CarPlay and wireless dongle?

Audio Gear Talk
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My new car has support for wired CarPlay. This means I need to connect my iPhone using a lightning cable. Although everything works well, it is somewhat inconvenient as the USB connection is in the armrest. I keep forgetting my phone when I leave the car :grinning:

I know there are wireless dongles available, but I’ve seen mixed reviews.

Does anyone have any experience with such dongles? Are there brands/models you can recommend? Or would you recommend to stay away from them altogether?

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Hi @s73nm, I tried an OTTOCAST U2-X Pro in my car (a 2017 Mercedes - which was shown as compatible). It did link to the car’s CarPlay but immediately on trying to interact with it the screen froze and the graphics became corrupted. A firmware upgrade made no difference.

The supplier was very good - they were happy to refund me. But it does make me hesitant to try another similar device.

1 Like
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Thank you for sharing your experience @Karen_Hughes

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9to5Mac has quite an interesting article on the CarLink adapter - although it is pretty expensive via Amazon here in the UK. The comments to the article are perhaps even more interesting as they highlight a wider user experience, which includes:

  • Dropped connections
  • Lack of phone charging when used with wireless CarPlay
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Quite an interesting article and comments.

For me some additional concerns are

  • Success may be dependent on car make and model
  • Reduced audio quality
  • Not always capable of running music and map app simultaneously.

Based on this I think I will stay with wired CarPlay for now.

Thanks again @Karen_Hughes