CarPlay Changing volume without steering wheel controls (Carpuride YT09)

[jollino]

Hello all,

I just mounted a Carpuride YT09 stereo to my car, which has no controls on the steering wheel at all. CarPlay works fine (I think; I never had it before) but, lacking physical buttons, I have no idea how I'm supposed to change the volume. The side buttons on my iPhone don't work, and Control Center shows a locked volume slider with the CarPlay icon.

The only way is to: tap the home screen button on CarPlay, tap the "Car Home" icon which exits CarPlay, tap the volume button on the unit's own home, move the slider. It's basically impossible to do while driving. (A separate issue is that it kind of over-amplifies audio, so that even though it goes from 0 to 39, the only sweet spot is 4 and 6; even 9 is already way too loud.)

Further, even when the general volume is set to an acceptable amount, Siri and other apps' navigation voices (e.g. Waze's) are incredibly low, and once again I seem to have no way to set it. I'm aware of how the iPhone keeps track of different volumes for ringing, general audio and so on, but since I have no way of changing volume at all while connected to CarPlay, that remains low.

There is a video on youtube with the same unit where an AssistiveTouch-like thingie shows up (

at 13:30), but I can't seem to get that to show. I also tried enabling AssistiveTouch on my iPhone, but it doesn't seem to "transfer" to CarPlay.

Can anyone please shed some light on how this is supposed to be done? I understand that CarPlay expects car controls to take over, but is there really no other way?

Thanks in advance!

 

[DeltaMac]

Doesn't your user manual for the Carpuride tell you how to make a volume control appear on the screen?
Looks like you just do a short-press on the power button, and you should see a volume bar.

You also should be able to ask Siri to "lower volume", or "turn volume down", or something similar?

How did you adjust the volume in your car before you installed the Carpuride system?

 

[jollino]

An update: I was able to somehow get the navigation to a decent volume by setting it again to 100% in Waze, even though it was already set to 100%. It somehow "transferred" the new setting to Apple Maps too. Siri, and most crucially calls, remain at an impossibly low volume. Even with the engine off I couldn't hear the other person.

The short press for the general volume does work — I found out about that after posting — and at least it's not as awful as going back to the main menu even though it's not that great either. It's not related to iOS however, and it's like a mixer's "main out". It affects everything, and is applied to the final mix being sent to the speakers, well after iOS or CarPlay have done their part. It doesn't let me adjust the volume of a call, for instance, unless I crank it up to an ungodly level, so that music will then be way too loud and possibly damage the speakers.

Siri is as useful as always: totally uncooperative. It'll just say something along the lines "I can't help you with that, you can change the volume using the controls on your car". If only I had any!

Before the Carpuride I had a "simple" Sony car stereo connected via Bluetooth, DSX-A410BT to be precise. I just had the music volume set to the max on the phone (in fact, I had created an automation shortcut so that it would do that upon connecting) and used the knob on the stereo for the volume. If for some reason Siri or the navigation's specific volumes were low, I'd quickly press the side volume buttons on the phone while they were being read out, and that would sort it out. That's just not possible now, because the volume is locked as soon as CarPlay engages, and CarPlay seems to keep track of its own volume settings: Siri is very loud when I use it directly on the phone, for instance.

 

[gwhizkids]

An update: I was able to somehow get the navigation to a decent volume by setting it again to 100% in Waze, even though it was already set to 100%. It somehow "transferred" the new setting to Apple Maps too. Siri, and most crucially calls, remain at an impossibly low volume. Even with the engine off I couldn't hear the other person.

The short press for the general volume does work — I found out about that after posting — and at least it's not as awful as going back to the main menu even though it's not that great either. It's not related to iOS however, and it's like a mixer's "main out". It affects everything, and is applied to the final mix being sent to the speakers, well after iOS or CarPlay have done their part. It doesn't let me adjust the volume of a call, for instance, unless I crank it up to an ungodly level, so that music will then be way too loud and possibly damage the speakers.

Siri is as useful as always: totally uncooperative. It'll just say something along the lines "I can't help you with that, you can change the volume using the controls on your car". If only I had any!

Before the Carpuride I had a "simple" Sony car stereo connected via Bluetooth, DSX-A410BT to be precise. I just had the music volume set to the max on the phone (in fact, I had created an automation shortcut so that it would do that upon connecting) and used the knob on the stereo for the volume. If for some reason Siri or the navigation's specific volumes were low, I'd quickly press the side volume buttons on the phone while they were being read out, and that would sort it out. That's just not possible now, because the volume is locked as soon as CarPlay engages, and CarPlay seems to keep track of its own volume settings: Siri is very loud when I use it directly on the phone, for instance.

This issue is the fault of the head unit not Apple. The whole point is that you’re supposed to be able to use vehicle based controls so you don’t have to touch your phone.

 

[chrfr]

An update: I was able to somehow get the navigation to a decent volume by setting it again to 100% in Waze, even though it was already set to 100%. It somehow "transferred" the new setting to Apple Maps too. Siri, and most crucially calls, remain at an impossibly low volume. Even with the engine off I couldn't hear the other person.

The short press for the general volume does work — I found out about that after posting — and at least it's not as awful as going back to the main menu even though it's not that great either.

This sounds like you just have a stereo unit that has terrible design and doesn’t have an always accessible volume control. Also, many stereos have different volume settings for the different types of sounds from CarPlay devices. For instance, an Alpine stereo I used to own had volume settings for navigation, which also controlled Siri volume in general, and that would be adjusted relative to music/general audio playback but still controlled overall by the stereo’s main volume control. If your stereo doesn’t provide an always available volume control, I’d return it and get something else.

 

[jollino]

This issue is the fault of the head unit not Apple. The whole point is that you’re supposed to be able to use vehicle based controls so you don’t have to touch your phone.

I wasn't blaming Apple in the slightest, I just never had a chance to use CarPlay as my car is pretty basic (despite being by far the most popular one in Italy), and the original stereo didn't even support BT or aux in. So in 2019, when I bought it secondhand, the very first thing I did was replace the lame built-in one with this Sony unit. For five years I've just use it as if it were basically a pair of BT speakers, with the iPhone in a simple holder first, and a MagSafe holder when I upgraded to a 14 Pro.

This one, unlike most aftermarket CarPlay thingies being sold on Amazon and the like, replaces the car stereo entirely. It does have an extra port to connect SWC pins, which I do not have. I have emailed support and they told me that a new firmware should unlock support for handling volumes separately within the unit, but I'm waiting for the correct file to flash as the one I got just freezes the unit (!).

This sounds like you just have a stereo unit that has terrible design and doesn’t have an always accessible volume control. Also, many stereos have different volume settings for the different types of sounds from CarPlay devices. For instance, an Alpine stereo I used to own had volume settings for navigation, which also controlled Siri volume in general, and that would be adjusted relative to music/general audio playback but still controlled overall by the stereo’s main volume control. If your stereo doesn’t provide an always available volume control, I’d return it and get something else.

I guess it depends on how deep the integration is with iOS. My old Sony stereo simply acted like a BT speaker (it did have an app but I never bothered) and I just changed the volume on the phone using the side buttons. Wanted louder Siri, I just pressed the button when Siri was talking, and so on. The Sony's own volume knob controlled the general volume, which worked for me.

As I said above, this one is the only stereo unit, as it replaced the Sony one. I actually got it precisely so the screen would not be as visible on top of the dashboard, but I agree that it wasn't probably the wisest choice at this point. I've already suggested that I'm not satisfied and I'm considering a return, but I'm waiting to get an updated firmware to see if its support for audio streams is improved. The main issue is that returning this from Italy to Hong Kong would cost me one third of what I paid for this in the first place, so I'm willing to give them a chance to sort this out. I am however appalled that apparently nobody pointed this out anywhere, at least with this specific 1-DIN model.

Most of these units nowadays are add-on, separate devices. You attach them to your windshield or dashboard, set up the BT connection to the phone, and then route an aux cable to your current stereo. Heck, most of them even have an FM transmitter for really old cars that have no other way of getting audio! I don't know if those DO handle streams separately, because once you have an aux cable or a basic BT stream, you're back to square one if the phone expects the CarPlay receiver to handle the audio levels. It's shocking that none of the reviews I've watched, and I've watched plenty, ever mentioned this potential issue.

It's an interesting adventure for sure, and I'm sure something will come out of it. Hopefully this thread can be helpful for someone not to make the mistakes as me. 🙃

 

[chrfr]

Most of these units nowadays are add-on, separate devices.

No, there are many, many aftermarket car stereos that support CarPlay and replace the existing car stereo. You just chose a poor one.
Here's a listing from one vendor: https://www.crutchfield.com/g_462350/Apple-CarPlay-Compatible-Receivers.html?tp=72357

 

[jollino]

Well, I made a decision based on the fact that Carpuride is one of the better known and generally has good reviews.
I may have wrongly assumed that this 1-DIN version would be fine like the other add-on models seem to be, but hey, live and learn.

Good for those who have newer, expensive cars like those in that link (which, incidentally, is only useful for USians — I found it quite amusing that some of the car brands on that page's dropdown are completely unheard of outside of the USoA), but as far as I'm concerned at this point I may just put back the dear old Sony in and drive on. There was life before CarPlay and there will definitely be life without it, as nice as it was to use it these past few days.

As I said, I just never used CarPlay, nor I know know anyone with a CarPlay-enabled car as it's just not a common thing around here. I had no other choice than make a guess and give it a spin, hence my trying to figure out as I go. I'll wait for Carpuride's support about the update they mentioned and possibly arranging a return, and call it a day.

 

[erihp]

You might look to buy universal steering wheel controls, there should be some that connect to the steering wheel control input of the headunit.

 

[chrfr]

Good for those who have newer, expensive cars like those in that link (which, incidentally, is only useful for USians — I found it quite amusing that some of the car brands on that page's dropdown are completely unheard of outside of the USoA), but as far as I'm concerned at this point I may just put back the dear old Sony in and drive on. There was life before CarPlay and there will definitely be life without it, as nice as it was to use it these past few days.

I realize that link was US-based, but I sent it to give an indication of the range of stereos that have CarPlay built in. There are several available which have standard single-DIN and double-DIN form factors which will fit basically any car.

 

[forzagaribaldi]

If you were to go back to your Sony stereo then you could get one of the CarPlay units that has a line out and BT and have it connect to the stereo I assume? I've got a 14 year old BMW and have the original factory stereo still fitted. There is a line-in and I just connect a Carpuride unit via an audio cable and set the source to AUX and can use the stereo volume control and the steering wheel ones.

The mount that came with the Carpuride unit was pretty terrible so I bought a Quad Lock vent mount and stuck an adapter for that on the back of the Carpuride unit. Works great for me. Though obviously doesn't look as tidy as a fitted unit (I have however since tidied up the cabling somewhat from what is shown in the photo!).