Hello, i'm new on this forum and registered myself because I have some problems with my Pioneer AVIC F940bt head unit. I'm from the Netherlands so my Pioneer Head unit is Europe region I think.

 

Here's the case: I have an iPhone 6S plus, when i connect it with the original Apple lightning USB cable, I can control the music (browse playlist etcetra) but the music doesn't come out of the car speakers! Only out of the iPhone, and i can't "switch the output channel" on my iPhone. It just "thinks" that it is already playing music through the head unit. It does charge though, so i'm assuming the cable works fine..

 

I already mailed some local car audio stores (since I can't find a Pioneer mail adres, does anyone know how to contact Pioneer in the Netherlands?) with my problem and they said that I had to buy an original Pioneer Lightning to USB cable (CD-IU52). So I did. €40,- and it was a complete waste of money. Turns out the cable is exactly the same!

 

Now i've already done some research and the problem might be that i need a firmware update for the F940bt head unit, to get the lightning cable to work.

 

Problem is: I can't find / download the firmware update, only the PDFmanual is findable on the internet. Can someone maby send it to me? All the download links that I found are dead, or lead to the Pioneer main page, seems they deleted the update or something..

I think I need the file: “AVIC-F940B

 

But I can't find it. Can someone upload it? Or know how to get it?

 

The reason I want to play music through the usb cable is that the quality is better, it charges my phone at the same time, and I don't have to use Bluetooth mode, which is very slow.

 

Last thing, my iOS version is 9.3.3 and i already have AppRadio installed and MixTRAXfree and CarMediaPlay, but nothing works.

 

Service info about the AVIC F940bt head unit:

Version: 04.0000

Bluetooth Firmware version: 3.24

 

I hope some of you guys can help me

 

I contacted Pioneer via this form from their website https://contactcenter.pioneer.eu/contactus.nsf/contact?openform&sub=peb&lang=nl
and asked them to send me the update that i was looking for.

Their reply was:
The avic F940bt supports only iPhone 2 / 3 / 3G / 3GS / 4 / 4S
iPhone 5 and later is not supported.
It's a hardware based restriction so a software update won't help solve the problem.

 

So the iPhone 6S plus will not play music through the USB lightning cable. It only charges my iPhone's battery.

 

I've sold my F940bt unit and bought a Zenec ZE-2014M unit. This is a better solution for me as the F940bt is now a bit outdated and navigation does not work properly.

 

So in the end:
If you are struggling with connecting your iPhone to play music trough the USB lightning cable (not bluetooth!),
learn to live with the fact that it does not work. It only charges your iPhone's battery via USB. No music can be played through your car speakers.
The only way to play music from iPhone is via the AUX cable or Bluetooth, but remember each time you restart your car, you have to connect the Bluetooth again.

 

I hope this information wil be helpful for people with the same problem as me.