# USB Port Will Charge Iphone but Won't Play Music



## ashliemeraz (Jan 16, 2013)

I've had my Cruze for about 18 months and I've had virtually no problems with it. I use the USB port with my iPhone and it has always charged my phone and played my music. 

Recently ( the past 2 weeks or so), it will charge when I plug it in but it won't play my music. I'm not very savvy with these things so I don't even know where to start with getting it fixed. The only variable that has changed is the weather. It has been in the single digits lately. 

Would that have anything to do with it? Please help!


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Restart your phone. Double-tap the home button quickly. A row of apps will appear at the bottom. Hold your finger on one for a second, and they will start to jiggle. Hit the red minus sign, and close ALL of them. 

Once you do that, hold down the lock button at the top, while simultaneously pressing the home button second til the phone turns black. Press the lock button again to turn it back on.

See if that works for you. My phone/Cruze do dumb things sometimes. Just last night, it kept pausing the music, then refused to play anything. Had to unplug the phone, select a song manually on my phone, and then plug it back in. That's something pretty regular actually...the Cruze's radio just doesn't work all that great.


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## greenmeansgo (Feb 7, 2013)

What kind of iPhone are you using? If it's a 5 or above, the lightning connector acts like a belly button in that lint and debris build up in it pretty well. It's a great design because there's no worries about orientation when plugging in, but the electrical contacts are on the wall of the connector rather than floating in the middle like the micro USB connectors most android devices use, so it's basically a built in hole in the housing of your phone. 

I tried the method our dear moderator above suggested, and it would work for a short amount of time, but the problem would occur again. What really helped was using some fine tweezers (or anything small and pointy enough to fit in the lightning connector opening, a tooth pick will also do) and pulling out the gunk. After that, use a good blast of air from a can of air duster or some compressed air. I recommend using magnification to view the connector to make sure all the debris and lint are removed. If there's anything in there (which there very well is) this will fix the problem...until it builds up again which takes a while. Also, it's important to note if this is your first time cleaning out your connector, the stuff inside could be packed fairly tight and will require some finessing to remove without damaging the contacts. I would also recommend monitoring the connector regularly after a good cleaning. Hope this helps.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Cruze MP3 player works super great with one of these.










Why even attempt to directly hook up your iphone. Ha, wife got one of these, cost $$$$ for that cord and very easy to break. Then grandkids with daddies iphone, grandpa can fix anything, except an ipad or iphone cord.

Then will save you the grief of plugging and unplugging it each time.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

I'll have to try both of those approaches, I been pulling out with 4th time being successful for Pandora. Rest of music on phone is kinda hit or miss but that could be an iTunes issue. Also resetting the radio helps me sometimes but don't forget to pair Bluetooth again.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Wife was charging her iphone with that very special Apple bidirectional cord. But left the car without think her phone was plugged in. Line cord was perpendicular to her phone that snapped the edge of the connector off. Got that out with a pair of thin nosed pliers, and there went twenty bucks plus tax. 

Actually 40 bucks, got two just in case, without a car charger, dead meat, can't even put in a spare fully charged battery in these things. But hey, its an iphone!!!

Ha, with any other phone can pick up a low profile standard USB connector for about a buck off ebay with free shipping. But these are lowly non-iphones. But still can seem to get the job done. Need more memory? 16 bucks for 32 GB micro SD from newegg.com. Can even add a couple inside the phone, but it still isn't an iphone.


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## Mohawk (Dec 15, 2014)

Might not be the right answer for you but the past few days my phone has been saying it wasn't compatible with the factory headunit but it would still charge. It ended up being the charging cord had dirt on it where it went into my phone so try cleaning the cord and charge ports.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Good point on cleaning those exposed gold plated terminals, do this all the time without even thinking with a soft #2 pencil eraser head, very gently. 

Heck, I can even watch TV on my smart phone, but sure eats up that way overpriced data. We are on a shared planned so gave most of that to my daughter. With over 5,000 songs on my Sandisk, can listen to whatever I feel like it. Also has radio on it, but never checked into Pandora.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

greenmeansgo said:


> What really helped was using some fine tweezers (or anything small and pointy enough to fit in the lightning connector opening, a tooth pick will also do) and pulling out the gunk.


Call me squeamish, but I don't think I'd poke around the connector with a metal tool unless the phone was powered down - just in case. Even then, I think I'd prefer to stick to non-conductive tools.


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## greenmeansgo (Feb 7, 2013)

NickD said:


> Cruze MP3 player works super great with one of these.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


How would I play Pandora or iTunes radio on this?


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## greenmeansgo (Feb 7, 2013)

ChevyGuy said:


> Call me squeamish, but I don't think I'd poke around the connector with a metal tool unless the phone was powered down - just in case. Even then, I think I'd prefer to stick to non-conductive tools.


 That's why I also recommended a toothpick. Good call on powering down first though. Forgot to mention it.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

greenmeansgo said:


> How would I play Pandora or iTunes radio on this?



Bluetooth route. 

I liked this at times because it worked 90% of the time just being left in. You can thumbs up Pandora on Bluetooth using infotainment voice commands.


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## hebrewchik80 (Jun 27, 2016)

I have a 2016 chevy cruze and it won't recognize the iPhone 6s charger cord at all, I don't know what to do, any suggestions. Its not the original cord it's an durcell but with my 2014 cruze I could use the same charger cord and it worked just fine.


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