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This is utter silliness. How hard is it to just use the actual Apple Music app? It’s a swipe away.

What’s next, Waze access from within Apple Music?
 
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finally. waze is still the best mapping app IMO.
Oh, yeah. I'd love to move to Apple Maps, but it is just so problematic still...

Last week, we were driving to someone's business - so I plugged the address into Apple Maps. Everything seemed fine, for most of the drive... then Apple Maps started changing the route. We went 10 blocks past the location, then Apple changed route again and took us another 20 blocks further away - and wanted us to keep driving the same direction. Since I had a vague memory of the street number for the business, I realized things were going wonky - so I pulled over, killed Apple Maps and launched Waze. Waze had us make an immediate U-turn, go back 30 blocks the other way and got us to the correct location.

I wish this were an isolated incident; but in my experience it's a 50-50 gamble whether Apple Maps is going to actually work for me. And I live in the Seattle area, where Apple has a significant presence.
 
Pathetic that this doesn't work with the Music app on its own—Google Maps makes it work, it clearly could be done.
 
I tried using waze and I didn't like it all that much. Apple Maps and Google Maps brought in traffic lights to navigation and it has been so incredibly helpful. With Waze, you only go by feet so I would tend to miss turns because the whole Feet thing always seemed off.
 
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oh you can do it. I did in my truck, new pioneer headunit with wireless carplay plus idatalink to handle all the vehicle controls and information normally controlled through the headunit and it was $800. A quick look on crutchfield shows carplay headunits as low as $230 and that's retail. Install kit with a new bezel and wiring isn't much. Depending on things you can do it in your driveway in a couple of hours. It's not hard. Go to an installer and it will cost more of course. Some vehicles do have unique setups so in some few cases it could be more difficult.

Using a retro kit and taking our mazda to the dealer to do it is $400.

Yeah I'm not handy AT ALL so no way I would attempt it myself. I was also adding a backup camera, which added another couple hundred bucks. My car also would have needed a harness kit or something like it to use with my steering wheel controls. Regardless, after 3 different quotes it was too much to invest in a decade old car that I hope to only have for another couple years.
 
True. Though you can add an aftermarket stereo to get carplay. I have. Some older cars that didn't have carplay you can get retro kits to enable it in certain cases, without having to replace the headunit, such as in my wifes 2018 mazda.
There are also various adapters you can use to add carplay to existing stereos as long as they have displays.

So several options if one wishes. Carplay is pretty amazing.
Not everyone is going to add an aftermarket stereo so they need to provide other options.

I have a 2015 Dodge Challenger that would cost me thousands to upgrade the stereo even if I could because it ties in to more than just the stereo as it controls my climate controls, performance pages, and built in navigation.

Adding another stereo is not always the best option.
 
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Not everyone is going to add an aftermarket stereo so they need to provide other options.

I have a 2015 Dodge Challenger that would cost me thousands to upgrade the stereo even if I could because it ties in to more than just the stereo as it controls my climate controls, performance pages, and built in navigation.

Adding another stereo is not always the best option.
Note how I said "If one wishes". If you don't want to that's cool. Certainly not for everyone in all circumstances. Perhaps you simply don't want to spend the money. Nothing wrong with that.

I have a 2015 dodge ram. So same setup. Not thousands. Less than $1000 for the headunit and idatalink($160) which ties all those vehicle settings into the new headunit. And your steering wheel controls still work. Also climate and other settings and adds instant trouble codes when you get a check engine light so no need for a OBD2 scanner to see what's up. The headunit I have also has built in nav though I don't use it as there are plenty of free nav options on your phone that work with carplay.

You can also get a direct replacement newer uconnect headunit from a 2018 model that will give you carplay and better performance. Last I checked was 4ish years ago and it was $1200 then. No idea what it is now. But it drops right in. There was a company selling them, I just don't recall their name.

You also don't have to necessarily replace the headunit as there are adapters that can fit in between your phone and the headunit and add carplay. Though i've not personally tested these.
 
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finally. waze is still the best mapping app IMO.
It works ok for me, but it's by far the ugliest UI from the options I use. (It, Apple Maps, Audi's maps) But it is the best for knowing when there are cops ahead. From what I've experienced, Apple is the best with the turn by turn directions. Example:

Audi/Google/Waze all tell me, "Take the next right" as the only instruction. It MEANS to say do it AFTER the light, but if you didn't know, you'd turn at the light. Apple will tell me, "Take the next right after the light." (This was all at the same intersection when I was testing them all out at separate times.
 
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i would the majority does not. there are far more older cars on the road than newer cars. walk through any parking lot you'll see way more phone mounts on dash boards than carplay-enabled screens.
Except….I see phone mounts even on the cars that I know have CarPlay lol!
 
Note how I said "If one wishes". If you don't want to that's cool. Certainly not for everyone in all circumstances. Perhaps you simply don't want to spend the money. Nothing wrong with that.

I have a 2015 dodge ram. So same setup. Not thousands. Less than $1000 for the headunit and idatalink($160) which ties all those vehicle settings into the new headunit. And your steering wheel controls still work. Also climate and other settings and adds instant trouble codes when you get a check engine light so no need for a OBD2 scanner to see what's up. The headunit I have also has built in nav though I don't use it as there are plenty of free nav options on your phone that work with carplay.

You can also get a direct replacement newer uconnect headunit from a 2018 model that will give you carplay and better performance. Last I checked was 4ish years ago and it was $1200 then. No idea what it is now. But it drops right in. There was a company selling them, I just don't recall their name.

You also don't have to necessarily replace the headunit as there are adapters that can fit in between your phone and the headunit and add carplay. Though i've not personally tested these.
Yeah as much as I would love to change out the head unit to accommodate CarPlay and 4G, I just can't see myself paying $1200 plus dollars for it. With the chip shortage being what it is I'd be surprised if I could find one at a decent price. That and I've heard from several people the newer radios have multiple problems.
 
Yeah as much as I would love to change out the head unit to accommodate CarPlay and 4G, I just can't see myself paying $1200 plus dollars for it. With the chip shortage being what it is I'd be surprised if I could find one at a decent price. That and I've heard from several people the newer radios have multiple problems.
Yep and here we go. For the low low price of only $2399.95

 
Hmm, hope this is a workaround for Apple Music on Android Automotive. There’s a Waze app. Might be a while till it’s updated though.
 
Huge! Just updated & tried it. Lovely! Now if only Muskboy lets us Tesla owners have CarPlay, my eDriving experience will be complete (since I can’t seem to come up with more pocket change).

Hmm, hope this is a workaround for Apple Music on Android Automotive. There’s a Waze app. Might be a while till it’s updated though.
Update available now.
 
This is utter silliness. How hard is it to just use the actual Apple Music app? It’s a swipe away.

What’s next, Waze access from within Apple Music?
One screen comes to mind, do you use Waze? Are you one of those people cruising down the freeway playing with your phone…
 
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When the average age of a car on the road today is 12.2 years, that's not a majority.

What an interesting statistic. I didn’t realize there was one like this out there. Thanks for posting. I often feel like I see so many new cars on the road, I didn’t realize that when you average it all out that the average car age is still about 12 years old.

I say this as the happy daily driver of a vehicle nearly double that age. I love it. The climate activists/EPA can pry it out of my cold, dead hands. :p
 
True. Though you can add an aftermarket stereo to get carplay. I have. Some older cars that didn't have carplay you can get retro kits to enable it in certain cases, without having to replace the headunit, such as in my wifes 2018 mazda.
There are also various adapters you can use to add carplay to existing stereos as long as they have displays.

So several options if one wishes. Carplay is pretty amazing.
No... that is not a solution for many. A new stereo is expensive for many.
 
Last week, we were driving to someone's business - so I plugged the address into Apple Maps. Everything seemed fine, for most of the drive... then Apple Maps started changing the route. We went 10 blocks past the location, then Apple changed route again and took us another 20 blocks further away - and wanted us to keep driving the same direction. Since I had a vague memory of the street number for the business, I realized things were going wonky - so I pulled over, killed Apple Maps and launched Waze. Waze had us make an immediate U-turn, go back 30 blocks the other way and got us to the correct location.
I use Apple Maps with CarPlay every day and I've not had this kind of problem. I did try Waze recently after a long absence from it. It worked fine. My main issue with it was the voice. It sounds angry or annoyed. My route brings me near several railroad crossings. Waze makes sure I know, in the most annoying way possible. I do like Waze's calculation of my speed and the crowd sourcing, but Apple has a report button now and I do see reports of crashes from time to time. My friend, when she gets into my car, unplugs my phone and plugs her's in. So I then have to rely on her choice of Google Maps. It seems to make different choices from Apple. More side-streets it seems. My issue with Apple Maps is how it hasn't updated a speed limit change in my area for nearly a year now, and places where U-Turns are illegal, but Apple Maps proposes it.
 
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