iPhone 5 in Audi Cradle?

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Alec

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Hey guys,

My 2006 A3 2.0 TDI Sport came with a mounting plate for a phone cradle. Looking on ebay and google I can see that there is an official Audi cradle for the iPhone 4 / 4S (see below):

Mounting plate I currently only have:

0896aef4

Cradle:

1

2


Now Apple thought they would be very convenient and change the connector on the iPhone from a 30-pin connector to a Lightning connector. This means that I will need to install this in the cradle:

Adapter

Combining the fact that the phone is now longer than the previous generations and the extra space used up by this converter - the cradle will need to be a good few CM 'taller' than it is presently.

Do any of you have experience with or know if this cradle can extend/contract? If this is not available, have any of you tried making your own mods to the cradle?


Better yet - if any of you know any out-of-the-box iPhone 5 cradles I would be most interested in hearing from you!

Regards,

Alec
 
Last edited:
Don't you have Bluetooth working or you just want a physically easier place to sit it & charge?
 
NHN said:
Don't you have Bluetooth working or you just want a physically easier place to sit it & charge?
Click to expand...

Hi NHN,

Currently just use Bluetooth and plug it into a cigarette lighter charger if it needs charging.

It is just the fact that I have a mounting plate sat there with no purpose at the moment - while not necessary I would like to attach a cradle of some-sort to it so at least I can have my phone properly mounted whilst driving.
 
TBH I don't know of a cradle for the I5 as yet, the cradle in dash is fugly as hell when of no use as such, I would stick to your current setup atm.

You could maybe mod a cradle of some type into the car, but most sit on passenger seat or under armrest.

Some people who have ami sit it in the glovebox ami tray, but unless you wanted music connectivity then this wouldn't be an expense warranted, but still have to grab from glovebox each time.

So question is, if its just a charging requirement then maybe mod a cable to the armrest areas so it sits flat on the roller deck part.

Do you have an rns-e to see call lists & phonebook etc, as I am curious why you need the phone to mounted at all or did you want to see the screen for messages aswell?
 
Yeah agreed the mounting plate is pretty fugly. I have a RNS-E so I can dial from there and browse my phonebook etc.

The idea of having it mounted was to easily check messages / use some apps I have for telemetry stuff I play around with - the accelerometer readings will always be a bit better when the device is properly secured and not shuffling around when cornering.

I like your idea about running a cable into the glovebox area I could pad it out so the phone does not move much once laid down in there.

Maybe it is worth me taking off that mounting plate all-together if I am not going to use it (at least not until there is an I5 cradle released). I suppose removing it will reveal a massive gaping hole where the cables ran through and then some more little holes where the mount was once screwed in. Probably better off just leaving it there!

Cheers for the replies so far. I will take a look at my car tomorrow and see where I can potentially run the charging cable.
 
Yes leaves an ugly hole tbh so I wouldn't unless alternative bracket is made up which is more flush.

AMI fits in glovebox & would charge at same time as giving access to tunes, if that interests you at all :)

If AMI was of interest, could always run an extension of the ami & make up some bracket to fit the existing or mod it to be a bit slimmer, just ideas, then you can have your cake & eat it, albeit at a cost :)
 
I'm of the opinion that if it's there gathering dust, I may as well use it. Especially as I have nowhere convenient to put my phone... if I put it behind the ash try it just slides out through the side gaps, under the glove box is a pain to get in and out. It gets lost in the door pockets. I can't put it on the passenger seat if there's someone sitting in it! But they don't make a cradle for my phone so I'm **** out of luck ^_^ not that they're worth the £90 odd they charge anyway but I'd probably consider it
 
Personally if you really want something sorted this would be my solution:

  • Remove Audi Cradle
  • Get a trim specialist to repair the hole behind the scenes. If they are really good then they can make it look as if the hole was never there.
  • Fit a Brodit iPhone 5 cradle that will hold and charge. Even though I have Nav and Bluetooth i find it useful for speed cam apps like the TomTom one.
You could also do as NHN suggested. Fit a passive holder then extend the AMI connection up out the glovebox, you would need the Apple converter and may look a bit rubbish.

I have never been a fan of cradles, always just used a car charger but I wanted to test out the new Brodit / Belkin i5 cradle and I left it in.

Sorry for the overly bright first pic...

IMG_8085_zpsea10e293.jpg


--

IMG_8086_zps54cf7760.jpg


--

When the phone is in, it doesn't look too out of place which is great...
 
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I had a Brodit holder in my MINI and even though my S3 has AMI for my iPod in glovebox I miss somewhere to store and charge my iPhone 5. Liking the look of these pics but where have you got the power lead running to? My iPod is permanently plugged into AMI and don't want to be messing about plugging and unplugging adapters.
 
Brodit are good, I had 1 for my 8L, fitted to the console so left no marks etc, the 8P version for the grab arm is also good as it also leaves no marks when removed if done correctly, but its allot lower down.

However by experience of working on others, the metal flat version fitted next to the rns after a while it starts to leave an indent in the dash to left of the radio, removed number of radios where they had these cradles/brackets & its always left a noticeable mark & in some cases (maybe related to factory cage alignment) the radio was slightly of on that side, plus unless you route the cable an alternative route, then this is usually squeezed down the side of the radio & this makes it even worse with a rounder/deeper indent which didn't dissipate either after a period of not seeing a clients car.

Albeit its only a problem if you're that anal about your car & lets be honest allot of forum members are lol or you don't want it to be obvious when selling the car to a prospective buyer, again you could always just leave the bracket in place.

Maybe brodit have made design changes since I last saw this one, but for me if you need to see your messages whilst driving, then therein lies the issue, but each to there own & personal preference.

Personally I hate seeing the dash indented regardless if it is my car or not, it is so obvious aswell & your eyes almost hypnotically are attracted to it when getting in the car lol.
 
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Greetings all!

i had the exact same problem when I got my car recently and despite searching high and low there is no solution out there to get rid of that ugly cradle so I set abt doing a little DIY in my own....

1. Buy or source for a rubber flexible iPhone 5 cover, preferably black :)
2. Snip off the top, so that your iPhone can slide in easily from the top.
3. Remove the front facing plastic cover off the fugly cradle on your dashboard using Allen keys.
4. Punch 2 holes on the iphone cover at the exact spot where the screws will go through.
5. Screw the iPhone cover back on instead of the plastic cover. (This is why the cover needs to be rubber and flexible :) )
6. For added stability, u can also use Velcro tape to secure the sides all round.

not sure if all that made sense without pictures but that's what I did and it looks pretty ok. Sturdy and serves its purpose for me. I'll post some pictures in 2 days when I get my car back from servicing.

Cheers!
 
I also have a£4 fix for a holder, which i use for my 5, so i can use sat nav etc. i took pictures while i was doing it so can guide it wanted ha.

'The £4 bodge job iphone 5 holder and charger in place of old audi one. IT WORKS!'

aha
JJ.
 
i have the appradio 2
Got the cables to connect the iphone 5 to, and then got the brodit holder last week
everything works, except for the fact that the lightning cable doesnt fit into the slot on the brodit housing (its too fat!)
total pita!
Does anyone know of a cable that does lightning to lightning and is the usual size?
 
coolevilangel said:
i have the appradio 2
Got the cables to connect the iphone 5 to, and then got the brodit holder last week
everything works, except for the fact that the lightning cable doesnt fit into the slot on the brodit housing (its too fat!)
total pita!
Does anyone know of a cable that does lightning to lightning and is the usual size?
Click to expand...

I know the exact cradle you have... It will only accept a genuine Apple cable.

I went for the Belkin / Brodit combo with the lightning cable already mounted in.
 
Donutpond said:
Greetings all!

i had the exact same problem when I got my car recently and despite searching high and low there is no solution out there to get rid of that ugly cradle so I set abt doing a little DIY in my own....

1. Buy or source for a rubber flexible iPhone 5 cover, preferably black :)
2. Snip off the top, so that your iPhone can slide in easily from the top.
3. Remove the front facing plastic cover off the fugly cradle on your dashboard using Allen keys.
4. Punch 2 holes on the iphone cover at the exact spot where the screws will go through.
5. Screw the iPhone cover back on instead of the plastic cover. (This is why the cover needs to be rubber and flexible :) )
6. For added stability, u can also use Velcro tape to secure the sides all round.

not sure if all that made sense without pictures but that's what I did and it looks pretty ok. Sturdy and serves its purpose for me. I'll post some pictures in 2 days when I get my car back from servicing.

Cheers!
Click to expand...


As promised here are the pics of my little self mod..... Pardon the dim lighting... They were taken at night
 

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That's very good, looks slick as such, certainly an improvement on others
 
I went down a similar route of making my own from an iPhone case. But I bought an old Siemens cradle from ebay for a quid, unscrewed that, cut and filed it down and then glued the case to that. This way it clips on and off, the electrics are all intact and when audi do release the official holder I can just un clip this one and replace it.
Still need an update when audi do release it though. I read somewhere BMW just release theirs at €400 :-(
 
Sorry for the thread revival but thought I would let you lot know that we now have the iPhone 5 Cradle online in our store...
Takes a few days to come in due to limited numbers available in the UK.

Is quite an expensive cradle but then that's Audi for you :p

Got mine plugged into my work A6 and works well :D

Audi iPhone 5 Cradle | Advanced In-Car Technologies
 
Looks brill, quick question though. Dd your nav come with the shiny black screen and how do you put your songs into albums on your SD as I am having massive problems.
 
Steedy said:
Looks brill, quick question though. Dd your nav come with the shiny black screen and how do you put your songs into albums on your SD as I am having massive problems.
Click to expand...

That's what the RNSE screen looks like.
Drag and drop the album folders onto ur sdhc card from ur PC.
It only seems to read mp3's tho, other formats it doesn't recognise them.
What kind of Nav do u have?
 
Mine is Matt black. I've got the nav plus and just looks the same as yours apart from the edge around the screen.
I'll give the SD card a blast later or tomorrow. Hopefully it will work as its well annoying.
Cheers though mate.
 
Steedy said:
Mine is Matt black. I've got the nav plus and just looks the same as yours apart from the edge around the screen.
I'll give the SD card a blast later or tomorrow. Hopefully it will work as its well annoying.
Cheers though mate.
Click to expand...

Don't quote me but I read another thread that sd cards are limited to 4gb.
Sdhc cards u can put 32gb onto it and some cards perform better than others.
Does ur nav have 2x 32gb card slots in?
Another thing to think about is the card reader u put in ur pc, is it compatible with the card?
I only ask because I bought one from the pound shop that wasn't compatible with sdhc lol.
I got mine off amazon instead :)
 
Ahh okay, I've got an 8gb one in at the min and I've just bought a 32 gb one.
Yeah my nav has the 2 slots, aux lead and DVD.
I'll have a look and see what happens :)
cheers
 
If you have a Media button at bottom then 99% are SDHC compatible & upto 32GB, if its cdtv then its max 4GB & file number limitations.

Gloss surround came on the last version of rns-e fitted to the 8P's.
 
Audi iphone 5 cradle : If you have the preparation can this also fit on the dashboard cradle ?(only on the armrest shown). Thanks:search:
 
Cruiser89 said:
Personally if you really want something sorted this would be my solution:

  • Remove Audi Cradle
  • Get a trim specialist to repair the hole behind the scenes. If they are really good then they can make it look as if the hole was never there.
  • Fit a Brodit iPhone 5 cradle that will hold and charge. Even though I have Nav and Bluetooth i find it useful for speed cam apps like the TomTom one.
You could also do as NHN suggested. Fit a passive holder then extend the AMI connection up out the glovebox, you would need the Apple converter and may look a bit rubbish.

I have never been a fan of cradles, always just used a car charger but I wanted to test out the new Brodit / Belkin i5 cradle and I left it in.

Sorry for the overly bright first pic...

IMG_8085_zpsea10e293.jpg


--

IMG_8086_zps54cf7760.jpg


--

When the phone is in, it doesn't look too out of place which is great...
Click to expand...
Hi m8 is there any chance that you can send me a link for that cradle cheers
 
Thanks all for all replies I have managed to strip a off the shelf phone holder down and glue it to the holder on the dash thanks again
 
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