Apple CarPlay became a lifesaver for car owners who wanted to do more on their phones, even while driving. However, even though infotainment systems appeared to get better, you still have to use a USB cable for connectivity. Connecting a cable to your phone every time you get in the car can be frustrating for many car owners.
Thankfully, you can now use Apple CarPlay wirelessly in your vehicles, but only a handful of car models support this function. To enjoy wireless connectivity, you can purchase a car model that supports wireless Apple CarPlay, buy an aftermarket CarPlay receiver, or use an adapter.
You should note that each of these options is not cheap, and you might even need to be an expert to set up the wireless CarPlay in your vehicle. But one thing is certain: whichever option you choose, you’ll get to enjoy a wireless connection between your iPhone and your car’s infotainment system.
Why Your Car Might Not Have Wireless CarPlay
While many cars support Apple CarPlay, many others don’t, which is common among older vehicles. If you have such a car, you can add CarPlay to your vehicle fairly simply.
Now, for those who have CarPlay and wonder why your iPhone can’t connect to the infotainment system wirelessly, this piece is for you. This might even bother you if you have Bluetooth in your car.
Well, Apple CarPlay supports wireless connections, but having Bluetooth in your vehicle is not the way to guarantee that connectivity. Yes, Bluetooth helps you connect to a standard receiver, but it doesn’t have enough capacity to handle the kind of data transfer that CarPlay needs to connect to your device.
In simpler terms, CarPlay needs more than Bluetooth to connect to your iPhone wirelessly. Alongside this connection system, your vehicle also needs an in-vehicle Wi-Fi and a built-in dual-band router, which is special hardware, to allow CarPlay to connect wirelessly to your mobile device.
So your car might have an in-built Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, but without the hardware, you might not be able to enjoy the benefits of a wireless CarPlay.
Cars that Support Wireless CarPlay
It’s easy to find Apple CarPlay in vehicles, but it is more difficult to see cars that support wireless CarPlay. You’d only find this feature in a few recent models, and some of them are:
- Audi A7 (2019 and newer)
- Audi Q8 (2019 and newer)
- 2019 BMW Range
- BMW 5 Series (2017 and newer)
- Lamborghini Urus (2017 and newer)
- Mercedes GLE (2019 and newer)
- Toyota Supra (2020 and newer), etc.
BMW was the first car manufacturer to release cars that support wireless CarPlay, and this streak began with the BMW 5 Series. Thankfully, more automakers are starting to include the wireless feature in their cars, and it’s apparent that we’ll see more cars with the wireless CarPlay feature on our roads in no time.
How to Add Wireless Apple CarPlay to Your Car
You can easily add wireless CarPlay to a car, but you have to note that none of these options are free, and some others aren’t exactly easy.
That’s not to say it isn’t possible to add wireless Apple CarPlay to your car, and these are the following options that you can choose from:
Use a Wireless CarPlay Adapter
The most recommended and best option is to use a wireless adapter to create a connection between your iPhone and your car’s infotainment system. Although it’s the cheapest option, it might not be the best one for you, as car owners have complained of issues like music stuttering and connectivity problems.
That’s not to say you still can’t enjoy using adapters for wireless CarPlay. Your best bet is to do your research and choose the best adapter for your vehicle. It’s also easy to install and try out, so if it doesn’t work for you, then you can easily return the adapter.
Your car must already have Apple CarPlay that requires a USB connection in order for a wireless CarPlay adapter to work correctly.
Here are some recommended Wireless Apple CarPlay Adapters:
- Loadkey Wireless CarPlay Adapter (on Amazon)
- Carlinkit 3.0 Wireless CarPlay Dongle (on Amazon)
- BROxiongdi Wired to Wireless CarPlay Adapter (on Amazon)
How Do Wireless CarPlay Adapters Work?
Wireless CarPlay adapters are extremely easy to install and use. Basically, instead of connecting your iPhone to your car via USB, you connect the wireless CarPlay adapter to your car.
Then you wirelessly connect your iPhone to the wireless adapter with Bluetooth and sometimes WiFi as well. Once you’ve paired your phone to the wireless adapter, CarPlay should begin to work the same way it did if you connected your iPhone directly to the car.
It should also auto-connect to your car as soon as you turn it on!
These wireless adapters will need to be updated occasionally, but this shouldn’t be a big deal because most can update via the connection from your iPhone.
Get an Aftermarket Car Stereo with Wireless CarPlay
Almost nobody wants to purchase a new car to simply have a native wireless CarPlay receiver, getting an aftermarket car receiver that allows you to use wireless CarPlay is another great option. This method is much cheaper than buying a new car, and it’s even better because you get to upgrade your current vehicle.
Unfortunately, many modern cars don’t make it easy to swap out the radio/stereo because many of the car’s settings are built into the factory receiver. And you’ll also have to disassemble a lot of the car’s dashboard in order to swap out the old receiver with a new one.
So if you aren’t super handy or don’t want to pay someone a lot of money to do this for you, then installing a new aftermarket receiver isn’t a very good option.
Here are some aftermarket car stereo receivers that support wireless CarPlay:
Again, you would have to install the aftermarket receiver into the car, which might not be something you can do on your own. So you might have to employ the services of a professional or expert to properly install the new receiver.
Purchase a Car with Wireless Apple CarPlay
This is obviously the most direct option – buying a car with wireless CarPlay straight up. If you’re able to do this, you can go back to the list above to see car models with wireless CarPlay. The list is short because these cars are highly expensive, and it isn’t easy to add wireless CarPlay to a car.
However, it’s apparent that more cars will begin to have wireless CarPlay.
If you’re not ready to purchase a new car, don’t worry, there are simpler options for you to get wireless CarPlay in your vehicle. In fact, unless it’s absolutely necessary, you don’t have to buy a new car just to enjoy wireless CarPlay.
Enabling Wireless CarPlay in Your Car
Since some cars come with a wireless CarPlay feature, all you need to know is how to get it up and running. Doing that isn’t a big deal, and it is super easy to do.
You can enable wireless CarPlay in your car by following these easy steps:
- Hold down the voice command button on your steering wheel
- Set your receiver to Bluetooth or wireless mode
- Go to the “Settings” app on your mobile device
- Go to “General”
- Select “CarPlay”
- Select “Turn On Bluetooth”
These steps may not be the same for every vehicle, so you need to go through your owner’s manual to confirm how to enable wireless CarPlay.
Using Siri to Control CarPlay
There are two ways to use Siri to control CarPlay, and that depends on your car:
- You can press and hold the CarPlay Home button or Dashboard on your touchscreen.
- Hold down the voice command button on your wheel.
Siri can also make suggestions for the things you can possibly do next. This helps you stay focused on the road while the AI assistant does the bulk of the job for you.
Siri can also help you announce messages on your device, but this is available to iOS 15 iPhones. Once you’ve enabled this feature, the AI assistant will play a sound then read out the sender’s name and the message.
For long messages, Siri will only announce who sent you a message. However, you can command it to read the message if you wish.
To enable this message feature from your iPhone, do the following:
- Select “Notifications” in the “Settings” app on your iPhone
- Select “Announce Notifications”
- Select “CarPlay” and tap “Announce Messages.” You can also choose when you want these announcements to start.
- You can also select which messages the assistant reads. To do this, select “Messages” and then “All Notifications” or “Time Sensitive” and “Direct Messages.”
You can also enable this feature from your car screen by doing this:
- Select and turn on “Announce Messages” in the “Settings” app in CarPlay
- Tap ‘”Announce Options” and choose your preferred schedule and announcement options.
Conclusion
Having CarPlay in your car is fantastic and helpful, but having a wireless one is even way better. If you’d like to enjoy better and more comfortable infotainment features and functions, then you should consider adding a wireless Apple CarPlay to your car.