Wireless CarPlay

[AlS3BE]

https://cplay2air.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI697yi_Xx7gIVUNPtCh1q1QjxEAAYASAAEgKptvD_BwE

A quick review
After reading some reviews, good and bad, I bit the bullet and got one of these 3-4 months ago as I was getting a bit annoyed with having to plug my phone in the for CarPlay. There’s a few different ones available and they all pretty much do the same thing and all about similar price. Got mine for about £75 delivered.

First off the unit is small and sits inside the armrest fine, it also has a usb pass through so you can charge and use CarPlay at the same time.

after the initial connection/setup the unit works very well. setup is fairly simple, screen comes on and tells you to connect to a specific Bluetooth/Wi-fi and then everything is automatic.

CarPlay is slower to start up compared to cable but we are talking seconds difference. Mine connects by the time I get to the end of my street so quick enough.

using CarPlay is not any different to wired. One thing I noticed was I can use the touchpad to navigate CarPlay where as by cable I couldn’t. A bit of a bonus functionality. There’s a slight delay in button pressing and only noticeable when you want to fast forward a few songs on a playlist and it only registers 1 or 2 presses whether it’s steering wheel buttons or the fast forward in the volume knob.

the only bad thing I found is when the unit doesn’t connect with the phone. I found if you pull the dongle out the USB port and plug back in everything starts working again. This has happened twice on me in the few months.

there’s also a way you can update the dongle which is quite good. I did an update on mine and it made connection a bit quicker other than that it just works the same

anyway hope this helps others.

 

[Ormesome]

Nice review mate. I had similar results with one i bought from Audi Retrofits. Tiny little box, i glued mine with a couple of 3mm strips to the side of my box under the armrest side as i didnt want it on display. I also have a wireless charging box so didn’t want to leave it there taking up the space where my phone charges. So far i like it, no lag, all very responsive.

Only 2 downsides:

One is the horrid boot up screen that is complete Chinese tat. It boots up quickly so the boot up screen lasts maybe 3 seconds. This only comes up every morning and once a day it seems. Once its done then it seems like its done for the day. Rest of the day it seems like it just goes directly to the last page displayed.

Second is that I have had the same problem as you when sometimes it doesnt connect but then i just take out the USB and reconnect and it solves it. It’s really not an issue, happened twice in 6 months.

The biggest issue isn’t with the box but with Wireless car play in itself. I have an iPhone 12 Pro and it still will not do Googlemaps, Music and wireless charge all at the same time. It’s too much for either the phone or the system. It does work with multiple apps running in wired CarPlay mode. To be honest, i bought it so i could drive around here and just be able to play UK radio without connecting the phone to a wire or to just type a local destination on Googlemaps and go. It does this perfectly. When i do long trips then i always use the Audi Mapping but then i use Wireless CarPlay and the LBC app to stream UK ration and wireless charge. This is the best way for me.

All in all i would defo recommend it to someone who doesnt have wireless car play.

 

[AlS3BE]

I think the wireless charger Audi put in their cars are a very low power one. Mine drains faster than it charges if I’m using gps and music, I’m using a xs max so a couple years old now. At the moment with lockdown and not going far the wireless have been brilliant. Get in and drive and everything just works without my phone coming out my pocket.

 

[Ormesome]

I think the wireless charger Audi put in their cars are a very low power one. Mine drains faster than it charges if I’m using gps and music, I’m using a xs max so a couple years old now. At the moment with lockdown and not going far the wireless have been brilliant. Get in and drive and everything just works without my phone coming out my pocket.

When you use the wireless charging with GPS and music then is it on Wireless car play too? Mine wont take it! Completly freezes, my iPhone X also did the same. It’s Gmaps that kills it, its fine with music and wireless charging but as soon as i open those with Gmaps then it freezes.
My wireless charger is quite good, charges quite quick. Do they put in different chargers in models?

 

[AlS3BE]

When you use the wireless charging with GPS and music then is it on Wireless car play too? Mine wont take it! Completly freezes, my iPhone X also did the same. It’s Gmaps that kills it, its fine with music and wireless charging but as soon as i open those with Gmaps then it freezes.
My wireless charger is quite good, charges quite quick. Do they put in different chargers in models?

I’m going to have to check. It definitely hasn’t crashed the whole system. I usually just drop it in the armrest and I thinks it’s charging but not been doing many long trips since we are in lockdown so not really paid a much attention to battery percentage. will try later and report back.

 

[AlS3BE]

Went to the shops and tried it in the charger with google maps and music running and also tried it with Waze and it all seems to work well. 20min drive and battery percentage didn’t even gain 1%.
At least it didn’t lose any percentage.

here’s mine in the armrest. Slips inside the card holder net nicely.

 

[JohnM100]

Sounds like your Qi charger is FUBAR. I don’t have wireless CarPlay but am interested. When I put my XS in the wireless charging pad whilst connected by USB for CarPlay it nearly ****** - I guess it may have been charging from both?

Curiously when Qi alone, it charged to 80% then stopped but its possible the phone shifted off the pad on the journey.

Did your wireless gadget come from USA with import tariff or shipped more locally?

 

[AlS3BE]

Sounds like your Qi charger is FUBAR. I don’t have wireless CarPlay but am interested. When I put my XS in the wireless charging pad whilst connected by USB for CarPlay it nearly ****** - I guess it may have been charging from both?

Curiously when Qi alone, it charged to 80% then stopped but its possible the phone shifted off the pad on the journey.

Did your wireless gadget come from USA with import tariff or shipped more locally?

It was showing charging but I reckon drain was higher than the charge or at very similar rates.
If I don’t use CarPlay the wireless charger does charge the phone at least in longer journeys.
mines a Xs max so big battery to charge.

not sure where it came from but no import tax this was before brexit. About £75 delivered.
The cplay2air website alway has offers so when I saw it that low I ordered mine. Normally hovering around £100.

 

[JohnM100]

Thanks.

Wider question: why does c00ked (adapted text) fail the ASN profanity filter - surely FUBAR is ruder...

 

[AlS3BE]

Before I forget another thing to mention is the car always say ‘your mobile is still in the car’ when you switch off as it thinks your phone is still plugged into CarPlay but it’s just the usb dongle. Not figured out a way to switch that off yet.

 

[Ormesome]

Before I forget another thing to mention is the car always say ‘your mobile is still in the car’ when you switch off as it thinks your phone is still plugged into CarPlay but it’s just the usb dongle. Not figured out a way to switch that off yet.

Yes! I think it’s because it thinks it’s the phone that is connected as it’s usually a car play “phone” that toggles the warning. In MMI settings somewhere there is a feature to turn off this warning. Maybe in the main settings, not car section.

 

[Ormesome]

Went to the shops and tried it in the charger with google maps and music running and also tried it with Waze and it all seems to work well. 20min drive and battery percentage didn’t even gain 1%.
At least it didn’t lose any percentage.

here’s mine in the armrest. Slips inside the card holder net nicely.
View attachment 215911

Yeah something is strange is going in with your charger. I would go with comments above that it’s not working correctly. At the very least your phone should get a bit hotter! Mine charges quite quickly on the wireless matt.

 

[AlS3BE]

Yeah something is strange is going in with your charger. I would go with comments above that it’s not working correctly. At the very least your phone should get a bit hotter! Mine charges quite quickly on the wireless matt.

It charges well enough when phone not in use or just playing music. when gps and music is running its slow to charge, gps has a massive drain on battery. maybe it’s just an old phone with old battery. Always found wireless charging to be a bit slow even in the house with my supposedly fast wireless charger. Wife’s normal size iPhone charges quite quick but mine always feels like it takes an age. Always just put it down to me having the max so bigger battery to charge.

 

[Spinstorm]

Wireless charging is very slow.

I am not sure of the exact charging rate of the charging matt but a quick search suggests it is 8W.

To put this into comparison - the old iPhone plug charger was 5W - so it is very, very slow.
In fact you probably get less than 8W as your phone moves around and becomes disconnected when driving.

A new phone - has a charger of around 25W or higher.

This is one of the disadvantages of wireless charging and one of the negatives of wireless AA and CP; your phone will likely drain faster than it is topped up by wireless charging on a long journey.

Shorts one are fine.

 

[Ormesome]

[QUOTE="Spinstorm, post: 3656318, member: 119859]"This is one of the disadvantages of wireless charging and one of the negatives of wireless AA and CP; your phone will likely drain faster than it is topped up by wireless charging on a long journey.[/QUOTE]
My iPhone 12 Pro charges fine when on the wireless matt in my Q2. It’s pretty quick to charge but not tested exactly how quick as i have better things to do!! But its fine anyway, I just dont overload it with apps as it crashes. Not sure if thats the car play box or not though but if @AIS3BE can work various apps without crashing with his new wireless CarPlay system then it has to be that mine has less power to process it.

 

[JohnM100]

.
Snip...
when gps and music is running its slow to charge, gps has a massive drain on battery.
Snip...

Acquiring a GPS signal/lock and ephemeris data uses a lot of processing power but once you have a lock, maintaining it doesn’t use that much.

 

[AlS3BE]

[QUOTE="Spinstorm, post: 3656318, member: 119859]"This is one of the disadvantages of wireless charging and one of the negatives of wireless AA and CP; your phone will likely drain faster than it is topped up by wireless charging on a long journey.

My iPhone 12 Pro charges fine when on the wireless matt in my Q2. It’s pretty quick to charge but not tested exactly how quick as i have better things to do!! But its fine anyway, I just dont overload it with apps as it crashes. Not sure if thats the car play box or not though but if @AIS3BE can work various apps without crashing with his new wireless CarPlay system then it has to be that mine has less power to process it.[/QUOTE]

sounds like your box is the issue. Maybe it’s the Wi-fi/bt can’t handle that volume of data being transferred with all apps running. Or it could be it’s trying to draw too much power from the USB port. I used to get that quite often with my phone plugged in. MMI error saying something about usb power issue. Most of the time disconnect phone and reconnect the MMI resets itself.
Tried mine with Spotify/Apple Music and sat nav and receiving texts/WhatsApp/telegram etc and it doesn’t crash on me. Just did an update on mine and now CarPlay kicks in as I get out my drive so it’s quick as well.

 

[Spinstorm]

I think you guys are not aware of how slowly your phones charge - for example a 12 Pro has a big battery so it probably isn't low to start with.

I don't think there is anything wrong with the threads wireless charging setup BUT if your not sure and under warranty take it to Audi (who will have no clue how to check it and will probably spend a week trying to think of something to tell you they did and then just replace it anyway).

 

[Ormesome]

Settings menu here for the “your mobile
Phone is still in the vehicle” announcement!

 

[Ormesome]

My iPhone 12 Pro charges fine when on the wireless matt in my Q2. It’s pretty quick to charge but not tested exactly how quick as i have better things to do!! But its fine anyway, I just dont overload it with apps as it crashes. Not sure if thats the car play box or not though but if @AIS3BE can work various apps without crashing with his new wireless CarPlay system then it has to be that mine has less power to process it.

sounds like your box is the issue. Maybe it’s the Wi-fi/bt can’t handle that volume of data being transferred with all apps running. Or it could be it’s trying to draw too much power from the USB port. I used to get that quite often with my phone plugged in. MMI error saying something about usb power issue. Most of the time disconnect phone and reconnect the MMI resets itself.
Tried mine with Spotify/Apple Music and sat nav and receiving texts/WhatsApp/telegram etc and it doesn’t crash on me. Just did an update on mine and now CarPlay kicks in as I get out my drive so it’s quick as well.[/QUOTE]

Yeah i think its the box and the processing power. My iPhone X had the smae problem, thats one of the reasons why i upgraded to the iPhone 12 Pro! Both phones were fine with wired car play. It’s fine though, i only really wanted UK radio or to stream music quickly. Does the job fine. Shame though as yours seems a way better box than mine. Cheaper too. Got mine from Audi Retrofits, I had seen the CPlay2Air ones before but thought they where too much of a gamble.