Want to know how to play music from phone to car? Well, you would definitely want to connect your phone for music or podcast to the car stereo.
Be it the old car or the car equipped with a modern stereo system and GPS tracking system, there might be different ways to connect your phone to the car stereo system.
You might want to connect your Android or iPhone to the car. From Bluetooth to USB and FM radio transmitters, there are various ways to bring your phone playlist to your car.
Below, we have shared some of the best ways to connect your music from phone to car.
#1: FM Radio Transmitter
Most of the contemporary cars come with FM Radio, cigarette lighter, or power transmitter. You can utilize these power sockets to connect your phone to the car radio.
You can use this method to play music from the car radio.
This is one of the easiest ways to connect your phone to the radio transmitter. Moreover, this method is extremely cheap and does not require much configuration. For connecting the car to the phone, you might need an FM Bluetooth Adapter.
Using FM Bluetooth Adapter, you can use this method in all types of cars whether it is an old or new one. Moreover, it also depends on the phone that you have. The simple method is to plug your adapter into the power socket and link your phone through the Bluetooth functionality.
Once the phone is connected, look for the radio station that is non-utilizable in your location. Finally, choose that radio station to utilize for playing your phone’s music, and voila it’s done.
Now, the audio-quality might not be top-notch when you are using the FM radio transmitters. Moreover, the audio quality greatly depends on the adapter that you choose which has different standards of quality.
The audio quality also varies depending on the number of FM radio channels in your location or the phone you have.
However, we would only suggest this method if your car lacks an in-built auxiliary jack or Bluetooth. Hence, you can try the next method if you have in-Built Bluetooth.
#2: Bluetooth Audio
This method is a feasible one and comes with almost every new car. In-built Bluetooth in your car can be connected with the Android with just a tap. You won’t need an auxiliary jack to connect your phone to the car.
Just connect your car to Bluetooth in the same way you would connect other devices. Thus, you can play music from any apps that you want to.
Some cars have all the control and configuration on the screen. You can display the music on the display screen. Moreover, this option is great if you want to connect to the call hands-free.
Most modern cars allow you to control your in-built Bluetooth music system from the car steering. You can lower down or raise up the music, change tracks or pause the tracks from your car steering buttons.
Be it your Android device or iPhone, you just need to pair your device to the car music system and it will be available for easy streaming.
How to Play Music from Phone to Car Bluetooth?
We have also laid out the guide to pairing your phone to the Bluetooth system. You don’t need to pair your Bluetooth again and again once you have done it for the first time.
- In your Car Audio options, Press Home button.
- Go To Settings and select Bluetooth Connection for pairing.
- In the Bluetooth settings, select Pairing.
- Go to your smartphone’s Bluetooth settings and look for the available devices.
- Once you have found the available Bluetooth device for your car system, you can select and pair the device.
- Once you have sent the request to pair your device with the car, you might have to verify your Bluetooth by entering the passkey.
- On entering the passkey, the devices will be paired and you can start playing music anytime.
However, Bluetooth’s audio quality will be less inferior to the auxiliary cable and hence you need to choose the auxiliary if you want high-quality.
#3: Cassette Adapter
For the old car models, cassette adapters are the best way to play your phone music to the car. Cassette Adapters are shaped like a cassette and have an audio cable on the outside.
For the cassette adapter, your car must have a cassette slot that also serves as the wireless Bluetooth cassette device. All you need to do is to plug the audio cable into your phone so that the cassette adapter gets connected via cassette Bluetooth.
Make sure there is a battery inside the cassette adapter. This method is an alternative to the FM radio transmitter method. If your car does not have a power socket or in case the power plug is malfunctioning, you can use the cassette adapter to play music from phone to car.
Moreover, some new models of iPhone do not have a 3.5 mm port and thus it lacks the functionality of connecting through FM radio transmitters. You can also use this method if the FM radio signals are not so great for transit.
The sound quality may not be as good as the FM radio transmitter and you won’t want to leave wire hanging from the car dashboard.
#4: Auxiliary Cord Wires and Ports
This is one of the most conventional ways to play music from phone to car. Almost all the cars have an audio port in the stereo or underneath it.
If your car has a 3.5 mm stereo jack, you can use the auxiliary cord wire to connect your phone to the car. This actually works great for cars that lack Bluetooth functionality.
In fact, the audio quality of Auxiliary cable music is better than the music from Bluetooth connections. Once you connect your phone’s headphone port to the stereo port, you can play any music or app from phone to car.
If your car and phone have a stereo jack, utilize this method to connect music from phone to car. However, some phones lack a stereo port and this method is not feasible for such new smartphone mobiles.
The only drawback is that you will have a wire hanging around the dashboard for playing music.
#5: USB Input
USB Input is one of the most recent options in playing music from phone to car stereo. It is certainly one of the best ways to connect your phone to the car. You don’t need any auxiliary cable or USB flash drive for this purpose anymore.
Most cars have a USB port installed inside them. So, if your car has a USB audio port, it is one of the best ways to play music from phone to car for high quality and amazing experience.
It is a great method for hands-free calling as well as playing music from your Android phone or Apple device. You don’t need a power socket to even charge your phone here, Your mobile device gets charged while it is connected to the USB port.
However, you must always have a USB cable to function well. USB port performance for your car also depends on your phone and USB quality.
If you are wondering how to play music from phone to car USB, read the instructions given below:
- Check USB Ports: Your device must have a USB port so that it supports the USB storage devices to connect.
- Using the USB cable, use this wire to connect the USB port to your Android phone system.
- In the notification bar, choose the USB port to connect. Choose ‘Charging this device via USB’ for connecting the device.
- On tapping this option, you can transfer the files USB to Android. Use this option to play music from phone to car.
For some devices, you might need a USB C-type to connect audio. However, the audio quality will remain the same with any USB connection.
#6: Android Auto and Apple Car Play
This is a great feature if you want to connect your phone to the car for playing music. Nowadays, most of these cars come with the built-in functionality of using Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.
Use certain third-party apps to play music by linking your phone to the head unit of the car. Using these apps, you can play music, access navigation, and send messages in a single interface.
Android Auto lets you integrate your voice for Google Assistant and the same goes for the Apple Car Play. It integrates your voice with Siri which makes it a more fantastic option.
In case, the infotainment of your car lacks such features and doesn’t support it, you can make use of these apps to access the screen of your phone.
All you need is to install these apps on your respective Android or Apple device and then sync your phone with the car using either USB or Bluetooth. However, you won’t be able to play Spotify or Pandora using these two apps.
#7: iPod 30 Pin Adapter
This is a better option than the FM transmitter and the cassette adapters. However, some cars have got this iPod 30 pin adapter.
If your car has an iPod 30 pin adapter built-in, you can use it to connect your iPhone and car stereo iPod together.
Once you link your iPhone to this iPod adapter, you can use Bluetooth to link them together. The audio quality by using the iPod 30 pin adapter is better than the FM radio transmitter systems.
#8: Use Third-Party Stereo Units
This is certainly the last option that you would want to resort to. If your car does not have Bluetooth functionality, power socket or USB port devices.
However rarely, but some cars even lack the auxiliary cable port. In such a case, we would recommend you to get some third-party stereo units installed in your car.
This task is an intensive one and considerably more expensive than most of the methods of playing music from phone to car.
Which Is The Best Option For You?
We would say, it depends! If you want to go for the best audio quality, then go with the USB ports or auxiliary cable. FM transmitter and cassette adapters are the ones with the lowest audio quality.
Moreover, it also depends on your phone system. Also, if your car stereo is lousy, changing the methods wouldn’t make much difference.
Hence, our recommendations are given below:
- For the best experience, use USB or Auxiliary cables and ports.
- If your car has options for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, go with that.
- Furthermore, your car may have a Bluetooth option. Use that if you do not have a USB port.
- However, the above-given methods are not available, choose the FM radio transmitter.
- Lastly, if the FM radio transmitter does not work, you can use the lowest quality Cassette adapter.
Also Read: 15 BEST MP3 Music Downloader in 2021
Wrapping Up
Above given, we have shared all the methods that you can use to play music from phone to car. Be it the USB, Auxiliary cable or any other methods, you can easily connect your Android or Apple device to your car stereo.
In the end, make sure that you do not get distracted by the loud music while driving. Stay safe and enjoy music from your phone to the car speaker system.