I feel for you. I cannot survive without CarPlay. I’ve have used Crutchfield to install CarPlay in older cars on at least 4 occasions. Two of my family cars are >20 years old and they are “drivable” to me because I installed CarPlay.
Unfortunately, for about 8 years before CarPlay became standard in cars, car makers started putting in systems that were not easy to replace via Crutchfield’s assistance, because they didn’t have standard Double-DIN formats, or because you would have to replace the whole amplifier, etc.
Since your car may be in that category, I would consider this cool alternative:
It’s not permanently mounted; it attaches to your dash. So how does it get audio to your car speakers? It looks like you can either use a standard mini-headphone (3.5mm) plug, if your car supports it, or you can have it broadcast to an FM radio frequency, and then set your car stereo preset to that channel. And if neither of those options are available, it sounds like the built-in speaker will get the job done, albeit at lower quality audio.
I cannot function as a driving human without CarPlay . Time in the car commuting would drive me crazy. And mounting your phone to the dash is a poor alternative. The screen is tiny, and it provides no safe (ie, “touch”) solution to navigate maps while also playing media like Apple Music, Podcasts, Audio Books, etc, without hoping that Siri will do what you want. If I had no better alternative, I would install this thing in any car I might drive. Another up-side is that, since it’s portable, you could move it to another car if you had to.
Not to take this too off topic, but I’m planning to do this myself for one of my cars. I’ve done a few Crutchfield replacements in the past 20 years, though never a CarPlay set.
Which models have worked well for you? Looking at reviews, there are sometimes some issues that people list, so I’d love to know if you have a favorite, one that’s worked well for you.
I use my phone in my car (2007 Dodge Caliber). I have a mount that actually connects to the CD slot (which I’m not likely to ever use again), making it far more stable and in a better position than many of the available types of mounts. The screen size doesn’t bother me because I have a 12 Pro Max, which is not significantly smaller than the screen in my spouse’s 2018 Kia Optima (which has CarPlay). I use an AirFly Pro in the aux jack to pipe the audio through the car’s speakers.
The only real drawback to this arrangement is that accessing audio controls is multi-step. But it would still be so for me on CarPlay, because Waze supports in-app audio controls only for streaming, not for on-device music (which I think is a really odd oversight, since every iPhone comes with Apple’s Music app, which easily handles on-device music, but Waze doesn’t support Apple Music even for streaming). The Kia has steering-wheel controls for volume and changing tracks, but oddly not for pause (another odd oversight, because you can press the volume switch straight in to mute, but you can’t push the track switch straight in, which would be a logical method for pause-play—it may because the track switch changes radio presets when listening to the radio, and there’s no meaningful action for a push-in on the switch for radio, since you can’t “pause” radio).
Certainly happy to have my limited experience benefit anyone else!
First thing to note is that these models are constantly being updated, so what I purchased over the past decade or so is probably not what you will want to buy, if they’re even available.
Having said that, logging into my order history, here are the models I’m finding:
This one I put into a 20 year old Lexus, effectively making an ancient car feel modern:
This one has a floating screen that protrudes from the dash. It allows the screen to be substantially larger, and allows for a nice big volume button:
I paid $355 for this one; I have no idea why the current price is so much higher:
This one I put in a Honda Odyssey:
Anyway, some notes:
Use Crutchfield’s feature that makes sure whatever they present fits your car
Unless you still use CDs, avoid ones that support discs. They probably cost more, and the drive takes up precious space and is another thing to break
Get something with a real volume knob. Buttons are a pain in the butt. Steering wheel controls mitigate that need a tiny bit (make sure you get steering wheel support added to your order, and prepare for a bit more work), but your passenger will be happy to have a knob. A volume knob may also support push-to-mute, which can be quite handy.
You don’t have to pay a lot for CarPlay anymore. You can probably get one for <$199 now.
Decide if you care whether the wired CarPlay USB cord comes out from under your dash, or if you want it accessible from a front port.
It’s nice to have a USB port that can power a second device, whether it comes from behind the dash or the front panel.
Use Crutchfield support. Those guys are great. They include good documentation to help with wiring and installation, but they can sometimes dig up more/missing diagrams if you call them for support
Plan a day with sunlight and good weather unless you have a garage.
Get a set of “trim removal tools” to help pro off car panels in order to run wires, etc: Amazon.com
Take picture of each piece your remove and the screws so you know how to put it back together.
Consider checking for a YouTube video to help show you exactly where to “pry” to pop the clips needed to remove the panels. It can save aggravation. But often it’s not hard to just pop it with some care. Note that sometimes you will break the little plastic clips. Usually, the remaining ones are enough to get it to hold back together.
Think about whether you want to add a backup camera, but note that that will be substantially more work to install (you have to route at least one wire from the dash all the way to the license plate area.
I’ve installed three of the Kenwood DPX500BT myself, but of course they’re not CarPlay.
I know that I’m looking for wireless CarPlay that works in my car, supports the steering wheel controls and the backup camera that the stock Rav4 unit shows, and, yes, I definitely want a volume knob, even though I have the steering wheel controls. I also want capacitive touch screen, though I think almost everything now supports that. I’m going back and forth between a larger, protruding screen and just a double-DIN replacement for the stock unit.
The big screen is nice! And the mount offers some height flexibility. But you should think about what it might block, like vents. In my 1999 Avalon, it’s a great solution.
With CarPlay you would have direct access to audio controls. It has a screen that shows the navigation app on one half and the audio controls in a section of the other half:
Right. Plus with CarPlay, you have a fairly safe interface to switch between all your different music, podcast, and audio book apps, not to mention texts and voicemail and phone calls. You can do some of this with Siri, but it’s no comparison to the level of functionality and productivity you get with a heads up, driving-friendly interactive interface like CarPlay.
FWIW, back in the early 2000s, I used FM transmitters to connect my old iPods to various vehicles. They were terrific in rural areas, but they often didn’t work well in densely populated areas because of interference from commercial radio stations. For example, in places like New York City, it’s almost impossible to find a clear frequency. Suburban use varied quite a lot. There are regulatory limits on the strength of personal transmitters, so I doubt the situation has changed much.
I have used them very little. It’s a workaround for not being able to do a real installation; plus, this product supports a mini-headphone cable or built-in speakers as alternatives. Of course, you could also use AirPods.
I guess my point is that CarPlay is accessible to everyone, one way or another
It’s not just older vehicles… a friend bought a Tesla a few weeks ago. I drove her to the showroom to pick up the vehicle. While she was being shown the controls I asked how we connected her iPhone for Carplay and was told that the Tesla does not support Carplay.
However it will download all the contacts from the iPhone for its own use (a concerning privacy issue).
This is in Australia. Not sure if the same applies in the USA.
I’ll also recommend Crutchfield. They are not the cheapest but their tech support really is knowledgable. When I installed a wireless CarPlay unit in my 2012 Forester they were able to solve an obscure problem that required removing a pin in a connector and shifting it over one spot.
I prefer to replace the head unit in the car if possible, but if not there are outboard CarPlay units you can install and put on the dash.
In addition to FM transmitters, some have options to attach directly to the antenna going in to the head unit which reportedly works better than transmitters, though I’ve never done that.
Crutchfield can also tell you what extra hardware you need to keep as many of your steering wheel controls working with your new unit as you can.
Nope, that split screen icon isn’t there. Does it require a particular version of CarPlay? Unless it can update itself in the background, ours is six years old (2018 Kia) and there’s no indication that Kia has ever included an update to that in their computer updates (of which we’ve only had to do two, one during the first year and a second when they fixed our car after the “Kia Boys” struck last summer—they didn’t succeed in taking the car, but they broke a window, and tore up the steering column and ignition switch trying).
The other thing I’m noticing in those screenshots is how much of the screen real estate half the width is. The screen in our Kia is not nearly as wide as the ones in those screen shots, and I don’t want to reduce the map to only half the screen—that would be narrower than the screen on my iPhone 12 Pro Max in portrait (which is how I normally mount it in my car), as the Kia’s screen is only 7 inches on the diagonal (it appears to be roughly a 4:3 ratio—I can’t find any specs online for the factory screen except that it’s a seven-inch diagonal—which would make the half screen width, after subtracting the left sidebar, about 2.5 inches, compared to the 12 Pro Max with a screen just over 3 inches wide). Is the split screen size adjustable, or is it only half-width?
No, it’s been in CarPlay in the last several iOS releases. And the car manufacturer just has to support CarPlay – what appears on the screen is determined by the iPhone (so it wouldn’t be based on a Kia update or not).
Regarding the size, I use a rental car whenever I drive so have experienced a lot of different screens and cars with CarPlay, including ones from before 2018 and Kias. They’ve all supported the split screen. And even on smaller screens (I’ve used Hyundais with what I think is the same screen as you describe), the half width works well for navigation – Maps intelligently zooms the display so that you get a good view. And remember that in split screen, the ‘next turn’ info is in a separate rectangle on the top next to the map half, so it doesn’t block part of the map like it does on the iPhone.
My recommendation would be to figure out how to get the split screen display working because CarPlay is far superior to just mounting the phone (which I’ve also had to do in rental cars!). These came up in a quick search, don’t know if they’re of any help:
The icon is contextual. Sometimes it shows a small icon grid and takes you back to the screen full of apps, and sometimes it shows the split screen icon. Try tapping on it more than once and see if it changes–I don’t remember the specific circumstances under which each icon is shown, but I know it changes depending on the context. It’s been present on my CarPlay screen since 2017, so it’s not at all a new feature.
I see from Jolin’s link that Apple Maps must be installed for split to work. This makes sense, since it’s not a generic screen splitting. CarPlay gives you very little choice of what widget shows where during split mode. It always puts the map on the left, and sometimes uses an upper right pane for more navigation info. Then middle and lower right are used for other widgets, like audio playback.
. Time in the car commuting would drive me crazy. And mounting your phone to the dash is a poor alternative. The screen is tiny, and it provides no safe (ie, “touch”) solution to navigate maps while also playing media like Apple Music, Podcasts, Audio Books, etc, without hoping that Siri will do what you want. If I had no better alternative, I would install this thing in any car I might drive. Another up-side is that, since it’s portable, you could move it to another car if you had to.
