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Wireless CarPlay Expands to More New Vehicles Amid Rumors of Portless iPhone Next Year

Apple Desktop Bus (ADB) said:
You'll be able to buy an adaptor to allow wireless CarPlay or you'll just stop using CarPlay and stream music over Bluetooth like all those that don't use CarPlay.
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Are you referencing something like this? https://cplay2air.com

I'm definitely not going to stop using CarPlay and I will going forward only purchase cars that have Wireless CarPlay but I'm just saying Apple's not going to dictate when I buy my next car and if Wireless CarPlay solutions suck, I"ll just keep My current iPhone longer than an annual upgrade which is how I do things now.

I was going to make a reference to losing the headphone jack but at least Apple gave us a lightning to headphone adapter. My in-ear monitors now have a bluetooth option so I have that setup but this would be like apple killing the headphone jack and offering no way to plug in my $600 headphones into the phone. I'd just keep my old phone until my headphone company made a bluetooth adapter. This is similar.
 
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I can see Apple replacing the ports with a smart connector in the next iPhone, similar to the smart connector that is used on the iPad. You could do the data connection through the smart connector for CarPlay.
 
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2010mini said:
isn’t that what iCloud is for???
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No. It’s not. iCloud can back up your configuration, what apps are installed, etc, but only a local backup will save everything including music and all media without having to download it all from a WiFi connection. A Mac backup saves everything on your phone.
 
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Just reading the first few post, there is a big time level of confusion with Wireless CarPlay. Your car either supports it, or it does not.
 
dojoman said:
You don't have to buy a new car to convert to wireless carplay. There are lots of dongle adapter on the market search Carlinkit. I have one it works fine wirelessly, doesn't drain that much battery either. lol you guys are really fake news.
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The current offerings are barely passable. They would need official support.
 
I highly doubt the portless iPhone will come next year. It'll be a few years until it releases. It gives the public time to get used to wireless charging/MagSafe.

Let's also face it, almost every new car in 2021 and going forward will have wireless CarPlay.
 
Apple Desktop Bus (ADB) said:
CarPlay Wireless is nice but it does eat battery. Need to have it on the charger if you don't want to be significantly drained by the time you get to your destination.
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I have a wireless charging slot in my Ram. I’ll just put it on there so it won’t eat up the battery.
 
btrach144 said:
I have bought every single iPhone generation for myself and my wife.

Just bought a new car this year with wired only carplay. If the next iPhone doesn't have a way to connect to my wired carplay unit, I will hold onto my current iPhone for as long as possible.

That or Apple would need to come out with a dongle to allow connectivity.
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I do the same thing every year for the wife and I. New iPhone every year. I got a new Ram. I heard the next year model will have wireless CarPlay. I would pay just to change out the current 12” infotainment for the new one just to have wireless CarPlay. I wouldn’t mind one bit.
 
My problem is my car does not have CarPlay at all. I use a lightning cable and the "iPod" option on the car stereo. I use the stereo's touchscreen to select playlists, albums, songs, etc..

If the next phone lacks ports then it will be interesting to see how it would work with my car stereo. "Just use Bluetooth!" I hear you exclaim. I could indeed do that, however the bluetooth functionality is simply not on par with the functionality offered by the lightning cable setup.
 
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ShadowJade said:
Honestly, I believe that your post is completely backwards. Most of us are allegiant to the Apple product. I want a portless phone. I want car makers to add Qi charging pads to their console array. Is it a dealbreaker of buying a car that doesn't have wireless carplay...not for me? Would I prefer that the car has it, sure. I find that I rarely use the carplay in its current form because of the cabled mess going from my center array to where I put my phone on the other side of my steering wheel. My phone is easier to use mounted magnetically just above and left of my steering wheel.
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fanboi detected
 
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BlueShirt11 said:
Do you find it works just as well? I have a 2018 vehicle with OEM wired carplay that I would love to use this adapter on.
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Yes absolutely. Just be sure to update the firmware after you get it connected, as per the instructions, and it works as expected. As I mentioned it does take a few seconds to connect, but shorter time that before where I had to pull out cord from my center console, then connect to USB of CarPlay, then connect my iPhone.
 
Ortiz83 said:
I do the same thing every year for the wife and I. New iPhone every year. I got a new Ram. I heard the next year model will have wireless CarPlay. I would pay just to change out the current 12” infotainment for the new one just to have wireless CarPlay. I wouldn’t mind one bit.
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Most car companies don’t do that though and it’s often more complicated than a switch. They don’t design their cars to be modular and upgradable like a Tesla. At least officially.
 
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Whathappened said:
Hahaha. No they won’t, but anyway I doubt iPhone will become portless any time soon.
Just hope Mercedes allows for wireless CarPlay soon... they want to push their own mbux I guess but it’s ridiculous to have a charging mat and all packages but I have to plug in my phone every times
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Mercedes doubly screws things up because the area reserved for your phone (with wireless charging if you purchased that option) doesn't have a notch to accommodate a USB cable, so your phone can't lay flat when the cable is plugged into it. It's that way on my C300 anyway.

MBUX is being installed on all their newer models, but I've heard that wireless CarPlay is being reserved for models like the S-class. I hope not, in a couple of years I'll likely lease another C300 and I'd really like wireless.

Not that it matters either way, because CarPlay stopped working for me. The car thinks my iPhone isn't responding so I can't get CarPlay to work anymore, on both my 6S and the 12 I just purchased to replace it.
 
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GeoStructural said:
Can someone tell me how do I get wireless CarPlay to work? I have a 2021 Toyota and I am only able to use CarPlay via the Lightning port.

Connecting through Bluetooth treats the phone as an audio source but I cannot use CarPlay on the big screen.
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You likely have wired CarPlay which means wireless isn’t available to you.
 
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ignatius345 said:
No. It’s not. iCloud can back up your configuration, what apps are installed, etc, but only a local backup will save everything including music and all media without having to download it all from a WiFi connection. A Mac backup saves everything on your phone.
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Just wanted to point out that you can sync with your computer over wifi. Whether or not Apple continues to allow that on a future port less iPhone is obviously unknown. But as it stands right now, you can still do local backups over wifi.
 
I am fairly certain that should Apple move to an all wireless design they will come up with some sort of dongle, dare I say MagSafe puck, that would allow people with wired CarPlay to continue to use car play.
 
Will not be buying a port less iPhone. If that’s the direction Apple goes then I guess I’ll be sticking with the last iPhone Apple make with a port for a while. Don’t particularly want to have to try to find some hackey solution to make CarPlay work on my 2019 vehicle, and I don’t really want to have to take a wireless charger everywhere.
 
gwbandrew said:
Although I'm glad the rumor is twisting automakers' arms into adapting Wireless CarPlay, the portless iPhone would surely leave everyone who has a pre-2021 car frustrated while making the decision to buy a new iPhone a difficult one.

@munpip214 isn't lying...
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Something tells me the rumor isn't twisting automakers' arms nearly as much as Apple hopes it will. As someone above pointed out, GM has yet to adopt wireless CarPlay and I don't expect that to change anytime soon (they have a room full of marketers likely telling their execs and engineers that their buyers are a bunch of luddites).

Also, Toyota is dragging their feet on CarPlay, being one of the last automakers to adopt it. I, likewise, don't expect them to adopt wireless CarPlay anytime soon either. Most non-recall software updates are anywhere from $200 - $400 and they don't necessarily provide the most recent features, particularly for cars a few years old or older.
 
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I'm starting to wish I had a newer phone now. I'm still using a 6s Plus (which might go obsolete next year). I didn't upgrade because I hate Face ID (should've got the 8 when I could). I may have to look at the rumored SE Plus since it will likely still have Touch ID and (hopefully) a lightning port.
 
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