I do the same and have no complaints.
I have CarPlay in my car (2017 Honda) and use a vent mount in my wife’s car (2014 Honda). It works, but I can’t say I have “no complaints”. The vent mount gives me a much smaller screen, that’s effectively view-only; any actual configuration of navigation or control of any other feature has to be done while stopped. (In some jurisdictions by law, but in general by common sense.) The vent mount also gets occasionally knocked loose and falls out, requiring assistance from my front seat passenger to get it viewable again.
The problem with aftermarket solutions is that cars no longer have a “radio” – they have a built-in tablet with an array of functions, including audio, navigation, climate control, and other car features. (For example, I use that screen to reset the tire pressure monitor, to set things like auto-lock behavior, and so on.) Many of those features are only available via the built-in system, and I doubt those features are standardized enough for an aftermarket vendor to provide a drop-in replacement device that provides all the controls that are necessary plus additional features like CarPlay.
(My only complaint about the CarPlay interface is that sometimes when the screen switches to the camera in the passenger mirror, it turns black instead of switching back to the CarPlay screen. I suspect that’s Honda’s issue rather than Apple’s, and if I hit the little button to flip the camera on and off again, eventually CarPlay shows up properly.)
(I will say, when it’s gotten a little wonky, that I have on occasion had to “reboot the car radio”, which is a phrase I’d never dreamed of.)
Dave
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You are absolutely correct and it vexed me too. I forget the precise years for Honda, but I had to look for something either older than about 2009 — since those can be retrofit with double DIN aftermarket stereos — or newer than about 2017, in which case they come with CarPlay already installed. The in between years are cars I will never buy.
If regulators are going to go after Apple’s walled garden and require them to be open to 3rd party competition, auto makers should also be required to do the same with infotainment.
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IMO, it’s unsafe to be working the screen even for these purposes while driving.
I enter my navigation data and start it running before I pull out from my driveway and then rarely interact with it at all until reaching my destination.
My music is from another device (an iPod Touch), which is connected via the car’s line-in jack. And again, I start it before leaving and rarely interact with it until reaching my destination.
I occasionally invoke Siri to do things, but not often, because it doesn’t usually work well.
I realize that the above is all legal when it’s via a built-in infotainment device, but that doesn’t make it any less dangerous.
FWIW, I’m driving a 2012 Civic. I’ve been told that the in-dash radio is replaceable, but with some caveats:
- The car’s built-in “IMID” display (where mileage and maintenance data is shown) will no longer have a screen for the radio - you’ll have to use the radio’s own console.
- The steering-wheel controls to control the volume and skip tracks will no longer work, although I’m told that some aftermarket radios have a way to regain some of that functionality.
- The car’s built-in line-in and USB ports are no longer connected to anything - you’ll need to use ports on the radio itself.
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Indeed. It’s not like the old days, when the only connections between the radio unit and the rest of the vehicle were power, ground, and two/four speakers. Many recent vehicles have a dozen or more speakers and, as you point out, connections to useful controls on the steering wheel.
As a result, installing a new radio unit can require a lot more wiring work than it did a few decades ago. For many people, if good sound quality and additional functions are important, it’s probably worth paying for a professional to handle the installation. It also is likely that most or all of the OEM speakers will need to be abandoned/replaced.
Side story: I have fond memories of upgrading the AM-only radio and speakers in my first car, a 1970 Chevy Chevelle, to an AM/FM radio with a cassette. My high school sweetheart was tired of us driving around with only an AM radio, so she decided to buy that radio for me as a birthday present. We were kids, so it probably was the cheapest no-name radio on the market, but it was a big deal for us. Forty years later, it stands as one of the best, most thoughtful gifts I’ve ever received. I doubt it took me more than 90 minutes to do the job, including cutting the door panels to install the new speakers. Ah, to be young again.
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I have a 2015 Subaru Outback. It doesn’t have “AirPlay” obviously, but it was able to communicate via Bluetooth to my iPhone 12 Mini. I could make hands-free calls, play music, access contacts, basically all I needed. However, my new 16 Pro Max doesn’t even see the car via Bluetooth although the car sees the 16. Are iPhones just insisting on full AirPlay support or nothing now?
Not a chance. I’d try forgetting the 16 Pro Max in the Subaru and forget the Subaru from the Pro Max and try pairing again.
I encountered a Bluetooth problem with the radio system in my caravan. My iPhone would not pair. I eventually found that there was a limit (~5) to the number of pairings that the radio could make. I had to reset the radio (the old paperclip in a tiny hole) in order to pair my new iPhone.
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Yes those in-between years before they included CarPlay are not without hope but you usually lose some significant functionality if you go after-market.
You’re talking about CarPlay not AirPlay, right?
Right, duh…
Actually neither of them knew anything about each other. I thought I had deleted my old phone from the car some time ago. I hadn’t, and I used the same name on the new phone. So the car wasn’t actually seeing the new phone, it was looking for the old one. From there it was easy.
Thanks.
If so, then that’s something even newer.
Every car I’ve seen that can accept an aftermarket radio at all (and I don’t think there are many, if any, in current production) still work with normal 2- or 4-channel speaker output. If the car has more speakers, it will have a separate distribution/power amplifier, to which your head unit will connect.
In some cases, you may need to connect a dongle to power-on this amplifier.
I have always recommended Crutchfield for aftermarket radio installation. Their web site has a robust database of what unit will fit what cars. They provide free installation instructions, customized for your car, and they will sell (and often include for free) any special adapters you might need.
Far better than picking up a radio from your local Best Buy and trying to figure it out on your own.
How annoying. The cars I’ve seen with Bluetooth (all 2012 and newer) let you pull up the list of paired devices and delete the ones you no longer car about.
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I’m in the midst of a restoration of a 1966 Morris Mini and I’m keen to get some form of CarPlay installed. I’m looking for a ‘head unit’ which can connect directly to powered speakers (clearly the car has no existing radio or sound system for radio communication) I’ve considered using an iPad instead but I’d prefer proper CarPlay.
Has anyone set up something like this in a very old car with no existing sound system? I’m curious to know what options there are.
Why powered speakers? Most head units include an amplifier (typically 5-10W RMS per channel) and can directly drive speakers without an external amplifier?
Of course, you probably don’t want to cut holes in your car in order to mount speakers - that sort of undermines the concept of “restoration”. But if you plan on doing that, you should look for good places to mount them, then run wires from those speakers to the radio location. It should be pretty easy compared the rest of the restoration work.
Just now, with some help from my son, I just finished replacing the OEM radio in this 2005 Honda Civic with this new CarPlay setup. Went the extra mile and installed the bundled backup camera. Another extra is that USB port I mounted with a new hole in the dash, for a cleaner look.
The Reverse trigger wire and the Parking Brake wire, recommended to tap in the fuse box, were much easier to access somewhere else, which is the only reason this project got done without hiring someone!
Crutchfield says that GPS antenna you see on the dash is necessary for CarPlay navigation. That’s surprised me since I figured it would use the phone’s GPS? Maybe the latter doesn’t work well because it won’t typically have line of sight to the sky?
Amazingly, everything works!
Update: Just showing you what was originally in there:
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That’s so awesome. Love it. Also, the uncomplicated dashboard of a 2005 just looks great compared to the starship level controls of the current day. Makes me nostalgic.
So good.
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Yes!! So satisfying to just grab that temperature knob and instantly turn it to exactly what temp I want; same with the fan! No hunting for push buttons to hit over and over.
This stereo has a volume knob; a key deciding factor. Conveniently, it also has a mute button. And pressing the volume knob is another way to invoke Siri, which could be easier to find than looking for the Home icon on the CarPlay display. This is a Jensen. There were cheaper options, but this has the backup camera, the volume knob, and the wireless CarPlay option.
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_110CAR723C/Jensen-CAR723W-BC.html
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Interesting. I suspect it would depend on where your phone is. You probably won’t be putting it on the dash or in front of a vent if you’ve got CarPlay running, especially if it’s wireless.
Great work, and the Crutchfield mounting panel looks like it came from the factory.
I do see, in the bottom photo, that your central panel (where the 12v power outlet is) has two unused knock-outs. So you could probably have put the USB connector there. But that’s really just a matter of style and preference.
Yea so that device on the dash behind the mic is the gps antenna. He said it should not be buried in the dash but needed only glass between it and the sky. If I were more ambitious, as in my earlier days, I would have routed that (and the mic) all the way up and behind the rear view mirror. But these cars come and go and this will work great.
Actually this aftermarket piece of trim adapts this double din unit to my dash:
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_003HONK810/American-International-HON-K810-Dash-Kit-Black.html
Oh dang. Duh. Didn’t even think about that! Not sure I’ve ever had that option before. I’ll try to remember that for next time!