CarPlay iOS 13 Carplay Thoughts

[QuarterSwede]

Yes, it looks great!! The image shows a standard size screen, so the album art is not limited to wide-screen displays. Finally!

Unfortunately that isn’t showing for everyone. I get album art in the Dashboard but not in Music. I reported it in feedback. For reference I have a Pioneer 4100-NEX. Basically, a widely used third party head unit.

 

[peleincubuss]

I have a car that needs a wired connection to use CarPlay. Can anyone please tell me if there is some type of device that I can connect to the wire enabling me to use the bluetooth between that device and my phone?

Thanks for any information.

 

[njhorn]

I have a car that needs a wired connection to use CarPlay. Can anyone please tell me if there is some type of device that I can connect to the wire enabling me to use the bluetooth between that device and my phone?

Thanks for any information.

don’t believe so. And my understanding is wireless CarPlay is actually a Wi-Fi connection not Bluetooth

 

[iBreatheApple]

Really glad they changed that. That alone is worth it, but the other changes sound good as well. What does music look like when it is playing now? Same as before? Also - can waze take up the whole screen now too? Thanks!

Agreed. This is the sole reason I use Bluetooth over CarPlay. That and I wish wireless was available in my $50k, 2019 Volvo. Ugh.

 

[twistedpixel8]

Agreed. This is the sole reason I use Bluetooth over CarPlay. That and I wish wireless was available in my $50k, 2019 Volvo. Ugh.

Hardly any car makers use wireless CarPlay and given how bad it is on BMWs, I can see why. I think car infotainment systems just don’t have the power to handle the wireless connection well enough to be smooth.

 

[AZhappyjack]

Hardly any car makers use wireless CarPlay and given how bad it is on BMWs, I can see why. I think car infotainment systems just don’t have the power to handle the wireless connection well enough to be smooth.

My Alpine ILX-107 (after-market) has wireless CarPlay and it's actually quite good. Not sure why you think car makers can't also crank out a quality CarPlay unit... It could be that they just don't want to bother, or they consider wired "good enough", but good wireless connection is possible if they really want to invest the effort.

 

[Breezygirl]

Hardly any car makers use wireless CarPlay and given how bad it is on BMWs, I can see why. I think car infotainment systems just don’t have the power to handle the wireless connection well enough to be smooth.

CarPlay could be greatly improved and has some issues but the wireless connection in my BMW is great. I couldn’t even imagine having to plug my phone in each time especially in a new car.

 

[iBreatheApple]

My Alpine ILX-107 (after-market) has wireless CarPlay and it's actually quite good. Not sure why you think car makers can't also crank out a quality CarPlay unit... It could be that they just don't want to bother, or they consider wired "good enough", but good wireless connection is possible if they really want to invest the effort.

Honestly I just don't like the clutter of a cable in my cabin all the time. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I keep my car very clean. And my Volvo is very high tech but minimalistic, and the cable just irks me and ruins the vibe.

 

[GDF]

Hardly any car makers use wireless CarPlay and given how bad it is on BMWs, I can see why. I think car infotainment systems just don’t have the power to handle the wireless connection well enough to be smooth.

I think wireless Carplay is great on both of our BMW's and can't imagine using a cord to use Carplay. Not sure where you are hearing Carplay is so bad on BMW's. Based on other cars I have driven, it is far and away the best experience..... I think it is a great experience!

 

[twistedpixel8]

I think wireless Carplay is great on both of our BMW's and can't imagine using a cord to use Carplay. Not sure where you are hearing Carplay is so bad on BMW's. Based on other cars I have driven, it is far and away the best experience..... I think it is a great experience!

Weird. I know a few owners in the uk who say the connection drops all the time or doesn’t connect in the first place and they have to cycle the car’s power.

Glad it works great for you though, I’d love to ditch the cable in my car!

 

[Coffee50]

My Alpine ILX-107 (after-market) has wireless CarPlay and it's actually quite good. Not sure why you think car makers can't also crank out a quality CarPlay unit... It could be that they just don't want to bother, or they consider wired "good enough", but good wireless connection is possible if they really want to invest the effort.

How is the battery drain when using wireless CarPlay? I'm concerned about the drain & temperature of the phone. I've read some comments where users say their phone gets very hot.

I was looking into getting the Alpine ILK -107, but Best Buy had a deal on a Pioneer 4500 unit. It offers wireless & wired connection, but I'm hoping to simply use wireless & would love to hear you thoughts & experiences on battery & heat, plus any other tips or insight you might have.

 

[AZhappyjack]

How is the battery drain when using wireless CarPlay? I'm concerned about the drain & temperature of the phone. I've read some comments where users say their phone gets very hot.

I was looking into getting the Alpine ILK -107, but Best Buy had a deal on a Pioneer 4500 unit. It offers wireless & wired connection, but I'm hoping to simply use wireless & would love to hear you thoughts & experiences on battery & heat, plus any other tips or insight you might have.

I'm in Arizona, so it's ALWAYS hot in my car... but I do notice the phone heating up on wireless CarPlay. I also have a Pitaka wireless charger mounted on the air conditioner vent ... but even then the phone gets warm ( probably a combination of the heat from the charger, the heat from wireless CarPlay, ambient heat and a little mitigation by the AC vent blowing directly on the unit) ... with that said, my battery is still at 100% after almost a full year.

The iOS 13 beta process has been a pretty rough ride at times... things work, then then don't work. I use Waze for navigation, and sometimes I get a black screen, other times it works perfectly. I really think that when the dust settles, CarPlay on iOS 13 will be really good. Looking forward to 3rd party apps being able to take advantage of the SplitScreen mode.

Some have asked about the quality of the sound, wired vs wireless... I have a Mazda MX-5 hardtop, and to be honest, the road noise can be a bit much, so it would negate any minor differences in audio quality.

Not sure if that helps, but if you have more questions, just ask.

 

[Coffee50]

I'm in Arizona, so it's ALWAYS hot in my car... but I do notice the phone heating up on wireless CarPlay. I also have a Pitaka wireless charger mounted on the air conditioner vent ... but even then the phone gets warm ( probably a combination of the heat from the charger, the heat from wireless CarPlay, ambient heat and a little mitigation by the AC vent blowing directly on the unit) ... with that said, my battery is still at 100% after almost a full year.

The iOS 13 beta process has been a pretty rough ride at times... things work, then then don't work. I use Waze for navigation, and sometimes I get a black screen, other times it works perfectly. I really think that when the dust settles, CarPlay on iOS 13 will be really good. Looking forward to 3rd party apps being able to take advantage of the SplitScreen mode.

Some have asked about the quality of the sound, wired vs wireless... I have a Mazda MX-5 hardtop, and to be honest, the road noise can be a bit much, so it would negate any minor differences in audio quality.

Not sure if that helps, but if you have more questions, just ask.

Thanks. Yeah, I'm prepared for the phone to get warm....it doesn't that when I use maps or Waze for long periods of time. I was just worried about the phone getting hot on a regular basis since I'm constantly in my car (LA / SoCal here, so car country). I'm going to look into getting a wireless charger & hope for the best...but good to hear that your battery is still operating at full capacity. I most likely will upgrade when the next iPhone is released, so hopefully there's some battery improvement & maybe something in IOS 13 that will help.

 

[OlliFlamme]

Glad it works great for you though, I’d love to ditch the cable in my car!

Me too, I am very satisfied with the wireless CarPlay experience: I had some gl itch es in the first months I must mention, and - sporadically - I need to re-pair my iPhone which happened like 3 or four times in the year that I own my car. Also, I am happy with sound quality and I am picky about that. I have set the Harmann Kardon equaliser to get a full sound and at times use the surround effect. I am doing great with that set of gadgets as a whole.

On the web, one can read about some G30 models having gli tche s with their software - AirPlay being one of the possible headaches amongst a few others. Also I read about it in car reviews of the early releases of the model. Those might perhaps be the proverbial bad apples...

How is the battery drain when using wireless CarPlay?

To be honest, I am very surprised after a year of using wireless CarPlay. It probably does affect battery life, but not significantly enough to make it a dealbreaker: Charging is needed mainly because of the battery being low in general, not because I drained it explicitly by freewheeling on Wireless Carplay.

Final addition:
I don’t have wireless charging in my BMW’s option package, and honestly it’s not a big deal. It is a combined option with a Wifi hotspot, which is ridiculously expensive and cumbersome, as in Europe you need to have a contract with a foreign - German - one option operator.
Secondly, the wireless charging mat doesn’t fit ... an Iphone 8 Plus.

The combo of wireless CarPlay and wireless charging however is an amazingly attractive one, in line with the ambition of Steve Jobs: remove the beed of cables as much as possible to make your life clutter-free.

If only I could stash away my iPhone 8 Plus in the middle, in a vertical charger like the 7 series, I would be blessed
Well, we cannot have it all...

 

[boltjames]

I think wireless Carplay is great on both of our BMW's and can't imagine using a cord to use Carplay. Not sure where you are hearing Carplay is so bad on BMW's. Based on other cars I have driven, it is far and away the best experience..... I think it is a great experience!

Wireless CarPlay is great on one of my BMW’s and a train wreck on the other. Different versions of iDrive produce dramatically different results.

And since CarPlay is a huge battery hog I have to plug it in to USB anyway so I’d actually prefer to give up the wireless for wired and get 100% reliable connectivity.

 

[GDF]

No way would I go back to wired on my BMW's or any car. That is taking a step back, as they both work great. Part of the tech that I love on our BMW's. Plus, I just put my iphone in the wireless charger too and have the best of both worlds!

 

[urbanmacUser]

Hardly any car makers use wireless CarPlay and given how bad it is on BMWs, I can see why. I think car infotainment systems just don’t have the power to handle the wireless connection well enough to be smooth.

Not bad on my M2, works exceptionally well.

 

[boltjames]

No way would I go back to wired on my BMW's or any car. That is taking a step back, as they both work great. Part of the tech that I love on our BMW's. Plus, I just put my iphone in the wireless charger too and have the best of both worlds!

If you had a 2019 X5 running iDrive 7 you would feel very differently, trust me.