Wireless Apple Carplay: It was time to ditch the cables
Jeffrey Clos is a participant in the Amazon Associates LLC associates program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. There are some links within this article to the described product.
I wanted to take the time to write about a gadget I bought to eliminate additional wires in my automobile. Knowing I wouldn’t have to have a wire from my phone directly to the radio within my car was its most significant selling feature. I have enough cables in my life, and the thought of having an additional one going from my phone to the USB Carplay connection in the vehicle was offputting.
I had seen advertisements for wireless Apple Carplay, and I decided to pull the trigger. I jumped on the bandwagon and bought the CPLAY2AIR offering. It was, and still is, one of my most used purchases of the last couple of years.
The unit just works, although I had some lag in the beginning. Since I purchased this item, there have been multiple free firmware updates, and it now performs flawlessly. It’s a simple concept! You buy the advertised dongle, plug the dongle into the open CARPLAY (USB-A) port and run the Bluetooth and WIFI functions through your phone and radio’s head unit. I specifically called out (USB-A), but please note a (USB-C) workaround is available for those with newer cars.
My phone never leaves my pocket yet still works without hiccups with the vehicle’s head unit. I start the car, it goes through a simple boot process to connect, and within a few seconds, we are ready to roll!
There have been instances where it has frozen or not connected. In these instances, I remove and reattach the unit. (I chalk this up to being on the beta IOS system for Apple). The boot process starts again and on with life. The small unit is a plus as I have it safely tucked away in my center council. As I stated earlier, “It just works!”
I can speak with knowledge on the CPLAY2air but advise that it took about a week or longer to receive this. The orders are fulfilled overseas, and alternatives are available, with new competition springing up daily. One such competitor looks to be a replica (Carlinkit). The one advantage a Carlinkit has over the CPLAY2air unit is availability. You most likely will receive it within a day or two. In either case, wireless Carplay is the only way to go in my book!