so I won't have to mess with any of this!".....nope. The day I drove the truck home I realized how garbage that head unit really is....spent about a week digging through the settings and realized it was a lost cause, so I started working on the Kenwood swap.

The Kenwood I had from my other trucks was the DMX957XR. It has now been superseded by the DMX958XR. It's a good unit, but as you say, has no knobs.

They do make and sell larger screen units that kind of follow the Tesla floating screen concept. I would actually like to swap to one of those, specifically for the knob but also the screen real estate. However, I'm also good with clicking buttons. I adapted the steering wheel controls and I also have a steering wheel shortcut to mute volume if needed (hold volume down). So that covers my bases on not having the knob.

To make it all work, I used a Maestro RR2 to adapt the steering wheel controls which also puts OBD functions (gauges and check engine light management) onto the radio. The Maestro also gives you the ability to control the factory truck settings (auto headlight sensitivity, etc - stuff that is accessed in the factory radio), so I consider the Maestro crucial to a successful radio swap.

I used an OBD splitter to plug the Maestro's OBD dongle into the OBD port while still having the OBD port available under the dash to plug into.

iDatalink USB adapter

Metra antenna adapter

iDataLink satellite adapter

Radio dash trim adapter kit

HRN-RR-TO3 wiring harness to adapt the maestro and radio to the truck

ACC-HU-KEN1 kenwood adapter harness

It's a lot of parts, but I'm happy with the results. It sucks to have to do that on such a new truck, but I just was not happy with the factory unit, and I knew I never would be. I had my Kenwood laying around, which was more than half the cost taken care of. So I bought the rest of the stuff and made it happen. I wrote a long thread about it as well, though your journey would be a bit different since you have the automatic transmission and the JBL. But much of it would be the same.

My head unit thread

Hope that helps!

 

Very cool man! When I had the Alpine ILX-007 installed in my Wrangler in 2014 (I still have the Wrangler and it still has that head unit in it), the shop that installed it for me fixed all that for me, so i can control it with my steering wheel controls on the wrangler and like you said i can mute it by holding down the volume button for like a second. I was being dramatic earlier about pushing it 25 times haha. Anyway I am just not willing to buy another head unit without knobs lol Its a big negative for me on the Alpine, although the Alpine stereo sounds great.

I'll have to look at the Tesla style ones, i'm sure they cost a small fortune. But thanks again for the reply I definitely appreciate it.

Also my Tacoma looks alot like the one on yours, the dude who owned it before me blacked everything out including all the badges, the steering wheel emblem, etc. Very cool looking I love the truck so far. Just had some Toyo AT Open Countrys put on it yesterday. Looks much more beastly now. I'll have to upload some pics

 

I don’t have the JBL, I have a 2020 OEM basic bitch unit, but I don’t have this issue at all. Music mutes on alerts (annoyingly so sometimes) and text/nav voice is set at a good level. Like you, I dug around everywhere, phone/app settings, Carplay settings, anywhere I could find shit in the bullshit labyrinth of iPhone this and that and I too was thinking “man this is bullshit” because my alert volume had been set too low inadvertently.

I was able to increase the volume by adjusting it while the voice assistant was speaking and never had an issue since. My radio has a contextual volume adjustment, on a call it adjusts call volume, while music is playing it works as a master volume, and specifically when using Maps AND the voice assistant is speaking, you can adjust voice alert volume, the volume bar shows up on the left of the screen and the bars are purple. It did not do shit when I tried it while reading a text.

Unless the JBL is different, I don’t think you’d need to replace a ton of shit to remedy this issue.

 

Wish mine operated like yours did. Mine did not turn down the music for maps or alerts at all. It was one big giant garbled clusterfuck. Two different phones acted the same.