I bought it the first time this article was published. Since then, I’ve had a love and hate relationship with this. When it works it works great, but it never fully connects to my Honda Accord.
It connects to my speakers just fine when I turn my car on, its the display that never connects to the screen. I have to unplug the device and plug it back in for it to work. Deleting the Bluetooth connection and re-concerting makes it work as well. Frustrated, I’ve given up forcing it to work. Come to find out that activating Siri will eventually make the display show up.
Another thing that will happen is the display freezing whilst I have my navigation running. The only way to make it work again is getting out and back in of CarPlay, but that only that lasts for a few more minutes before the map freezes again.
So to go wireless I buy a very expensive single that plugs wired into my car. I buy a not wireless wireless charger which plugs into my car by wire. Then put my iPhone on the wireless charger
on planet rational thinking I just plug one wire into my phone with both charges the phone and connects to CarPlay. I think I’m missing something here in how wireless CarPlay makes my life easier especially if both it and wireless charging are not built into my car
I think if you have a car with a wireless charger I can see that attraction of a device like this. If you are like many of us and don't have a builtin wireless charger then you still need some way to charge your iPhone with, so with this scenario, you would need 2 USB ports one for the adapter and another to charge your phone vs one USB for wired airplay that does both. For short trips may this works fine if you don't need to car your phone, but I think its an expensive adapter for what it does.
I think if you have a car with a wireless charger I can see that attraction of a device like this. If you are like many of us and don't have a builtin wireless charger then you still need some way to charge your iPhone with, so with this scenario, you would need 2 USB ports one for the adapter and another to charge your phone vs one USB for wired airplay that does both. For short trips may this works fine if you don't need to car your phone, but I think its an expensive adapter for what it does.
Which already exists in Apple’s own Lightening USB 3 adapter. One standard USB A port with a second Lightening port for charging. No need for wireless charging. $39 from the Apple Store.
I cannot fathom why Apple has never got around to creating just this device. It would be appalling if Apple did not support these people. They deserve to make a fortune. I just hope there isn’t a security issue.
It’s really simple - “a thousand No’s to every Yes”. Apple does not and will not make a million different random things. They don’t make light switches, or outlets. They no longer make cameras, or scanners, or printers. They do the big ticket items and some immediate accessories that serve a mass marker. Niche markets like this? Not in a million years. That isn’t Apple.
I bought it the first time this article was published. Since then, I’ve had a love and hate relationship with this. When it works it works great, but it never fully connects to my Honda Accord.
It connects to my speakers just fine when I turn my car on, its the display that never connects to the screen. I have to unplug the device and plug it back in for it to work. Deleting the Bluetooth connection and re-concerting makes it work as well. Frustrated, I’ve given up forcing it to work. Come to find out that activating Siri will eventually make the display show up.
Another thing that will happen is the display freezing whilst I have my navigation running. The only way to make it work again is getting out and back in of CarPlay, but that only that lasts for a few more minutes before the map freezes again.
Anyone else have these issues?
Nope, it works perfectly in my 2018 GTI. Its a godsend and makes CarPlay many times more convenient. The other great thing is that I have a HomeKit garage door opener. As I get close to home, the CarPlay screen shows the garage door in the display and I can open it as I pull in. Freaking awesome.
Other VW users seems to have the same positive experiences.
The problems could be with your vehicles Bluetooth implementation or some other issue. Have you run the firmware update for the CarPlay adapter?
I think if you have a car with a wireless charger I can see that attraction of a device like this. If you are like many of us and don't have a builtin wireless charger then you still need some way to charge your iPhone with, so with this scenario, you would need 2 USB ports one for the adapter and another to charge your phone vs one USB for wired airplay that does both. For short trips may this works fine if you don't need to car your phone, but I think its an expensive adapter for what it does.
No - the CPlay2Air dongle also has a usb output socket which can supply charge power.
I plug this charging pad into the dongle which is velcro'd under the dashboard in my 2019 Mazda 3, and the dongle plugs into the car's Carplay USB socket.
This has been working well. Can leave your phone in pocket or leave it on the Qi pad to charge wirelessly and use the car's Carplay system no problem.
Only issue is when you have 2 people (2 phones) registered to the system it sometimes won't change over to your desired user. There is an another quick fix (easier than unplugging and replugguing the adaptor and waiting for it to reboot):-
usually the adaptor (and normal wireless carplay) initially connects by bluetooth and then sets up a wireless connection between the phone and the carplay system - and this is also why it (Apple Carplay) is so responsive, as it is using a wireless wifi connection for its functions and not bluetooth.
so when you have a phone connected to this dongle, you can go to your wifi settings and you'll see the wifi connection name that has been setup between the phone and the dongle. This will be the same wifi connection id every time... so if there's an issue with changing the carplay user, just go to your phone wifi settings and select the Cplay2Air wifi connection and you can then select your desired user on the carplay screen. This can also be an issue due to your phone selectively staying on your home wifi connection, rather than the Carplay connection - and IOS has no function to give wifi connections priority.
I'd be really interested if Apple produced a CarPlay app that just had the key buttons for messages/maps/music/etc that it could display on a landscape oriented screen so I could just leave my iPhone on a mount and use it instead of my existing non-CarPlay head unit ... any other takers ?
I tried this in my car for a few days, and it drove me crazy. I have terrible cellular reception in my garage, and when I connect to this device it disconnects me from WiFi, essentially shutting down my only reliable Internet connection. This means when I get into my car I lose access to Maps, Messages, Podcasts, Apple Music, Siri, HomeKit, and all kinds of other Internet-based services that I frequently use while starting a drive.
So, only buy this if you have a good cellular connection wherever you start or end your drives. Keep in mind that location frequently might be a concrete parking garage with bad connectivity.
Anyone having trouble after upgrading IOS to 13.4.1 with the carplay2air
randomly disconnecting - like the device was unplugged from the USB
port? It happened two consecutive days in a row (on my 2018 Honda Clarity) so I rolled back to 13.4 and have not seen the problem since. But keep in mind I'm not in my car nearly as much these days so the sample size is low.
So to go wireless I buy a very expensive single that plugs wired into my car. I buy a not wireless wireless charger which plugs into my car by wire. Then put my iPhone on the wireless charger
on planet rational thinking I just plug one wire into my phone with both charges the phone and connects to CarPlay. I think I’m missing something here in how wireless CarPlay makes my life easier especially if both it and wireless charging are not built into my car
For most journey's in my Jeep which has the Pioneer wireless CarPlay head my iPhone never leaves my pocket and I have full CarPlay, hands free phone and Siri without doing anything, it even works within a few yards of the car (still in my pocket). If I were on a long journey I can connect so it's charging too. What's not to like? I also have a Jaguar and a Volvo with wired CarPlay systems and they are a frickin' pain by comparison. Of course, I have no idea if this dongle comes close to the Pioneer experience which is just awesome.
I bought it the first time this article was published. Since then, I’ve had a love and hate relationship with this. When it works it works great, but it never fully connects to my Honda Accord.
It connects to my speakers just fine when I turn my car on, its the display that never connects to the screen. I have to unplug the device and plug it back in for it to work. Deleting the Bluetooth connection and re-concerting makes it work as well. Frustrated, I’ve given up forcing it to work. Come to find out that activating Siri will eventually make the display show up.
Another thing that will happen is the display freezing whilst I have my navigation running. The only way to make it work again is getting out and back in of CarPlay, but that only that lasts for a few more minutes before the map freezes again.
Anyone else have these issues?
Read all the reviews i found on the net and decided against wireless CarePlay. Instead, i bought a refurbished iPhone for € 125 and loaded only TomTom- navigation and my preferred radio-apps on it. Both the USB-A connection and this ‘dedicated’ iPhone are in the central armrest of my Mercedes and invisible. Hence, i have a rock solid ‘wireless CarPlay’ for less money.
This dongle is a piece of junk. Mine would not connect to Mazda CX-5(2020) Now I had to send back to “China” 17.50. Plus there is a restocking fee of 25. Another friend bought it and on his Mazda it lags, disconnects, and sound is horrible.
Comments
on planet rational thinking I just plug one wire into my phone with both charges the phone and connects to CarPlay. I think I’m missing something here in how wireless CarPlay makes my life easier especially if both it and wireless charging are not built into my car
The problems could be with your vehicles Bluetooth implementation or some other issue. Have you run the firmware update for the CarPlay adapter?
I bought this Qi charging mat
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GZZX37F/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I plug this charging pad into the dongle which is velcro'd under the dashboard in my 2019 Mazda 3, and the dongle plugs into the car's Carplay USB socket.
This has been working well. Can leave your phone in pocket or leave it on the Qi pad to charge wirelessly and use the car's Carplay system no problem.
Only issue is when you have 2 people (2 phones) registered to the system it sometimes won't change over to your desired user.
There is an another quick fix (easier than unplugging and replugguing the adaptor and waiting for it to reboot):-
usually the adaptor (and normal wireless carplay) initially connects by bluetooth and then sets up a wireless connection between the phone and the carplay system - and this is also why it (Apple Carplay) is so responsive, as it is using a wireless wifi connection for its functions and not bluetooth.
so when you have a phone connected to this dongle, you can go to your wifi settings and you'll see the wifi connection name that has been setup between the phone and the dongle. This will be the same wifi connection id every time... so if there's an issue with changing the carplay user, just go to your phone wifi settings and select the Cplay2Air wifi connection and you can then select your desired user on the carplay screen.
This can also be an issue due to your phone selectively staying on your home wifi connection, rather than the Carplay connection - and IOS has no function to give wifi connections priority.
So, only buy this if you have a good cellular connection wherever you start or end your drives. Keep in mind that location frequently might be a concrete parking garage with bad connectivity.
Hence, i have a rock solid ‘wireless CarPlay’ for less money.