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iPhone 12 Pro Max CarPlay wireless adapter

S

Susja

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 22, 2017
201
7
I've bought a new Mazda cx-30 and wanted to enable CarPlay. I did it with no issues when my phone was connected via cable.
When I disconnected cable CarPlay automatically disconnected too.
My question: is CarPlay supported only via cable?
Is it correct that only using CarPlay wireless adapter support wireless connection?
Thanks
 
Don't know anything about your Mazda, but I have an iPhone 12 Pro Max and it works perfectly with a wireless connection on my 2023 Volkswagen Taos. So, if your car actually has built-in wireless CarPlay, the 12 Pro Max should be able to use it.
 
akash.nu said:
Nope, it works via Bluetooth as well.
Click to expand...
Wireless Carplay needs more than just a Bluetooth connection to work, pretty much every modern car will have bluetooth these days but the car maker needs to do a bit more to enable it and for some reason most arent bothering. In fact there have been some makers, looking at you BMW, who tried to make enabling wired Carplay a cost option for a long time.

I've been using CarPlay in our car for over 5 years now and plugging a wire in is hardly a big issue. I've got my cable set up so just enough is dangling free to reach the phone where it goes to be plugged in. Takes barely a second to plug in and Carplay fires up and the phone is charging.
 
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Wireless CarPlay is getting pretty common; my 2020 Chevy was wire but my 2022 is wireless. That said, using an adapter isn’t a big deal at all. Costs about $100 and I never had a glitch with the one in my 2020 for the 2 years I used it.
 
CTHarrryH said:
To me you also really need the wireless charging
Click to expand...

I agree. What's the point of wireless carplay if you have to plug the phone in to charge anyway? My car has wireless charging which works well, although it takes up a big space in the console that was useful for storage in my old car. And the VW software is annoying, constantly popping up an alert on the car screen that the phone is charging.
 
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The problem with bluetooth CarPlay is that you forget that navigation in your car and other functions drains your iPhone battery. So you end up plugging your iPhone in just to keep it charged up anyway.

And using CarPlay wired has much much lower latency than using it over bluetooth. You're never quite sure whether Siri heard you or not.
 
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mblm85 said:
The problem with bluetooth CarPlay is that you forget that navigation in your car and other functions drains your iPhone battery. So you end up plugging your iPhone in just to keep it charged up anyway.

And using CarPlay wired has much much lower latency than using it over bluetooth. You're never quite sure whether Siri heard you or not.
Click to expand...

I haven’t noticed as much battery drain with Bluetooth CarPlay is I’m honest. Maybe because I’m on the Pro Max model.
 
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I haven't noticed any latency with the built-in wireless Carplay on my VW, but maybe a wireless adapter would be worse. Overall, the experience is much better than my old VW that only had wired Carplay.
 
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Susja said:
I've bought a new Mazda cx-30 and wanted to enable CarPlay. I did it with no issues when my phone was connected via cable.
When I disconnected cable CarPlay automatically disconnected too.
My question: is CarPlay supported only via cable?
Is it correct that only using CarPlay wireless adapter support wireless connection?
Thanks
Click to expand...
You just bought the wrong car :eek:
 
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bransoj said:
Wireless Carplay needs more than just a Bluetooth connection to work, pretty much every modern car will have bluetooth these days but the car maker needs to do a bit more to enable it and for some reason most arent bothering. In fact there have been some makers, looking at you BMW, who tried to make enabling wired Carplay a cost option for a long time.

I've been using CarPlay in our car for over 5 years now and plugging a wire in is hardly a big issue. I've got my cable set up so just enough is dangling free to reach the phone where it goes to be plugged in. Takes barely a second to plug in and Carplay fires up and the phone is charging.
Click to expand...
Agree. I wouldn't mind getting a vehicle with wireless when we need one but wouldn't just get a new one to get wireless. It worked well on the Chevy Malibu we rented for a few days, but I never got to hunt to see if it had a wireless charging pad anywhere. Not sure if I saw any USB ports either. Just the big ones you can hook full car chargers to.
 
compwiz1202 said:
Agree. I wouldn't mind getting a vehicle with wireless when we need one but wouldn't just get a new one to get wireless. It worked well on the Chevy Malibu we rented for a few days, but I never got to hunt to see if it had a wireless charging pad anywhere. Not sure if I saw any USB ports either. Just the big ones you can hook full car chargers to.
Click to expand...
There are plenty of cars out there where they went to the bother of fitting wireless charging pads but not wireless CarPlay so you still had to plug in to use CarPlay.

When we bought our big Vauxhall Insignia Estate about 5 years ago they tried to sell me one that was over a £1000 more with SatNav built in....i said why should i bother when i can just use CarPlay with numerous constantly updated SatNav apps instead of paying that much for built in SatNav that would need massive files downloaded every so often to keep it up to date plus live traffic details when travelling.

We've had numerous hire cars with CarPlay where its always worked fine including a big GMC Yukon XL we had in California where i knew we'd be in areas with no phone signal so i'd downloaded a chunk of Google Maps to work offline and that worked fine in CarPlay as well. Didnt
 
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Hello
I am about to buy a wireless adapter for my car to connect CarPlay wirelessly.
My silly question is: what else other than enable CarPlay this dongle could do?
Thanks
 
I’ve bought Ottocast U2-AIR-2023 adapter

It woks fine and connection is quite fast but it’s horrible to switch between phones.

For some reason it keeps connection to the last phone used while I have only another phone.

Unless I reset all configurations or unplug and plug back device I can’t connect to another phone.

Does anyone experience the same.

While my adapted is still eligible to return I’m thinking about another brand.
Maybe it’s my fault… but it’s very inconvenient to fight with connections having 2 CarPlay users. Any heads-up ?
Do you have any good experience with other adapters?
 
Honestly, I see very little advantage of a wireless CarPlay vs the wired one. The wired one gets less interference and charges your iPhone at the same time. Wireless chargers in several cars I have tried were heating up my iPhone a lot, which cannot be good for its battery on a long run.

So I would say save yourself the hassle and just plug it in?
 
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akash.nu said:
Nope, it works via Bluetooth as well.
Click to expand...
Bluetooth is only uses for initial communications to setup an adhoc Wi-Fi network connection between the car and the phone. The car must have the hardware to allow that and the software setup to support wireless CarPlay. There are third-party devices that provide a wireless bridge to the wired CarPlay in older cars. They plug in to the usb port and then handle the wireless connection to the phone. In my experience these third-party products are slow to connect and add lag to the interactions. I went back to a cable connection on my car for those reasons.
 
Susja said:
Hello
I am about to buy a wireless adapter for my car to connect CarPlay wirelessly.
My silly question is: what else other than enable CarPlay this dongle could do?
Thanks
Click to expand...
That is what it does and nothing more.
It might also connect Android phones via Android Auto.
 
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Tagbert said:
Bluetooth is only uses for initial communications to setup an adhoc Wi-Fi network connection between the car and the phone. The car must have the hardware to allow that and the software setup to support wireless CarPlay. There are third-party devices that provide a wireless bridge to the wired CarPlay in older cars. They plug in to the usb port and then handle the wireless connection to the phone. In my experience these third-party products are slow to connect and add lag to the interactions. I went back to a cable connection on my car for those reasons.
Click to expand...

In my experience the device I use doesn’t add any delays at all. By the time I open the door, sit in the car and put my seatbelt on, the device is connected with the CarPlay device.
 
one more said:
Honestly, I see very little advantage of a wireless CarPlay vs the wired one.
Click to expand...
Having to plug in and out my smartphone every time I drive my car is a BIG inconvenience for me and this also applies for many others.

I got tricked because my new 2023 car came with neither wireless CarPlay/Android Auto neither wireless charging even though it was supposed to - they blamed the shortage of chips due to the economic wars and pandemics and they changed the specifications of the car model versions. And this is common with most car manufacturers, at least at the price range of my car.

If I am lucky I can find the wireless charging pad that exists in the higher model versions and have it installed (for a price) but it is still inexcusable not to have wireless Android Auto. I had to buy an AAWireless 2022 dongle, losing the main USB-C data port but at least it works. I can get Android Auto on the infotainment screen as fast as with wired connection and I don't even have to get the smartphone out of my pocket. I haven't noticed any lag or disconnections so far. Plus, I believe I can connect an extra USB-C flash drive on the smartphone and have extra storage for media.
 
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Honestly as someone who has had both I prefer wired. Maybe it's just my car but wireless CarPlay takes like 45 seconds sometimes to connect (other times it's instant) which is a pain if you're in a hurry and need maps.

EDIT: Others stated their wireless CarPlay is instant. I guess it depends on your cars stereo system. If mine was instant I'd absolutely love it over wired CarPlay.
 
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grad said:
Having to plug in and out my smartphone every time I drive my car is a BIG inconvenience for me and this also applies for many others.

I got tricked because my new 2023 car came with neither wireless CarPlay/Android Auto neither wireless charging even though it was supposed to - they blamed the shortage of chips due to the economic wars and pandemics and they changed the specifications of the car model versions. And this is common with most car manufacturers, at least at the price range of my car.

If I am lucky I can find the wireless charging pad that exists in the higher model versions and have it installed (for a price) but it is still inexcusable not to have wireless Android Auto. I had to buy an AAWireless 2022 dongle, losing the main USB-C data port but at least it works. I can get Android Auto on the infotainment screen as fast as with wired connection and I don't even have to get the smartphone out of my pocket. I haven't noticed any lag or disconnections so far. Plus, I believe I can connect an extra USB-C flash drive on the smartphone and have extra storage for media.
Click to expand...

Yes, car manufacturers had to cut some corners post-pandemic. Our car came without a GPS chip! We were warned by the dealer and since we have iPhones we rely on their built-in GPS, but still…

Considering that you would still need to put your iPhone on that charging pad to charge, so take it out of your pocket, the simplest solution is still just plugging it in, getting both CarPlay and charging sorted.

Another solution would be plugging MagSafe charger into one of your USB ports and that wireless CarPlay dongle into another, but then you have to spend more and use two cables instead of one, as well as lose your possibility of adding that media USB-drive in.
 
chrono1081 said:
Honestly as someone who has had both I prefer wired. Maybe it's just my car but wireless CarPlay takes like 45 seconds sometimes to connect (other times it's instant) which is a pain if you're in a hurry and need maps.
Click to expand...
My Toyota's Pioneer headunit boots almost straight up into wireless Carplay when I am turning on the engine. It is very fast. The only issue that it has 7 inch screen and I'd prefer 9 inch, maybe later this year.
 
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