CarPlay Carplay Maps go into "night mode" later than sunset...

[Derek87]

i recently installed a Pioneer 4500NEX in my car and i noticed that the Maps don't go into the "night mode" (gray color streets rather than daylight white) until well after sunset. last night, the maps finally flipped into this "night mode" at 6:58pm Pacific Time. that's almost 2 hours after sunset.

Curiously, i have "dark mode" set to automatic. that shift into dark mode (interface becomes dark, but maps do not) does occur properly at or around sunset.

anyone else seen this odd behavior? i don't think i ever saw this when i used my phone separately in a car mount (i didn't try to pull my phone out last night to compare while i was driving ), but i do find the bright head unit screen distracting until it shifts into "night mode."

 

[AZhappyjack]

i recently installed a Pioneer 4500NEX in my car and i noticed that the Maps don't go into the "night mode" (gray color streets rather than daylight white) until well after sunset. last night, the maps finally flipped into this "night mode" at 6:58pm Pacific Time. that's almost 2 hours after sunset.

Curiously, i have "dark mode" set to automatic. that shift into dark mode (interface becomes dark, but maps do not) does occur properly at or around sunset.

anyone else seen this odd behavior? i don't think i ever saw this when i used my phone separately in a car mount (i didn't try to pull my phone out last night to compare while i was driving ), but i do find the bright head unit screen distracting until it shifts into "night mode."

I don't have this issue... but curious if it works properly on your phone... CarPlay simply uses the auto head unit as an additional display... so it's simply displaying what the phone is generating. There may be a setting in the Pioneer settings for auto night mode... and typically day/night is set by location/time zone...

As far as the brightness, there should be some settings within the head unit for that (I use the Alpine ILX-107).

Not sure if any of that helps...

 

[Derek87]

thanks dwfaust...yeah, i had assumed that Carplay was just mimicking my phone. i probably need to pull my phone out to see if it's doing it too. i never noticed it before, so i don't know if this is a coincidence or somehow i just didn't notice previously.

i haven't found any setting on my phone that determines/how when Maps goes into this "night mode."

yes, the head unit is dimming based on my headlights. it's not blinding, but it definitely is less distracting when the maps are "gray" as i would expect them to be based on time of day.

 

[AZhappyjack]

thanks dwfaust...yeah, i had assumed that Carplay was just mimicking my phone. i probably need to pull my phone out to see if it's doing it too. i never noticed it before, so i don't know if this is a coincidence or somehow i just didn't notice previously.

i haven't found any setting on my phone that determines/how when Maps goes into this "night mode."

yes, the head unit is dimming based on my headlights. it's not blinding, but it definitely is less distracting when the maps are "gray" as i would expect them to be based on time of day.

If you are using Apple Maps, I don't recall seeing a day/night switch in settings either... I use Waze most of the time and keep it set to Dark mode... works well most of the time... it it's in a Mazda MX-5 with retractible hardtop... and the screen gets washed out pretty easily when the top is down and I am driving away from the sun.

 

[CTHarrryH]

I have the "other" end of the issue - it turns to day mode much later than other things and the phone. I wonder if it is using some other time zone than I am in

 

[Derek87]

Well. It certainly is buggy. Last night after work at 530p, it automatically used dark maps.

Let’s hope this is more the norm.

 

[jaytv111]

I'm not sure what it does with an alternative head unit, but I have OEM Carplay and night mode comes on whenever the car headlights are on, regardless of time of the day.

 

[Derek87]

I'm not sure what it does with an alternative head unit, but I have OEM Carplay and night mode comes on whenever the car headlights are on, regardless of time of the day.

this is a good data point. i'll have to try playing with my headlights, but i'm guessing that they don't come into play with my car. the other night, my headlights were clearly on, and the maps were still in "day mode."

yet, since i found the problem on thursday night, both friday and saturday evening, the maps were dark when i would expect them to be in the early evening (within an hour of sunset).

 

[Derek87]

re-opening this thread after some more testing on my part.

- i still am having this problem sporadically (maybe 1/3 of the time)
- it is NOT related to my headlights. i can use Auto or force them on, and it doesn't affect the light/dark mode of maps
- it is not affected by my dimmer level
- again, it is sporadic: one day i'll have it work properly at 5:30pm (sunset is before 5), and another day, it is 7:30pm and i have light maps.
- it usually corrects itself after about 10-15 minutes of driving
- Google Maps works properly
- my phone which is always in dark mode, will show dark maps on its screen
- dark mode is working overall on the interface of Carplay except for Apple maps (ie, i have dark mode set to auto and the menus/home screen are appropriately dark between sunset and sunrise even though maps are in "light mode")

i've reported it to Apple and hoping a fix comes at some point. i am guessing its an ios13 issue since Google Maps works just fine.

 

[linkgx1]

How do you like the 4500 NEX overall? I'm getting it installed this weekend.

 

[Derek87]

How do you like the 4500 NEX overall? I'm getting it installed this weekend.

i love it. see my review in another thread. i only wish i had done it sooner. the wireless CarPlay is game changing, IMHO.

 

[Derek87]

revisiting this thread as it is driving me bonkers. this is, i believe an ios13 issue.

here are some random anecdotes:

- it happens sporadically...maybe 25% of the time it fails to show a dark map. if i drive long enough (10-15min) and am patient, it ultimately corrects itself and goes into dark mode.
- Google maps works fine so when i'm unwilling to be patient, i switch to it.
- i can "fix it" if i play with my phone and switch between "auto dark mode" and "dark mode"...
- i recently realized that dark mode isn't working on my phone either for maps all the time so that's why i think this is an ios13 problem.... eg, if i have my phone in dark mode, but the switch to light and set it to automatic...it won't go back to dark until the next day. in that case, the map shown will be "light." before iOS 13, the map would alway go to a dark/night mode after sunset.

on evening, i had the maps properly in dark mode on the way to a restaurant to pick up take out (6pm), but when i returned home, it was back in light mode! very weird!

is anyone else seeing this or something similar?

 

[Einz]

It seems to be your head unit and iOS 13. Any new firmware update for your head unit?

My factory head unit has no issue with auto day or night mode for any map app. it is not based on sun set/rise, but the light sensor that turns the lights on when it is dark.

 

[Ntombi]

I also have the 4500NEX, and mine switches within 10-15 minutes of my headlights going from daytime running to fully on. (I have a 2007 Toyota Corolla, and never touch my lights, if that makes a difference.)

My phone is set to go to dark mode way late, like midnight or something, so it’s not connected to that at all.

I exclusively use Apple Maps, and have an 11 Pro, if that matters.

 

[Derek87]

I also have the 4500NEX, and mine switches within 10-15 minutes of my headlights going from daytime running to fully on. (I have a 2007 Toyota Corolla, and never touch my lights, if that makes a difference.)

My phone is set to go to dark mode way late, like midnight or something, so it’s not connected to that at all.

I exclusively use Apple Maps, and have an 11 Pro, if that matters.

thanks for sharing this...it must be some strange interaction between my head unit and the Subaru. are you using an idatalink Maestro to connect everything?

it's so strange that Google Maps works and its intermittent. also, i have learned that i can guarantee fix it but force quitting Apple Maps on my phone (XS)...

i'm half-tempted to refresh the OS on my phone to see if that somehow helps yet not sure i want to go through all that effort. i find it hard to believe it's something on the car side of things given the fact that force quitting Apple Maps can fix the problem (phone side), yet your anecdote makes me think there are some subtle issues going on. in my experience, my dark mode is triggered not by my headlights, but by the time of day. does your map go to dark mode if you turn on your headlights during the day?

what are your settings on the 4500NEX? are you setting it to dark mode automatically on the 4500? or all the time? this setting don't seem to affect this bug i've encountered as dark mode does appear properly on the rest of the interface...just not Apple Maps.

finally, what firmware are you running. i don't see anything beyond the 1.01 which my head unit is running.
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It seems to be your head unit and iOS 13. Any new firmware update for your head unit?

My factory head unit has no issue with auto day or night mode for any map app. it is not based on sun set/rise, but the light sensor that turns the lights on when it is dark.

thanks for the reply. i don't think there is any update for my 4500NEX head unit.

it's interesting that your car bases its dark mode on the light sensor. mine seems definitely tied to sunrise/sunset for both Google Maps and the overall CarPlay interface on the head unit.

 

[Ntombi]

thanks for sharing this...it must be some strange interaction between my head unit and the Subaru. are you using an idatalink Maestro to connect everything?

My car is too old. It technically is, but my car doesn’t have any of that data.

i'm half-tempted to refresh the OS on my phone to see if that somehow helps yet not sure i want to go through all that effort. i find it hard to believe it's something on the car side of things given the fact that force quitting Apple Maps can fix the problem (phone side), yet your anecdote makes me think there are some subtle issues going on. in my experience, my dark mode is triggered not by my headlights, but by the time of day. does your map go to dark mode if you turn on your headlights during the day?

what are your settings on the 4500NEX? are you setting it to dark mode automatically on the 4500? or all the time? this setting don't seem to affect this bug i've encountered as dark mode does appear properly on the rest of the interface...just not Apple Maps.

I saw your question about me physically turning on the lights too late, but I’ll try to it tomorrow.

I just checked the NEX settings, and the dimmer is set to automatic. The CarPlay settings are also set to automatic.





I wonder if yours is set that way in one place, but not the other?

finally, what firmware are you running. i don't see anything beyond the 1.01 which my head unit is running.

That’s what mine is on as well. I got mine installed the week of Thanksgiving.

it's interesting that your car bases its dark mode on the light sensor. mine seems definitely tied to sunrise/sunset for both Google Maps and the overall CarPlay interface on the head unit.

it's interesting that your car bases its dark mode on the light sensor. mine seems definitely tied to sunrise/sunset for both Google Maps and the overall CarPlay interface on the head unit.

Mine is definitely based on my car’s light sensor.

 

[Derek87]

thanks for your very thorough post. i really appreciate all the time and effort you put into commenting on such a complete basis.

the Maestro interface i was referring to was what was used to interface my 4500NEX with the steering wheel controls and harnesses from the factory stereo. i guess if you don't have any steering wheel controls, the wiring is simpler.

i will need to check to confirm but i'm pretty sure my dimmer is set to automatic, as well as my CarPlay setting on the NEX. the reason for my deduction (prior to checking) is that my screen brightness dims when i turn my headlights on and off. this works both at night and day (if i shut the headlights to fully off, the screen is bright, when it is in AUTO, it will be dim if its dark enough outside to trigger my headlights, and i can force the display to dim by turning my headlights to formally ON).

i have tried my CarPlay setting to always on or auto for dark, to no real effect.

what i have not done, however, is play with google maps to see if i can force it into "light mode" at night with the headlights off, etc. i will need to play with this.

i still strongly suspect that Apple Maps on my phone itself is the culprit, yet, hearing anecdotes that others with ios13 don't have issues makes me wonder if there is some strange "recipe" of settings that is leading to my sporadic behavior of Apple Maps working properly or not.

right now in daylight, when i pull up Apple Maps on my phone, it starts off dark -- just showing the Map (i have my phone set to dark mode all the time,), but when i start navigating, it goes to light. Google maps right now is light whether i am just showing the map or navigating.

by the way, i confirmed that Waze works properly too and is dark when it should be. (this morning, both Google Maps and Waze were dark at 6:45am during my commute, but Apple Maps was "bright" until i force quit apple maps and restarted it)

My car is too old. It technically is, but my car doesn’t have any of that data.


I saw your question about me physically turning on the lights too late, but I’ll try to it tomorrow.

I just checked the NEX settings, and the dimmer is set to automatic. The CarPlay settings are also set to automatic.



Mine is definitely based on my car’s light sensor.

 

[Derek87]

following up: i am using the same setting as Ntombi -- dimmer on NEX set to Auto, and CarPlay dark mode set to Auto. i have tried two experiments in the last day (two dark scenarios):

1. force quitting Maps as an app on my phone even before getting into the car: dark mode properly pops up.
2. starting navigation this morning before leaving the house (and canceling it immediately): dark mode properly works when i get in the car.

these aren't surprising because my suspicion is that somehow Maps on my phone gets into a weird state of not checking the time of day. as i noted in my my previous post, Maps, during the day, looks "dark" when the map is showing and it's not in navigation mode, but as soon as one enters navigation mode, it goes light.

i should also note that Google maps is "light" during the day on my phone, even with my phone set to Dark Mode all the time.

 

[Ntombi]

I’m sorry, life got in the way and I forgot to check what happens if I manually turn on the lights. I’ll check that and update today.

I’ll try to make sure Maps isn’t opened before I do. That’s interesting.

 

[Derek87]

I’m sorry, life got in the way and I forgot to check what happens if I manually turn on the lights. I’ll check that and update today.

I’ll try to make sure Maps isn’t opened before I do. That’s interesting.

no worries at all. i'm continuing to be baffled by this problem. the only thing i haven't tried which i may try the next few days is to leave my phone in "light mode" all the time to see if that solves the problem. that's not a real solution since i like dark mode on my phone.

of course, this is a first world problem. if i really want to use apple maps, i can either force quit maps before i get into my car or get directions before getting into my car, or as i said before, use Google maps. it's just annoying bug that is likely to due to Apple not fully thinking through how dark mode interacts with maps and CarPlay.

hope this gets fixed in ios14 or some update to ios13.

 

[Ntombi]

Okay, I ran a couple of tests today. Here’s what happened.

In broad daylight, when I manually turned on the lights, the display immediately dimmed (just like the dash lights), but did not go into dark mode. It's like the iPhone display automatically adjusting from inside to direct sunlight, or vice versa.

I did this a couple of times over the course of running errands, and got the same results each time. I left the lights on for at least ten minutes once, and it never went to dark mode. I had not opened Maps at all today until I got into the car.

I was out and about as it turned to evening, and when we got Just past twilight, the display automatically went into dark mode, including Maps (I was in the split screen mode at that point).

I don’t know why yours is so weird; mine seems to be working as it’s supposed to.

 

[Derek87]

thank you for following up.

your car is behaving as i would expect it to, and at least, it seems consistent with my car when things are working, as in:

- the maps shouldn't go into dark mode (given the way Apple has set up Apple Maps on the phone itself) until after sunset, even in dark mode.
- headlights only affect the dimming of the display brightness
- Apple Maps should go into dark mode between sunset and sunrise.

i only have a single data point, but today at least, with my phone set to light mode all the time, the maps were light when it was just around twilight on my train ride. when i got into my car 15 minutes later, the maps popped into dark mode on the car stereo. but this doesn't mean a whole lot because with all the different permutations i've tried, it usually works at least 50% of the time. i just can't find the commonality of when it fails.

again, i think there is some bug in ios13.3 itself. for whatever reason, there is some condition where Apple Maps via CarPlay becomes unaware of it being between sunset and sunrise. if i force quit the app, when it starts up, it immediately goes into the proper dark mode. it's as if it doesn't perform a "check" properly if the app is already in memory and running.

i should say that in the cases where i've actually been driving around sunset/twilight, it has turned to dark mode as you suggest. but i'm usually not driving right during those hours. it's usually when its already been dark for at least a half hour or hour than i've run into this problem or i am heading to work before sunrise and my map starts up in light mode.

Okay, I ran a couple of tests today. Here’s what happened.

In broad daylight, when I manually turned on the lights, the display immediately dimmed (just like the dash lights), but did not go into dark mode. It's like the iPhone display automatically adjusting from inside to direct sunlight, or vice versa.

I did this a couple of times over the course of running errands, and got the same results each time. I left the lights on for at least ten minutes once, and it never went to dark mode. I had not opened Maps at all today until I got into the car.

I was out and about as it turned to evening, and when we got Just past twilight, the display automatically went into dark mode, including Maps (I was in the split screen mode at that point).

I don’t know why yours is so weird; mine seems to be working as it’s supposed to.

 

[Derek87]

update: my leaving the phone in light mode also failed. i think i've tried every conceivable variation of settings that might help with this bug, but i haven't found the magic bullet.

the only foolproof fix is force quitting Apple Maps before i get into the car or using Google Maps or Waze instead.

i hope someone at apple is looking into this (i've sent reports via Maps App as well as Apple feedback on web)

 

[ashman5]

any update with the latest release of 13.4? I have a 2016 Camry and 4500NEX and rarely does the Maps go dark. The CarPlay interface goes dark but not the maps display.

 

[Derek87]

with shelter-in-place, i haven't been driving at night, so no way to test this out. that being said, i haven't updated to 13.4 as i don't have any compelling needs for the features offered and lately, i've been gun shy of apple adding new features at the expense of bugs/problems.