CarPlay (Wireless) Carplay - aftermarket head unit

[throAU]

Hi,

I recently started pondering the idea of upgrading my old car's stereo (which still has a CD slot I never use and only way to play music from my phone is trough Aux). So I started doing some research and soon noticed I'm somewhat overwhelmed and my expectations might be too high. For a starter, I haven't really been paying too much attention to carplay in the past (I basically only knew it exists).

I soon ran into a wall and noticed that, to my knowledge, only one stereo actually wirelessly pairs the phone to use carplay (Alpine iLX-107) while all the other units, while providing bluetooth for music, require a cable connection for carplay - this seems counterintuitive. It was my understanding that you may still play music from your phone while using carplay (eg. for navigation). so what would be the advantage of BT if it only plays music, but provides no other benefit? I was especially looking at the Sony XAV-AX100

I feel like - if I upgrade, I want the best of both worlds, wireless carplay (and wireless charging, no more need to plug anything in - the dream). But the above mentioned Alpine stereo doesn't actually use BT, but some wifi hotspot connection, is that correct? (and I've read health concerns in that regard)

Am I missing something? Are there, by now, more units out there that allow wireless carplay connections? Does any of you have experience with aftermarket stereo upgrades using carplay, wired or wireless?

I have an Alpine ILX-702d and it works great with carplay. I use it wired. Not sure if it can be configured for wireless, in any case mine doesn't do it wirelessly as is right now.

The having to plug the phone in seems annoying initially, however when you consider the hit to battery life that running GPS/maps/etc. incurs, it makes sense to plug it in (to charge).

Even if i COULD pair wirelessly to the phone, i think i'd still plug in as it is an opportunity to charge the device, while it is running the GPS, data, etc. to do the things carplay does.

So the short version is: you probably want to plug it in anyway, wireless (whilst nice) won't be practical unless it is only for short trips and in that case you probably don't need navigation, etc. anyway.

 

[AZhappyjack]

So you didn’t update to 13.1.2? Just iOS 13?

I’m on iOS 13.1.2 since it came out. No issues.

 

[Rayfire]

I’m on iOS 13.1.2 since it came out. No issues.

That’s good to know, thanks for your feedback.

I’ll try to flush out all devices out of my iLx-107 and see if that helps. I just switched to the new Pro Max phone and that’s where the issue’s happening.