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Apple CarPlay - positive experience

1K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  TMVB 
#1 ·
Seems like a lot of people complain that this or the other do not work well with CarPlay (it is a nature of forums I know) but I had great experience over last 3 days. During my regular day, I use my iPhone over BT most of the time with an occasional CarPlay / Maps plug in, but over last 3 days, both my wife and I used CarPlay in my '17 Accord extensively.

It was a 3 day trip, about 16 hours of driving time. My wife's 6S+ was plugged in most of the time, with Maps or Waze running (when music was also streaming off her phone). I plugged in about 3-4 times also (my 6S). Both phones are running latest iOS.

We plugged in after the headunit was booted up. We plugged in before the car was started up and then started it. Also, plugged in while the HU was booting up. The software did the right thing every single time. Not one glitch. Navigation would simply keep going after we made the restroom / gas stop and music would keep playing where it stopped when the car was turned off. Wife did other stuff on her phone many times while I was driving and the head unit focus would switch away from map, still play music and then switch back to the map no problem. Music was many times chosen from the HU but also from the phone, varied between locally stored music and streaming / Apple music radio stations.

It can happen! :laugh
 
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#2 ·
I love the Apple Play ... too!
My good 'ol iPhone 5SE has worked great.

Like you said.. I can plug it in at any point and it is recognized.

Even though I have built-in Navi - I prefer the Maps and ease of use with the push button on my steering wheel...to Siri.

Plus.. I can play any audio source while using iphone maps etc.

Lastly, The voice to text and playing my received texts through the speakers... is priceless for my lifestyle.
 
#3 ·
For me CarPlay has never been worth the trouble, ever. So I don't use it. It's possible it works better with the newest iOS update, but even when it works perfectly there's really nothing it offers that I am interested in. Apple Maps in particular just plain sucks via CarPlay, IMHO, but opinions clearly differ on this.
 
#4 ·
Oh, about Maps - another thing I just remembered that happened, which I was not aware of:

Maps obviously requires internet connection. However, I was in a no-internet zone for about an hour while driving around (smaller roads out in the sticks of west Texas) and while Maps was going on, it could not download the road map around me anymore. However, it would still properly give me instructions of where / when to turn, even though the map was actually a 'grid' on the screen. It appears that the phone preloads the route, so at least for an hour I was in this situation and then when I came back into the reception area, the maps simply started loading again like nothing happened.

Pretty cool.
 
#5 ·
I've been a heavy user of CarPlay for almost a year now. I use it every time I get in the car. And I've become a huge fan. With a couple of exceptions.

The number one benefit of CarPlay is that I can put my phone away while I drive. No more trying to steal a glance at an incoming text. CarPlay aims to reduce distracted driving and it has for me.

Goods
  • Clean, simple interface designed for ease of use while driving
  • Apple Maps have been excellent - lots of hate mail on the web about Apple Maps - they've improved substantially in the last year or so
  • Traffic info on Apple Maps has been accurate
  • Apple Maps reroutes in mid-trip if there is a faster route
  • Latest update allows me to find places along my route (gas, food, etc). It also tells me how many minutes it will add to my trip if I go. Pretty cool.
  • Integration of maps, phone, texts, calendar, music into a single interface is exceptional
  • Notifications of new texts, and then Siri reading the texts has been flawless
  • Being able to command anything with a simple voice command is awesome. "Play Bob Dylan". "Play folk music". "Navigate to work". "Call my wife".

Not-so-Goods
  • Sometimes its infuriating trying to get Siri to understand certain phrases
  • Occasional bad routing because there is a change to an intersection

Bottom line my experience with CarPlay for almost a year now has made it well worth the time, expense and occasional frustration that it took to get it into my 2015.
 
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