Still another reason why I think iPhones suck. Try one of the methods described at How to Stop Auto-Playing Music in Car Bluetooth from iPhone

 

Recently purchased a 2015 Sienna Limited, with the upgraded stereo. Not a small upcharge over the XLE, and this autoplay is INSANELY frustrating. It's become more frustrating to drive this vehicle than any other car I've owned because of this one problem.

Onto the Toyota questions...is it typical that there is no "stop" button on the entune unit? I only have a 'Pause' button. I want the phone connected via bluetooth, for spoken guidance from the map and I occasionally listen to podcasts while driving alone. But I usually just make short trips, and most of the time I don't listen to music/audio. Sometimes I pause it at the start of the ride, but then making any adjustment to the stereo, including changing the volume of the route guidance, starts playing the audio apps again! Sometimes it plays the last thing which was playing, which frankly can be something I'd rather not my kids listen to. Other times it defaults to the apple music app, playing the highest song in the alphabet, boy that's frustrating.

The linked article's solutions are hamfisted workarounds that essentially remove the phone as a source for audio...might as well just not link my phone.

Has anyone found any real fixes?

 

I created an automation in the shortcuts app. I can't share it with you because its an "Automation" and not a shortcut, but theyre both made in the same Shortcuts app. You essentially tell it to play music with the Music app after connecting, then immediately stop playing.

 

@JeremEE, if you're still around, can you post a screenshot of that automation?

 

Interesting. When your Bluetooth is connecting, are you plugging in the phone for charging? I have an '18 XLE, but have had it upgraded it with the Apple CarPlay feature. When I connect my phone (iPhone 13), the only thing that happens is the home screen changes to show that CarPlay is available. I can then press the CarPlay icon, which then starts Waze or whatever else I have going on. This also makes phone calls available, but does not use Bluetooth.

Of course, as I am typing this, I realize that I don't have a single note of music stored on my phone, which was one of your (drastic) options. I'll try loading a song or two to see what happens. I'll also check my Bluetooth settings on the van.

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I followed the link given above and did some more hunting on the web. My conclusion: THERE IS NO SOLUTION.

This is a really annoying bug, but I’m not sure whether the bug is in the car or the iPhone or both. I suspect it’s an Apple problem. Some Apple software engineer needs to be slapped until they fix this. Shitty design and shitty processes where they ignore known bugs for years

 

I followed the link given above and did some more hunting on the web. My conclusion: THERE IS NO SOLUTION.

This is a really annoying bug, but I’m not sure whether the bug is in the car or the iPhone or both. I suspect it’s an Apple problem. Some Apple software engineer needs to be slapped until they fix this. Shitty design and shitty processes where they ignore known bugs for years

Hunting on the Apple iOS forums, I see Apple claims the problem is with the car. This is quite possible. I think the Sienna is sending a “play” command to the phone upon connection. It would help to know if Android phones have the same problem. From what I have seen online I think they do. If so the problem is with the car, not the phone.

 

It took me months before noticing the volume knob. It's nearly invisible as it's all gloss black on a gloss black background, and has no icons. I had made all volume changes on the steering wheel button. I also found it acts as a 'power' button for the audio system when you press it. My solution was to power OFF the audio by pressing that before exiting the car, or when I want to stop using audio. When I start the car, my phone connects fine. It doesn't start playing audio. I can make phone calls, and end calls, and the audio does not start. This has been a game changer for my comfort in the car. When I want to play audio (any audio, radio, bluetooth, etc.) I press the power button to get it to start.

 

Well, ok, I know there is an audio power knob. That was the first thing I looked for when using the stereo system in the car. I still think this is a bug. Just because audio in the car is turned on doesn’t mean it should essentially press Play on my device.

 

Almost certainly caused by the car's audio unit, not the device. If it were the device, you'd expect the same behavior to occur when you connect it to a bluetooth speaker, headset, etc. Given that doesn't occur, it's pretty safe to assume the car's audio unit is prompting the device to begin playing on connection.

I find it annoying as well. I just leave the audio unit off until I'm ready to listen to something, as described in post #8.

 

This is a sad post to find. I can confirm it is a car thing and not an iPhone thing since it happens to me on my Pixel 5 as well and also drives me crazy.

 

It certainly is annoying.