Getting Audi AMI to work with Spotify, Pandora, SiriusXM, etc. (iPhone)

I had a ton of issues getting any iPhone application to work though the Audi AMI, every time I tried listening to an application the iPod application overrode whatever I was listening to and started playing my iPod playlist.  Of course, the fact that I couldn’t use any music apps through the AMI made me really angry and after looking through a ton of blogs and web sites I was about to give up.  Well, until I found out that the following sequence of steps will always play ANY music application through the AMI.  I hope this helps at least one person out there!

Playing iPhone music applications through an Audi AMI Interface
The sequence followed must be in the correct order.

1. Plug in your iPhone to the AMI cable.
2. Push on the FM/AM button on the dash. This will switch the audio to the radio.
3. Open the Spotify application (or any other) on your iphone.
4. Press play on the desired playlist selection.
5. Push the Media button to select the iPhone/iPod. Once you switch to the iPod as the source, the speakers will play whatever is coming from the active application without having the iPod application override Spotify. On the AMI screen expect to see the following:

          "There are no playable tracks present."

6. Listen and enjoy. Obviously you won't be able to manage your selection using the AMI interface, but at least you can listen to your favorite playlist without any issues.

This works for me EVERY single time and it works with Spotify, Pandora, RadioIO, SiriusXM apps, etc..

Update: I found out that an OS upgrade or a phone reboot may break this work around.  The search continues for a permanent fix.


Cheers!
P.S. I used an 2011 A4 and an iPhone 4 to put together these instructions.
Rodney