When I plug my iPhone 4 into my Bose SoundDock Series 2 I get a popup message saying "This accessory is not optimized for this iPhone" and the dock will not play audio from the iPod or Pandora apps, presumably others as well. (Interestingly, if the iPod is playing music from its built-in speakers it will play through the Bose briefly when I plug it in but stops with the popup.) Fearing a problem with the SoundDock I tested on my father-in-law's iHome speakers and I get the same message and audio failure.
The "Apple Support Communities" pages have many threads with people discussing the same problem and it appears to be a bug introduced with iOS 4. I've ensured I'm up-to-date with iOS 4.3.3 (8J2) but it seems to exist with every iOS 4 version.
Are there any known workarounds? (Enabling Airplane mode doesn't work.) Is there a planned fix or official statement from Apple?
Best Answer
The answer from Apple Support is "Yes", newer versions of the iOS software probably do disable support for "older" iPhone-compatible devices (although likely "unintentionally").
The Apple Support representative advised downgrading the iOS version on my phone even though doing so would violate the terms of my AppleCare agreement (and obviously, she couldn't explain how to do it other than giving me some Google search terms).
Moreover, she stated that with the release of iOS 5 coming up that I should hesitate to purchase any Apple iPhone or iPod accessories because they cannot ensure compatibility.
Unbelievable.