Anyone using Apple Car Play?
Discussion
Had it on a hire car in Portugal over the summer. Brilliant I thought, can use the big screen for sat nav instead of my phone screen.
Spent half the bloody time finding where I wanted to go in Google Maps and then having to browse the map in Apple Maps to select where I wanted to go because it's so bleedin' useless!!
As soon as they allow Google Maps it'll be invaluable. Until then it's only useful for music.
Spent half the bloody time finding where I wanted to go in Google Maps and then having to browse the map in Apple Maps to select where I wanted to go because it's so bleedin' useless!!
As soon as they allow Google Maps it'll be invaluable. Until then it's only useful for music.
IMO both CarPlay and Android Auto are way short of where they should be. I think the experience also depends on what you're used to. If you think it's going to be as satisfying as using your mobile phone, there's a chance you'll be disappointed.
I've used it in a number of cars over the last couple of years and the experience is a mixed bag, Siri especially. e.g. it took me 4 attempts for Siri to understand a postcode I was saying in a 5 Series (17 plate) but iDrive got it right the first time.
The experience also depends on how much effort has been put into the apps by their owners. e.g. Spotify's app is a huge disappointment and light-years behind the iPhone's version of the app.
I think if I was speccing a car now, I wouldn't be ticking the box if it was going to cost me money. I'd just by a windscreen mount and connect via Bluetooth.
I've used it in a number of cars over the last couple of years and the experience is a mixed bag, Siri especially. e.g. it took me 4 attempts for Siri to understand a postcode I was saying in a 5 Series (17 plate) but iDrive got it right the first time.
The experience also depends on how much effort has been put into the apps by their owners. e.g. Spotify's app is a huge disappointment and light-years behind the iPhone's version of the app.
I think if I was speccing a car now, I wouldn't be ticking the box if it was going to cost me money. I'd just by a windscreen mount and connect via Bluetooth.
I use it all the time in our BMW and Volvo. It makes changing podcasts a breeze.
It would help if Apple bothered to update their maps - Queensferry Crossing still missing.
It has improved too - car nav and software rarely gets updated, whilst phone/cloud based stuff is being updated all the time (just not bridges)
It would help if Apple bothered to update their maps - Queensferry Crossing still missing.
It has improved too - car nav and software rarely gets updated, whilst phone/cloud based stuff is being updated all the time (just not bridges
)Ares said:
Used in US hire cars.
Works brilliantly.
Yup; only time I've experienced it was when we got a fairly basic Hyundai Elentra in Montreal and it was a life saver - we would never have found our way out of downtown Montreal in rush hour traffic without it. Works brilliantly.
Makes perfect sense to me if your car has zero other infotainment devices.
It was a £100 option on wife's Tiguan but we bought a ready built car that didn't have it. Sales guy said an upgrade would be coming, but when it did it cost £200 and (not sure I believe this) it apparently can't be done on our car as the USB port isn't Car-Play compatible.
Turns out that most VW owners with the same Discover nav head unit system think it's useless anyway as the connection is very random.
Turns out that most VW owners with the same Discover nav head unit system think it's useless anyway as the connection is very random.
Sheepshanks said:
Sales guy said an upgrade would be coming, but when it did it cost £200 and (not sure I believe this) it apparently can't be done on our car as the USB port isn't Car-Play compatible.
Ford had the same issue (at least on the Focus) with slightly earlier versions of Sync3 needing a newer USB hub to get CarPlay working when the software support was added. I guess for some phones the normal USB standard wasn't enough and a bit of extra embedded magic was needed? Jonesy23 said:
Sheepshanks said:
Sales guy said an upgrade would be coming, but when it did it cost £200 and (not sure I believe this) it apparently can't be done on our car as the USB port isn't Car-Play compatible.
Ford had the same issue (at least on the Focus) with slightly earlier versions of Sync3 needing a newer USB hub to get CarPlay working when the software support was added. I guess for some phones the normal USB standard wasn't enough and a bit of extra embedded magic was needed? I don't know how VW gets away with its Nav/ICE - the system in my 13yr old Merc works better. Although that definitely isn't CarPlay compatible!
Sheepshanks said:
I know it's not impossible, but it seems unlikely to me that they'd fit different kinds of USB controllers on the production line depending on whether Car-Play was spec'd or not.
I don't know how VW gets away with its Nav/ICE - the system in my 13yr old Merc works better. Although that definitely isn't CarPlay compatible!
They do. A work colleague purchased an imported golf and he got app connect enabled. Android worked and CarPlay didn’t. Turned out the Apple usb module was not installed in to the USB unit behind the dash. He purchased this module and CarPlay worked straight away. I don't know how VW gets away with its Nav/ICE - the system in my 13yr old Merc works better. Although that definitely isn't CarPlay compatible!
SteBrown91 said:
They do. A work colleague purchased an imported golf and he got app connect enabled. Android worked and CarPlay didn’t. Turned out the Apple usb module was not installed in to the USB unit behind the dash. He purchased this module and CarPlay worked straight away.
Oh, fair enough then. Apparently they're all upgradable now, so maybe they were just using up incompatible controllers.Bought the wife a new AWD Kia recently ce her SLK (She got stuck in the snow last year) and obviously the Bluetooth is all keyed to her iphone.
For both speed and simplicity If I have to drive it I connect my phone via Iplay and I get to listen to my own music and answer calls immediately without drama.
I don't use it for Satnav though, as the Kia has its own system and I can swap between Iplay and the cars systems without loosing music or call connectivity.
I have even considered getting a double din unit for one of my/other older cars, but have not yet bothered.
For both speed and simplicity If I have to drive it I connect my phone via Iplay and I get to listen to my own music and answer calls immediately without drama.
I don't use it for Satnav though, as the Kia has its own system and I can swap between Iplay and the cars systems without loosing music or call connectivity.
I have even considered getting a double din unit for one of my/other older cars, but have not yet bothered.
I've had Car Play for two years and find it excellent.
In the early days app compatibility was poor and Spotify didn't work at all. The general experience was ok, but it has really improved with updates.
As others have said, it depends on what you are used to. I had been using the factory unit in my 2005 Porsche. so for me it was a huge upgrade. I am sure more modern OEM kit is better, but a lot of them are going for Car Play now anyway.
I have got a Pioneer unit and moving from Car Play to the built in Pioneer OS shows just how much better Car Play is. It is just a cut down way of using the useful feature of your phone on the car's screen. It isn't as good as just using the phone itself, however, and I always quite like the idea of being able to use iPhone/iPad as the screen in the dash.
The only downsides I find are:
1. A ridiculous update in the past year or so means I get a message to unlock my phone to use Car Play every time I start the car. That would be fine if it connected in seconds, but it doesn't. I am usually a few hundred metres down the road when I get this message, so I have to pull over to legally start Car Play. It never used to be like that.
2. The GPS/mapping is so battery-intensive, that the phone hardly has any more charge in it after a journey than it did before if I'm using the nav. Not really the fault of Car Play, but a bit annoying. It would make wireless Car Play useless for me as the battery would die too quickly.
In the early days app compatibility was poor and Spotify didn't work at all. The general experience was ok, but it has really improved with updates.
As others have said, it depends on what you are used to. I had been using the factory unit in my 2005 Porsche. so for me it was a huge upgrade. I am sure more modern OEM kit is better, but a lot of them are going for Car Play now anyway.
I have got a Pioneer unit and moving from Car Play to the built in Pioneer OS shows just how much better Car Play is. It is just a cut down way of using the useful feature of your phone on the car's screen. It isn't as good as just using the phone itself, however, and I always quite like the idea of being able to use iPhone/iPad as the screen in the dash.
The only downsides I find are:
1. A ridiculous update in the past year or so means I get a message to unlock my phone to use Car Play every time I start the car. That would be fine if it connected in seconds, but it doesn't. I am usually a few hundred metres down the road when I get this message, so I have to pull over to legally start Car Play. It never used to be like that.
2. The GPS/mapping is so battery-intensive, that the phone hardly has any more charge in it after a journey than it did before if I'm using the nav. Not really the fault of Car Play, but a bit annoying. It would make wireless Car Play useless for me as the battery would die too quickly.
kingston12 said:
2. The GPS/mapping is so battery-intensive, that the phone hardly has any more charge in it after a journey than it did before if I'm using the nav. Not really the fault of Car Play, but a bit annoying. It would make wireless Car Play useless for me as the battery would die too quickly.
Is that with Apple Maps? I'm in the US at the moment and using Here WeGo and it's recharging the phone at the same time fine. The car does have CarPlay but it seemed to get itself into a right muddle so I ended up disabling it - energy that was tricky, couldn't turn it off on the head unit until it was enabled on the phone!Sheepshanks said:
Is that with Apple Maps? I'm in the US at the moment and using Here WeGo and it's recharging the phone at the same time fine. The car does have CarPlay but it seemed to get itself into a right muddle so I ended up disabling it - energy that was tricky, couldn't turn it off on the head unit until it was enabled on the phone!
I’m using Apple Maps. It definitely charges the phone, but the charge from the head unit is slow and combined with the current draw from using the Nav means it doesn’t go up very quickly!In a 90 minute journey using Nav yesterday, my phone went from 30% to 38%. If I hadn’t been using the Nav, but still had it plugged into the head unit it would have been almost fully charged in that time. If I had it plugged into the 2.4a charger instead it would have definitely been full.
Not a problem as I usually keep the phone charged anyway, but it would be handy finishing a journey knowing it was on/near 100%.
Sheepshanks said:
That is a pain, we're using it through the head unit for spoken instructions connected via USB.
Sounds like inductive charging would be a nightmare in your scenario - you could Have the phone going flat mid- journey.
If I went for a new unit with wireless Car Play, I'd leave the phone connected to the 2.4a charger in the arm rest, so the faster charging would probably offset the Nav drain a bit more successfully.Sounds like inductive charging would be a nightmare in your scenario - you could Have the phone going flat mid- journey.
I'll be interested to see how fast inductive charging is anyway, presumably slower than wired, so would be a pain when using Nav, but probably fine for music etc.
I don't really see the point in wireless Car Play without inductive charging, who wants their phone less charged at the end of a journey than it was the beginning for the sake of not plugging it in?
Arnold Cunningham said:
Yeah! Apple Maps is still < Google Maps & Waze.
As an aside, my head units are non oem - Pioneer SPH-DA120, which has it's own app as well as carplay - and that app does support waze.
As an aside, my head units are non oem - Pioneer SPH-DA120, which has it's own app as well as carplay - and that app does support waze.
Digitalize said:
It frustrates me more than it should (especially when I don't have or really plan to get Car Play) that Apple allow Spotify to be used, a competing service to Apple Music, but don't allow you to use 3rd party navigation apps, which aren't really competing against anything that actively earns them money.
Edited by Arnold Cunningham on Monday 9th October 19:05
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