Carplay - There was a problem loading this content

[DonMacaroni 54]

For some reason, initiating playback via CarPlay always fails, while initiating it via IOS App, while connected to CarPlay always works.
Maybe someone from Emby team can take a look, it is a bit frustrating, since technically (from end user perspective) Emby CarPlay "does not work".

From logs, bunch of errors happen, around the time I attempted it, (search for string "Halo" which is track name) or Timestamp starting from 15:48
Client is latest from AppStore, connection is over Wireguard to the server (Emby unfortunately does not support CarPlay on downloaded files, yet)
 

embyserver.txt

Edited May 5, 2024 by DonMacaroni

[Guest]

This has been a problem since 2022, maybe even before that. It's still not resolved. I believe it's due to the size of the library. I have over 10K albums and i pretty much cannot play anything. One way i can get it to play is if line up an album or playlist on the phone and then press play once it's connected via carplay.

But searching, browsing or playing via carplay produces the same results as you and many others.
Having moved over from Plex where this works amazingly well. It's very disappointing considering this is a paid Emby premiere feature. 

 

 

[DonMacaroni 54]

So, if I have 10 tracks under “favourites”, it still tries to fetch entire library (100k+ items) when I press play on one of those favourite tracks? 
It is insane, who implements things like that? 
 

I moved away from Plex, their android app thinks that my TV is an Phone and refuses to output multichannel audio to ARC or via TosLink. So going back to Plex is not an option either.

Edited May 7, 2024 by DonMacaroni

[DonMacaroni 54]

I must admit, I do love Emby and responsivness of the dev’s here, despite all those small inconveniences, which hopefully will be fixed one day.

[sjkiss 28]

On 5/7/2024 at 12:44 PM, DonMacaroni said:

I must admit, I do love Emby and responsivness of the dev’s here, despite all those small inconveniences, which hopefully will be fixed one day.

My sentiments exactly.

[Luke 42077]

Hi, we're looking into this. Thanks for reporting.

[sjkiss 28]

Hi @Lukeany news on this? Thanks!

[sjkiss 28]

Carplay is not functional in the current iteration of Emby for IoS 2.2.36 . Can you please address when it will be functional? Thank you. 

[Depechie 9]

Just here to say that I’m in the same situation… unable to start playing anything through CarPlay because op lib size.

 

 

[sjkiss 28]

@Lukeany update? Thank you!

[cprzro 0]

Hi, I’m experiencing the same issue with content not loading on Apple CarPlay. Or am I missing something? Do I need a subscription for this? Before I purchase a full Emby account, I want to test the server and apps myself. (At the moment, my server is running without SSL – are there any specific settings I need to adjust in the Emby configuration for the carplay app?)

[DonMacaroni 54]

Emby CarPlay is simply broken, not much you can do. Dev’s have to fix it, but it has not been a priority, I guess.

As far as I can tell, it breaks as it tries to fetch the full library whn tou fire it up and fails.

Edited August 19, 2025 by DonMacaroni

[cprzro 0]

Okay, then the app still needs some development. Alternatively, I'm satisfied that I can at least play audiobooks or music through the phone, and then, for example, the forward and backward options work in CarPlay. For the convenient solution via the CarPlay app, I'll have to be patient

[Luke 42077]

HI, has the 4.9 server release helped?

[DonMacaroni 54]

Will test during weekend.

[DonMacaroni 54]

@Lukeunfortunately not much difference, it is still pretty much unusable, while navigation seems to be ok now (unless yous elect something crazy, like all albums or something), playback still fails.

I will have more time tomorrow, to dump logs, etc.

Edited October 11, 2025 by DonMacaroni

[Depechie 9]

Same here… latest server version. Selecting albums always results in error popup.

[Luke 42077]

On 10/11/2025 at 4:08 AM, DonMacaroni said:

@Lukeunfortunately not much difference, it is still pretty much unusable, while navigation seems to be ok now (unless yous elect something crazy, like all albums or something), playback still fails.

I will have more time tomorrow, to dump logs, etc.

Hi there, please attach the Emby server log from when the problem occurred:

How to Report a Problem

Thanks!

 

[DonMacaroni 54]

@Lukeunfortunately, unable to do so for 3-4 weeks. Travelling.

[Depechie 9]

Just did a check again…

The CarPlay app keeps giving could not load content. But retrying the same action will work after a few tries.

the logs are filled with coverartarchive calls during the same time. And not of the content being selected…

so I guess it is just the fact that with large music libs the server does not respond in time for CarPlay

not sure if some optimalisation can be done in code to only smart load what is selected?

also during CarPlay browsing the art is not needed only until you are on track detail? Not sure if the cover art is shown in other views?

2026-02-03 18:54:07.133 Info HttpClient: Http response 200 from http://coverartarchive.org/release/4bdde761-c506-434e-8c8c-42a9c7136c06/34017038984.jpg after 2641ms
2026-02-03 18:54:07.222 Info HttpClient: Http response 200 from http://coverartarchive.org/release/5940381b-0f00-4e58-9ca8-a3759f24fe57/5970332162.png after 2827ms
2026-02-03 18:54:07.414 Info ProviderManager: Saving image to /var/lib/emby/metadata/musicalbums/Fairytales from the underground-musicbrainzalbum-4bdde761-c506-434e-8c8c-42a9c7136c06/folder.jpg
2026-02-03 18:54:08.910 Info ProviderManager: Saving image to /var/lib/emby/metadata/musicalbums/Ezoa En Niet Anders-musicbrainzalbum-5940381b-0f00-4e58-9ca8-a3759f24fe57/folder.png
2026-02-03 18:54:15.092 Info HttpClient: GET http://coverartarchive.org/release/38e091d2-65ea-48c8-9603-92d44d6941a3/10084023527.jpg
2026-02-03 18:54:15.726 Info HttpClient: Http response 200 from http://coverartarchive.org/release/38e091d2-65ea-48c8-9603-92d44d6941a3/10084023527.jpg after 633ms
2026-02-03 18:54:16.495 Info ProviderManager: Saving image to /var/lib/emby/metadata/musicalbums/Judas -musicbrainzalbum-38e091d2-65ea-48c8-9603-92d44d6941a3/folder.jpg
2026-02-03 18:54:19.871 Info HttpClient: GET http://coverartarchive.org/release/4102fb55-daa6-4cec-a8eb-7dd35f840049/34586010077.jpg
2026-02-03 18:54:20.016 Info HttpClient: GET https://coverartarchive.org/release/72e4c53a-348e-47a6-b2e2-22c475ef27ec/41692044176.jpg
2026-02-03 18:54:20.966 Info HttpClient: Http response 200 from https://coverartarchive.org/release/72e4c53a-348e-47a6-b2e2-22c475ef27ec/41692044176.jpg after 949ms
2026-02-03 18:54:22.040 Info ProviderManager: Saving image to /var/lib/emby/metadata/musicalbums/Late Night Tales-musicbrainzalbum-72e4c53a-348e-47a6-b2e2-22c475ef27ec/folder.jpg
2026-02-03 18:54:22.628 Info HttpClient: Http response 200 from http://coverartarchive.org/release/4102fb55-daa6-4cec-a8eb-7dd35f840049/34586010077.jpg after 2757ms
2026-02-03 18:54:23.489 Info ProviderManager: Saving image to /var/lib/emby/metadata/musicalbums/Last Curtain Call-musicbrainzalbum-4102fb55-daa6-4cec-a8eb-7dd35f840049/folder.jpg