Wireless CarPlay

SJR88

SJR88

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Hi,

I’ve recently taken delivery of a brand new A4. Does anybody know if they have wireless CarPlay or not? I know a couple of vids online have said it does and a salesperson at a dealership told me it does but the car is actually telling me to use USB for CarPlay.

Thank you in advance.
 
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If you do want Wireless Carplay, those dongles are also available on Alibaba for a fraction of the price. They're all the same dongle, just rebranded.
 
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Thanks for the replies. If I have to plug it in I don’t mind, I’m just curious as others seem to think it has wireless! Might see if that salesperson who said it has wireless can connect it for me.
 
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Yes call them out, fact check them. Trendy words at the moment lol...
 
audi upgrades
I have a related question. Presumably you have the charging pad in the central console. I notice there is a USB-C port behind that. I was thinking of getting a short cable to connect to the phone to use CarPlay. It would not be visible and it would be neat. But, can you get a USB-C to Apple lightening cable and does that support use of CarPlay (like the front USB-A port)?

Upload 2019 12 7 16 47 4
 
@WarwickBoy I actually ordered a USB C to Lightning cable last night as I was thinking the same - at least you won’t see it, it’ll be much neater. I got a short one, 0.2m is the shortest I could find. I’ll leave the link below. I’m assuming it’ll still work with CarPlay, I can’t see why not.

Edit: struggling to add link!
 
Screenshot attached.
 

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Just in case anyone is interested - I asked the dealer to help me connect wireless CarPlay. They confirmed it doesn’t have wireless support.

Does anyone know if it can be enabled via VCDS/ OBDeleven - apologies I don’t completely know what I’m talking about.
 
I’ve got one of the Carlinkit U2W (also sold as carplay2air) adaptors for wireless CarPlay in my B9 S4 and it works well.

I bought mine on AliExpress a few weeks ago and it was around £82 in total - a bargain.

Everything works essentially as it did when wired - I think it’s very good, and works well with the Audi MMI.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Do you lose any sound quality on music when you go wireless car play, the sound quality between Bluetooth audio and when I plug my phone into the car with a cable is profound so I always go the cable route, wondered if Apple carplay wireless might be different as it's using wireless not bluetooth I assume.
 
Hammerhead said:
Do you lose any sound quality on music when you go wireless car play, the sound quality between Bluetooth audio and when I plug my phone into the car with a cable is profound so I always go the cable route, wondered if Apple carplay wireless might be different as it's using wireless not bluetooth I assume.
Click to expand...

I tried it in a 2020 Q3 it worked just as well wirelessly as it did on wired connection in my 2020 A4, I don’t get why the a4 doesn’t have it..
 
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SJR88 said:
Just in case anyone is interested - I asked the dealer to help me connect wireless CarPlay. They confirmed it doesn’t have wireless support.

Does anyone know if it can be enabled via VCDS/ OBDeleven - apologies I don’t completely know what I’m talking about.
Click to expand...
Change 3 adaption in 5F and reboot mmi. Then check if its wireless. In the new A1 it's not wireless but after changing the adaptions it supports wireless.
 
SJR88 said:
@WarwickBoy I actually ordered a USB C to Lightning cable last night as I was thinking the same - at least you won’t see it, it’ll be much neater. I got a short one, 0.2m is the shortest I could find. I’ll leave the link below. I’m assuming it’ll still work with CarPlay, I can’t see why not.
!
Click to expand...

SJR88 did the USB C lightning cable work. Not got around to ordering one, so thought I would check given yours has probably arrived now?
 
@WarwickBoy Yes it works perfectly, I use it every day. Although it was already quite short, I looped it and secured it with a cable tie so it’s the perfect fit for the space under the armrest.
 
Thank you @SJR88 I have now ordered the some cable, and will try Apple Car Play when it comes through. Hoping it works better with my Apple podcasts/music as for some reason I find playlists don't seem to work in the Audi MMI interface. Hopefully Apple Car play has an interface to music that works easier (even if forced to use the touch screen).
 
@WarwickBoy Yeh it should work well, I use Spotify and it works really well with Siri, saves having to use the touch screen which can be a nightmare to use. Siri also works well with making calls and navigation, it’s not often it misunderstands what I’m asking it to do.
 
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Upload 2020 2 23 20 9 57


I do have a spare dongle for 65 if you want it. Don’t need it anymore as I have a car with wireless CarPlay. If you have wired CarPlay, plug in the dongle set it up once and you’re sorted
 
Apple CarPlay working well. The only thing I’ve not worked out an easy way to play is PodCasts which don’t seem to be listed (so I put them in a playlist to work around it, but it’s slightly annoying as I have to manually do this and often forget )
 
RJ-8V said:
Change 3 adaption in 5F and reboot mmi. Then check if its wireless. In the new A1 it's not wireless but after changing the adaptions it supports wireless.
Click to expand...

So I finally got in via VCDS and turned the Wireless CarPlay setting on (also enabled wireless Android Auto, just in case). Although I got the prompt to use CarPlay when pairing Bluetooth, at no point did it work wirelessly. Also, how do I reboot the mmi? I tried pressing and holding the power button (both physical and on-screen) and nothing happened. I ended up resetting the MMI and confirmed wireless CarPlay was still on but couldn’t get it to work. Are there any other settings I need to change in VCDS? Thanks in advance!
 
D.C. Christopher said:
So I finally got in via VCDS and turned the Wireless CarPlay setting on (also enabled wireless Android Auto, just in case). Although I got the prompt to use CarPlay when pairing Bluetooth, at no point did it work wirelessly. Also, how do I reboot the mmi? I tried pressing and holding the power button (both physical and on-screen) and nothing happened. I ended up resetting the MMI and confirmed wireless CarPlay was still on but couldn’t get it to work. Are there any other settings I need to change in VCDS? Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

OK, found a thread on obdeleven where folks were trying to do the same thing to an A7. I turned on the 5GHz WiFi as well as MirrorLink but I can’t tell if that was what did it or finally rebooting the MMI. In the 2020 S4, you hold down the power button that’s also the volume control and track control button. It takes about ten seconds. You’ll hear the speakers pop a little and then both screens will reinitialize. I now get a slightly different message about connecting my iPhone to the car (it shows the ID of the BT and WiFi and you can’t tell which because they’re both always the same). I’m connected to both WiFi and BT but it doesn’t find my device. Perhaps 5GHz is the missing piece except I don’t see two networks. Soooo close!
 
Remove your current connection on the mmi and iPhone an then connect from scratch.
 
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RJ-8V said:
Remove your current connection on the mmi and iPhone an then connect from scratch.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, I tried that as well ... several times! I even reset all MMI settings and rebooted my phone just to be sure. I’m missing something ...
 
So I finally gave up and ordered the CarPlay2Air dongle. Has anyone had any luck with these guys? I bought it (the "real deal" one, not its generic brand equivalent, the CarLinkIt), it arrived in about 5 business days which wasn't the 2-3 promised but good enough, then I plugged it in and nothing is happening. So I reach out to their customer support folks and I'm getting the most bizarre run-around. They did offer to take it back but they are holding this carrot of a firmware update that should be out before the end of Q2. So I ask them "hey, can we try whatever version is out now?" (partly in case my dongle had a much older version, partly to confirm that it can even be flashed) and I can't tell if they're just acting dumb or what but they keep making circular references back to the upcoming update. It just feels very scam-y.
 
Same system worked and works just fine on my 2018 B9 S4 - searched for connection, connected and delivered without any requirement for inputs.

Dingah
 
Dingah from Downundah said:
Same system worked and works just fine on my 2018 B9 S4 - searched for connection, connected and delivered without any requirement for inputs.

Dingah
Click to expand...

Thanks for letting me know. For some reason the MMI is not recognizing the CarPlay2Air dongle whereas it sees my iPhone just fine. If it's not one thing, it's an Otter. ;-)
 
I know the main brand Carlinkit has a new version out of the dongle.
They also announced a FW update for existing dongles.
Will be the same for your dongle as it is just a rebranf
 
Los_Cuentos said:
I know the main brand Carlinkit has a new version out of the dongle.
They also announced a FW update for existing dongles.
Will be the same for your dongle as it is just a rebranf
Click to expand...

They told me they’re anticipating a new firmware release before the end of Q2. Their last version is from January. We’re going around and around as I ask them for the January one. I need to find a different car with wired CarPlay to rule out something wrong with my car. I’m pretty sure the dongle they sent me is a dud.
 
D.C. Christopher said:
Thanks for letting me know. For some reason the MMI is not recognizing the CarPlay2Air dongle whereas it sees my iPhone just fine. If it's not one thing, it's an Otter. ;-)
Click to expand...
You have a different MMI from Dingah's though, hardware is different inside so this might have a bearing...
 
cuke2u said:
You have a different MMI from Dingah's though, hardware is different inside so this might have a bearing...
Click to expand...

For sure. However, this dongle acts like a CarPlay client and host itself. That’s how it bootstraps into the car’s MMI. It works on a slew of car makes and models.

The customer support person finally said “no, you can’t have the current firmware, that’s not how it works, you need to update it online” to which I replied “you keep missing the part where it doesn’t connect to my car, how the F am I supposed to update it online?”

Needless to say, I have requested a return!
 
Yeah but you have a 2020 MMI along with it's slew of issues that owners are experiencing...
 
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Well, the dongle that was a dud in my car worked just fine in a 2019 (which is supported). No kidding, this MMI is very challenging.
 
D.C. Christopher said:
Well, the dongle that was a dud in my car worked just fine in a 2019 (which is supported). No kidding, this MMI is very challenging.
Click to expand...

Just seen this thread and can confirm the wireless dongles don't seem to work on the 2020 MMI. Not sure if it's a coincidence but when I started complaining to the vendor I bought from they updated the list of supported cars to show A4 2015 - 2019 only.
 
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JA_D said:
Just seen this thread and can confirm the wireless dongles don't seem to work on the 2020 MMI. Not sure if it's a coincidence but when I started complaining to the vendor I bought from they updated the list of supported cars to show A4 2015 - 2019 only.
Click to expand...

Depends on which one u bought. Carlinkit does hahe an updated version of the dongle. Companies like carplay2air are just ripoffs who asks more money
 
Los_Cuentos said:
Depends on which one u bought. Carlinkit does hahe an updated version of the dongle. Companies like carplay2air are just ripoffs who asks more money
Click to expand...

Interesting. Any more info on this as I have the Carlinkit one (updated 2.0 version) and it isn't working. If you could point me in the direction of how to update it that would be great?
 
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JA_D said:
Interesting. Any more info on this as I have the Carlinkit one (updated 2.0 version) and it isn't working. If you could point me in the direction of how to update it that would be great?
Click to expand...

I'd love info on this as well. I don't want to order if it's not going to work in my car.
 
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