I play music Bluetooth from iPad held behind passenger seat. No cables exposed. Works fine. But I can’t access or change the playlists in my iPad through the 2021 Lexus ES 350 head unit. I do it easily through wife’s 8 year old Volvo, although that one is playing via USB. Must my Ipad be plugged into the car under elbow rest to access playlists? If so, Cables will show, as IPad can’t fit in elbow rest compartment.

 

Yes, as with the Volvo you can use the USB cable to play high bandwidth tunes and keep
the iPad charged. If you leave it connected it will not have to "re-index" any directories and
will begin playing much faster. You could connect if with Bluetooth but then you wouldn't
be able to make and take phone calls...

 

The rear USB outlets won't work. They're power only. No data.

 

Right. It’s plugged into a rear seat charging port. Fine. Since I obviously can’t fit iPad into elbow rest stowage compartment, it’s either show cable from iPad to USB port or have no playlists. Answer is to use an old non-Bluetooth iPod I have that will fit into USB port in elbow rest stowage. I assume the playlists in the iPod can then be accessed through head unit. Right? Or must I make changes in playlists with hands on the iPod itself?

 

Answer is that playlists and such appear only of I plug the device into the front port, where CarPlay goes. Then All the USB data and playlists, etc. appear. But if used the device on bluetooth, no USB data is available. No playlists. I Don’t think I’m overlooking anything. No big deal. Just another minor technical shortfall with this luxury car.