2026 Envision Playlist Limiter & USB Issues

[LS12GO]

First time post:

After 100 miles on our new Envision, we've discovered that the Buick infotainment software limits the number of viewable of Carplay playlists to 12 as soon as the vehicle begins to move (when you stop, they reappear). For some reason, a plethora of Sirius XFM and Pandora stations can be scrolled through but Carplay is limited. The dealer was dumbfounded when we showed this to them and needless to say they had no resolve.

So, my next move is to create MP3 playlists via a USB drive. However, after three hours of tinkering with files structures, I cannot get a "Playlist title" to appear and can only view Artists, Songs and Albums.

Welcome ANY ideas on these two issues.

Thanks

 

[Anthony Cipriano]

First time post:

After 100 miles on our new Envision, we've discovered that the Buick infotainment software limits the number of viewable of Carplay playlists to 12 as soon as the vehicle begins to move (when you stop, they reappear). For some reason, a plethora of Sirius XFM and Pandora stations can be scrolled through but Carplay is limited. The dealer was dumbfounded when we showed this to them and needless to say they had no resolve.

So, my next move is to create MP3 playlists via a USB drive. However, after three hours of tinkering with files structures, I cannot get a "Playlist title" to appear and can only view Artists, Songs and Albums.

Welcome ANY ideas on these two issues.

Thanks

What you're seeing with Apple CarPlay is unfortunately a known "feature" not a bug. General Motors (and a few other manufacturers) implement a strict lock-out on certain infotainment scrolling functions when the vehicle is in motion to reduce driver distraction.

When you use CarPlay, the vehicle's computer still communicates its speed to the Apple software. The lock-out triggers when you exceed a few miles per hour, intentionally limiting your ability to endlessly scroll through long lists of playlists, albums, or contacts. It grays them out or truncates the list, forcing you to either use Siri voice commands or wait until you're completely stopped at a light to make a selection. It's pretty annoying - especially for passengers trying to be the DJ - but the dealer can't disable this safety lock-out.

Regarding the USB drive, the new Envision's infotainment system (Google) can be very picky about how USB files are formatted and organized. The reason your playlist titles aren't appearing is most likely because of the file structure and the specific playlist file format you're using.

To get your playlists to show up properly on the USB, you need to use a very flat folder structure. Don't nest folders three or four levels deep. More importantly, the system prefers playlist files saved in the .m3u or .m3u8 format. When you create these playlist files, make sure the file paths inside the playlist are saved as "relative" paths rather than "absolute" paths. Double check that your USB drive is formatted to FAT32 or ExFAT, and ensure there are NO incompatible file types (check for hidden system files or weird document formats) scattered around the drive - as this will cause the car's system to stop indexing the drive properly.

 

[LS12GO]

Anthony,
Thank you for your post sharing your knowledge on CarPlay and USB file structure.

I am still a little bit crazed that GM decided to truncate the CarPlay playlist to 12 selections as soon as the car begins to move (1 mph). I definitely see value if they incorporated within the "Teen" driving mode but otherwise it just doesn't make sense if the other types of media do not have any restrictions. Nevertheless, we will waive the white flag and I told my wife to pick out her 12 favorite playlists and I'll add an "A" to the titles to have them on top.

Regarding the USB, I purchased a 256GB thumb drive and then formatted it to ExFAT. I then selected five songs and copied them to the drive. In Notepad, I copied the file paths of each song (on a separate line) and then saved the note under PL Test.m3u. When installed, the name of the playlist will appear but the songs will not. However in the USB mode, I can select songs or artists and the songs appear and play fine.

I did not know about .M3u8 format so I will repeat the format process, copy the songs and then save the Notepad file to that format and see if is the missing link.

You also mentioned "relative" and "absolute" path issues but I'm not too sure if this would be an issue if the file path is pointing directly to the thumb drive (no root directory). Does that make sense?

Again, thank you so much for taking the time to respond and share this great information.

 

[Anthony Cipriano]

Anthony,
Thank you for your post sharing your knowledge on CarPlay and USB file structure.

I am still a little bit crazed that GM decided to truncate the CarPlay playlist to 12 selections as soon as the car begins to move (1 mph). I definitely see value if they incorporated within the "Teen" driving mode but otherwise it just doesn't make sense if the other types of media do not have any restrictions. Nevertheless, we will waive the white flag and I told my wife to pick out her 12 favorite playlists and I'll add an "A" to the titles to have them on top.

Regarding the USB, I purchased a 256GB thumb drive and then formatted it to ExFAT. I then selected five songs and copied them to the drive. In Notepad, I copied the file paths of each song (on a separate line) and then saved the note under PL Test.m3u. When installed, the name of the playlist will appear but the songs will not. However in the USB mode, I can select songs or artists and the songs appear and play fine.

I did not know about .M3u8 format so I will repeat the format process, copy the songs and then save the Notepad file to that format and see if is the missing link.

You also mentioned "relative" and "absolute" path issues but I'm not too sure if this would be an issue if the file path is pointing directly to the thumb drive (no root directory). Does that make sense?

Again, thank you so much for taking the time to respond and share this great information.

You're very welcome! It's annoying that GM restricts the CarPlay playlist view to just 12 items while in motion. However, adding an "A" to the beginning of her favorite playlists is a great way to force them to the top of the list.

Regarding the USB drive issue, I think you're on the right track. I believe the problem is from the difference between absolute paths and relative paths.

With absolute paths - when you copy a file path in notepad on your computer, it creates an absolute path that includes a drive letter (like E:\music\song.mp3). When you plug that USB drive into your Envision, the car's Android based computer doesn't recognize Windows drive letters like E. Because it cannot find an E drive, the playlist fails to load the songs, even though the playlist title itself appears.

To fix this, try using a relative path. This tells the playlist to look for the songs in its immediate vicinity, rather than relying on a specific drive letter.

1. Place both your playlist file and your MP3 song files into the exact same main folder (the root directory) on your thumb drive.

2. In your notepad file, remove the drive letters and folder paths. The text on each line should simply be the exact name of the song file (for example, just song.mp3).

Saving the notepad file as an .m3u8 instead of a standard .m3u is the best approach. The .m3u8 format uses text encoding that handles spaces and special characters in song titles much better, which helps prevent playback errors in car stereo systems.

Try creating a quick test playlist with just a few songs using only their file names in the notepad document to see if that gets them to appear.