I have been wrestling with getting voice commands to navigate my Pandora collection. I have a number of playlists and radio stations. This is been with both Alexa and Mazda Connect, as well as Siri with Apple CarPlay. I was so frustrated, that I mounted my phone on my dash and have been manually tapping to find what I want (and with no sorting options, well... c'mon Pandora it's 2025). Anyway... I am in the Apple Developer program and, just today, updated to iOS Developer Beta 6. The first thing I tried: Siri voice commands and Pandora. I am here to express my amazement that this actually works now, really, really well (and without creating weird playlist names, et al.). Me: Play playlist Linda Ronstadt A-Z on Pandora Siri: Okay, here's Linda Ronstadt A-to-Z on Pandora Me: Play radio station Holly Cole Radio on Pandora Siri: Now playing music similar to Holly Cole Radio on Pandora. And, if I open the Pandora app, it is playing my collected radio station with my previously selected "Deep Cuts" mode activated. iOS 26 is absolutely killer, in my opinion, and now I can reliably voice navigate my collection. ... View more

Want to share a work around I am using with Mazda Connect + Alexa when playing Pandora. I have a 2024 MX-5 (Gen 7 Mazda Connect). Alexa and Pandora work well with Mazda Connect - you can see title/artist and the correct album art, voice commands and the steering wheel controls work as expected. And, since it's streaming through the Wi-Fi connection from your smart phone (Mazda Connect Wi-Fi Client), it's not being compressed by Bluetooth. All wonderful. One problem: the Alexa Skill for Pandora really, really struggles with voice command to select a playlist or a radio station. There are MANY posts in this community on this issue. I have a ton of playlists and saved radio stations and I vastly prefer visual scanning these on my phone's screen, vs. trying to recall their exact name for a voice prompt (which usually fails, as Alexa/Pandora seem to give preference to a global selection over anything in your collection, unless it's with a bizarre name). For example: '80s Hits (a playlist I created in my collection) usually resolves to a Pandora collection called 80s Hits with a completely different track listing. This issue occurs with Siri and CarPlay, as well. What to do? Simple. I stop playback via Alexa, scroll/swipe on my phone to find the playlist, tap and play it, then stop it. Then, restart Pandora playback via Alexa. It always restarts playback with whatever was last played by your account. "Alexa, stop music" [me] tap on Pandora on phone, pick something from the collection, play it, then pause playback "Alexa, play Pandora" That's it! I keep my phone mounted on the dash, so it's easy to do this before I start driving. ... View more

2023 w/ Mazda Connect Gen 6 Pandora was working great with Android, but I switched to an iPhone 16 Pro and it is broken. Yes, Mazda Connect Pandora starts the iPhone app in Accessory Mode and plays music, but the Mazda Connect display never updates with the "next song" details, I cannot pause/FF tracks, the "thumbs" do not work, and the album art only shows the first song. In other words, the extra Pandora functions (above and beyond just Bluetooth audio) do not work. I have been scouring the web for an iPhone Bluetooth security setting or anything that would explain this behavior, but no luck. It seems to me that once automotive start into Accessory Mode, the infotainment system looses connection with the Pandora app on iOS (though the music keeps playing through Bluetooth). Note this is accessory mode playback ... NOT through CarPlay. I assume this is in reference to PandoraLink. From the Mazda Miata forum: It’s an issue since iOS 18. It worked fine on 17 ... View more