CarPlay Anyone have a separate iPhone for CarPlay?

[MrMister111]

I have an iPhone 11 and wired CarPlay which works great.

Mostly do short journeys and it’s a bit of a pain where my cable is to plug in every journey. I’ve tried a wireless CarPlay dongle on here but doesn’t work.

Does anyone have a spare iPhone that they use and leave plugged in for CarPlay? Is this possible? Do you need a SIM in for data for maps etc?

I’m just wondering if this would work, could get an old iPhone and leave it permanently plugged in for use. Don’t want another SIM contract, but suppose could get a PAYG to keep enabled if required (I’m in UK).

What would/wouldn’t work?

 

[StuBFrost]

I tried this but couldn't work out how I could answer calls and send SMS on my contract phone so gave up.

 

[MrMister111]

I tried this but couldn't work out how I could answer calls and send SMS on my contract phone so gave up.

Just as reading this realised yes, would mean no txt or calls. Suppose could for maps though, if don’t need data or could personal hotspot to it suppose.

Not sure how calls and texts though.....

 

[bransoj]

Pre Carplay i used an old iPhone in my old car to play music but with CarPlay i dont really see any point in doing it. With CarPlay connected it stops, on my cars at least, bluetooth connections from other phones so i wouldnt be able to use my actual phone in anyway in the car just for the convenience of the other one being plugged in. Also think the plugged in phone will need access to data in some way either via a SIM or car Wifi if its an option to be able to use maps so effectively you've plugged it in and all you can use it for is to play music stored on the phone.

Takes seconds to plug the phone in and use CarPlay so i dont see any hassle in doing it for the benefits of it being connected via CarPlay.
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Just as reading this realised yes, would mean no txt or calls. Suppose could for maps though, if don’t need data or could personal hotspot to it suppose.

Not sure how calls and texts though.....

All seems a lot more hassle than just taking a second to plug a phone in....

 

[Itinj24]

Aren’t all calls and texts suppose to push to all your devices on the same iCloud account? What if you got a WiFi hotspot in your car? Would cost a bit more for the service but could that technically work? Just thinking out loud here...

 

[bransoj]

Aren’t all calls and texts suppose to push to all your devices on the same iCloud account? What if you got a WiFi hotspot in your car? Would cost a bit more for the service but could that technically work? Just thinking out loud here...

Yep it would probably work but seems a lot of messing about just so you dont have to spend about
two seconds plugging your phone in!!

 

[Itinj24]

Yep it would probably work but seems a lot of messing about just so you dont have to spend about
two seconds plugging your phone in!!

I understand but it’s really not much messing around. Most cars these days have a WiFi hotspot built in and it would just require plugging in a different phone with the same iCloud account and leaving it there. Just trying to give a solution to the OPs inquiry. No need for the double exclamation points lol

 

[uller6]

If you have tethering on your cell plan you could set up the car iPhone so that it connects to your personal hotspot from your pocket iPhone. Then iCloud syncing of texts/calls/etc. should work without any issues! In my opinion there isn't a compelling reason to do this other than just for fun.

 

[bransoj]

I understand but it’s really not much messing around. Most cars these days have a WiFi hotspot built in and it would just require plugging in a different phone with the same iCloud account and leaving it there. Just trying to give a solution to the OPs inquiry. No need for the double exclamation points lol

Yes my car has a wireless hotspot through OnStar which is fitted across GM cars although in the UK they've sold off Vauxhall to PSA Group meaning all cars currently fitted with OnStar will lose it at the end of 2020 with no new option available so that kills it as an option.

Even til then its an additional £9 a month for OnStar then you have to buy a data package for Wifi. The one time i bought some for use on a road trip in France it was £20 for 10Gb that lasted until it was all used or 28 days and you lost what you hadnt used. Cost soon adds up just to use a second phone instead of just plugging a phone in when you want CarPlay. There is probably a better way using the hotspot of your main phone but if you do that you will eat the battery and probably need the phone plugged in anyway to charge it whilst you are using it as a hotspot in which case you may as well just plug it in for CarPlay.

This all strikes me as one of those situations where there are ways of doing it differently but none of them are as easy as just plugging the phone in to start with.

 

[compwiz1202]

Yea it probably depends on your car's system. Ours you can have multiple phones whether Bluetooth or Carplay, and can pick which is used for audio, and can get at least calls I know on either. Not totally sure about messages. Would have to test that. Now for the maps part, I guess you could either use an app that lets you download maps locally, or use a hotspot like said.

 

[malcky77]

@MrMister111
You said in your opening post that it’s mostly short journeys you do? So just local drives in your area, so do you need maps for local drives?
You didn’t really say what you actually need CarPlay for exactly? Does your car not have Bluetooth that allows streaming of music? Calls should be fine via the cars Bluetooth.
I personally would never pay extra money monthly in order to get a second phone permanently connected to CarPlay, I would get a longer lightning cable so it’s placed in a better position for your car.

 

[MikeX]

iphone would not have battery next time you start driving the car. get a proper dock instead or just get used to pluging the phone. or get a car with wireless carplay. bmw 7 series has it.

 

[MrMister111]

Please delete

 

[nicho]

or get a car with wireless carplay. bmw 7 series has it.

That certainly seems like a cost-efficient option.

 

[Itinj24]

ProClip makes some really clean and sturdy mounting options with lightning cable pre installed. Just slide the phone in and good to go.