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CarPlay CarPlay adapter to convert to wireless CarPlay?

chari said:
My environment on Mazda MX5, It is not happened normally. but I have experience to NOT connect CarPlay twice. at that time, I have remove/ON cable, then recovered without any issue. Firmware is 2021-03-06
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Use sync mode : normal and
and use "Background mode" you will get nearly zero message of Apple Carplay Failed

Since Background mode will hide the connection screen and wait until usb connection establish without usb timeout unlike normal mode.

With background mode you can use 0 startup delay as well.
Test on my Mazda 3.

Now I just wait until hourly reboot getting fix, everything will be perfect.
PS. I've test the Compatibility mode and it doesn't work well either.
 
What Firmware are you using? CFW or stock?

Also having some startup connection problems ("USB device not connected") with my MX5 (Feb CFW). Background mode made it worse. If the device is connected it works perfectly.

Whats also interesting: If I start the engine it is 50/50 connection success rate but if I only start to ACC (without the engine) it is almost 100%.

Going to try the March CFW.
 
Stock firmware with march update, Carlinkit 2.
I start engine every time.

I also enable Bluetooth with Mazda MZD but disable "Sync Contacts" on iPhone to reduce contact sync time when MZD start.
 
A few random observations.
I bought a branded CarLinkit 2.0 from AliExpress and I also bought the $30 red UI knockoff from Amazon and both reboot every 5 minutes or so with the March update. Both worked fine again after using the built-in rollback option.
I tried installing the custom UI from this thread but I screwed something up and after I re-installed a stock firmware from the repository on page 1, my red UI knockoff suddenly had the standard green UI.
So I'm not sure what, if any, differences there are between the models with the red UI and the green UI but as far as I can tell, they're cross-compatible.

I also bought the MMB Dongle Plus version from JoyeAuto (also from AliExpress) and the one thing it has going for it is the improved Bluetooth performance.
It's a little slower to boot compared to the CarLinkit clones but I can watch Apple TV (or any video app) on my phone's screen while having the audio play through my car speakers and the audio lag is much improved compared to the CarLinkit. It's noticeable but not distracting like the huge lag that the CarLinkit has.

That and the CarPlay UI itself is more consistently accurate on the MMB compared to the CarLinkit.
With the CarLinkit I noticed that the Go button when starting navigation in Apple Maps would sometimes be green and would sometimes be blue but with the MMB it is always the same green as with wired CarPlay.

Lastly I accidentally installed the firmware for the MMB Android box onto the MMB CarPlay Dongle Plus and it installed and ran just fine so I don't know what hardware differences there are but again, the firmware seems to be interchangeable.
I was able to reinstall the correct MMB CarPlay firmware and was back in business in just a few minutes.
 
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Perlnx said:
Stock firmware with march update, Carlinkit 2.
I start engine every time.

I also enable Bluetooth with Mazda MZD but disable "Sync Contacts" on iPhone to reduce contact sync time when MZD start.
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Hi, Thank you for your information. It is good idea to disable “Sync Contacs”. ”Sync contacts” is not required for CarPlay. I could reduce connection time !!
 
Bluesbroeder said:
You have a PM
Click to expand...
Mind shooting me a message as well?

Back on topic. I'm running the custom March firmware on a CarLinkit 2.0 in a 2018 Buick Regal and it seems to work fairly flawlessly. I have yet to use it on a journey longer than 45 minutes, but expect it to reboot on longer trips like others have seen here.
 
Rhetoric said:
Mind shooting me a message as well?

Back on topic. I'm running the custom March firmware on a CarLinkit 2.0 in a 2018 Buick Regal and it seems to work fairly flawlessly. I have yet to use it on a journey longer than 45 minutes, but expect it to reboot on longer trips like others have seen here.
Click to expand...
Same hardware & firmware as me, 3 hour each way journey last week, blank screen & then reboot just once about half way in each direction, not much of a problem, resumed both times were it left off.
 
SPG1 said:
Every single BMW has had wireless CarPlay since the 2017 model year. Mini actually got it first, but it was hidden in the software until BMW released it for their own cars. If you have a July 2016 or later Mini with the large screen you have Wireless CarPlay, just disabled in the software. Can be re-enabled with a tweak.
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Yup, mine is new so no hacks needed.

Also for anyone wondering, changing tracks has the same lag as the dongle did for me, which was minor on my Maserati, so it's a wireless carplay thing not a dongle thing.
 
LarryJoe33 said:
Yup, mine is new so no hacks needed.

Also for anyone wondering, changing tracks has the same lag as the dongle did for me, which was minor on my Maserati, so it's a wireless carplay thing not a dongle thing.
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Agreed. I had a 2018 BMW X5 with wireless carplay, and it had a slight lag too.
 
danielvuong said:
Does anyone here get a CarPlay failed message on their Mazda before the interface shows up on the screen? It’s not a big deal to me because it still connects afterwards but thought it was weird that it says CarPlay failed.
Click to expand...
Change in the settings to compatibility mode and change start up delay to 3s
 
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dalen3 said:
... Also, I ordered the new JoyeAuto WJUC-1 Model from aliexpress today, I'll report back when I get it how it compares to the Carlinkit version.
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I was wondering how things went with your JoyeAuto unit. People claim it is the same as CarLinkIt and CPlay2Air, but the feature set on their web page looks a little different -- including AirPlay as well as CarPlay. Anyone have direct experience? I have CPlay2Air and it's fairly good but not 100.
 
Carlinkit is the same as this Joyeauto. MMB is a different beast, featuring a much more potent processor with running an OS with its own car entertainment system (beside CarPlay) which is being "cast" via MirrorLink. I think it also supports the AirPlay Mirroring so you can cast things like YouTube or Netflix.

I am not really sold on the concept of the latter. I don't need the Mirroring to do things like YouTube. Plus it probably sips quite some power due to its "big" processor.
 
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I’ve spent a couple hours reading through this thread and it’s a pretty amazing thing to see such progress.

I have a 2020 Audi with CarPlay and I want to follow what many of you all have done here. I just don’t want to spend hundreds on a unit that *might* work well. Several of you have linked to Amazon for clone units in the $30 range, I believe. All the links are no longer to units for sale.

Where are you finding these?? Care to help me out? Thanks...
 
The cheap sales are quite rare and pop up from time to time. Buying a Carlinkit 2.0 from AliExpress should cost you about USD 100 and will almost always be fit for purpose. AliExpress do not release the payment to the seller until a set time has elapsed or you already have acknowledged receipt, so you have recourse if there is any problem.

Multiple edits to fix typos and “help” from autocorrect on my iPhone...
 
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Not sure where the misinformation on the WiFi frequency originated from, but let me state again that ALL carlinkit adapters use 5GHz WiFi. I have one of the originals from 2019 and used a WiFi sniffer to confirm this.

It's probably still better to look for the USB-C version as I do believe VLud found it has better antenna design, not to mention a detachable cable for more flexible install options. But in terms of the WiFi frequency, they're the same.
 
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I’m only on page 171 of this thread, so I might have missed a few things. I bought the Carlink 2.0, that I linked above. It arrived today and works perfectly. All my buttons work on the steering wheel, console, etc. There is a tiny lag, but that’s expected as well as barely noticeable using an iPhone 12 Pro.

From what I understand, if I update it with a custom firmware that will allow me to easily revert to earlier firmware should be necessary. I have no problem testing things out and updating firmware to get improvements. Beyond that I believe that using some of the custom firmware options listed on this forum I would have a reduced start up time. Other than that are there benefits that I’m not aware of?
 
The generally accepted principle, even recommended by CarlinkIt, is if it works fine for you currently then do not update it. Aside from improved compatibility with some car models, you are correct that the perceived improvements are mostly cosmetic. If you have stuttering audio or similar issues then running a more recent firmware version where you can vary additional parameters can be helpful.
 
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Is there anyone using it with the Grand Cherokee. Or the Uconnect in general. Would like to know your experience before deciding to buy.
 
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