I was sooooo excited to get my Mercedes in 2016 that had CarPlay. I don't think I've used it more than twice or thrice. The GPS Nav on the Benz is much better than Apple Maps, there is limited apps available for CarPlay really and although iMessage on the screen is nice, you really can't do anything more with it than you can on the regular Mercedes Benz infotainment unit. If you really want to have to have the full IOS experience on your dash, you need some aftermarket products to mirror the screen and then you can use Waze, G Maps, or pretty much anything you want on it, not just what Apple has allowed into an even more secured garden.
Oh, and my infotainment unit from Mercedes even has a built in Web Browser and some of the same music apps that CarPlay has. Not to mention, Siri is automatically routed through my head unit if I really wanted to use it (I never do.) or on my wrist already with the Apple Watch.
I do like the few music apps that are available on it, Amazon Music, Spotify, Tidal, etc... but again, the functionality is limited for safety reasons.
Android Auto isn't as restrictive.
I'll get a new Mercedes next year again, but I won't really care if CarPlay is not on it. I hear BMW is going to do CarPlay as a subscription model. LOL Good luck to them!
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They now have wireless CarPlay available, but really.... it seems silly when you think about the battery you're using to run things on the phone while driving around anyhow. I'd rather just USB it and let it charge. :shrug:
I couldn’t believe it when I heard BMW were going to be doing a CarPlay subscription. Good luck to them, it’s really not worth it.
I know there’s wireless now, my car unfortunately is wired only at the moment, unless they do an update.
But even with wireless CarPlay and a wireless charger for the phone, I still think I’d be inclined to use the manufacturers option.
When I was deciding on my trim level and so on, I made sure it had CarPlay, I really did want it. But having used it, meh.
Unless I’m missing something which someone could enlighten me on, the manufacturers system just does it all anyway and in some ways, better.
I even like that my car sends me an email every week with the status of all the main components, my oil level and condition, tyre pressures, fuel level, average mpg and so on. CarPlay doesn’t tie into any of that kind of information.
If there was something CarPlay did that was considerably better, or that the manufacturers system didn’t have, then maybe I’d use it. But as it stands for me it’s just another feature I don’t use.
Perhaps once I’ve more fully explored available apps I might change my mind, but thus far I’ve not found any apps that would convince me to use it. In fact I’ve only found 9 apps to add to it, none of which I need. Does anyone know how to find more apps easily?
Kind of like watching videos on the screen in the front, useless to me if I’m driving, but fine for the passenger. CarPlay falls into that category for me.