The CarPlay Thread
- Thread starter gregatron5
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Is there a way to tell CarPlay/Maps that my car is electric? I have a third party box (MMIPrime) to enable CarPlay, and maps doesn’t give me electric routing options. Google Maps lets you choose an electric efficient route, but I don’t want to use Google.
Yup, it's great. I've used it a few times to see if a graphical glitch was the car or the iPhone.
Apple Maps does a lot more than just pick an efficient route. It tracks state of charge and estimates power consumption. I'd guess that you are out of luck because the third party box doesn't transmit that info to your phone.
survey indicates that folks with CarPlay or Android listen to AM/FM almost half the time.
streaming lags behind Sirius
have had the current car almost five years, have never listened to radio
www.edisonresearch.com
streaming lags behind Sirius
have had the current car almost five years, have never listened to radio
In-Car Listening and Infotainment Systems - Edison Research
This post is from Edison’s Weekly Insights email. Please click here if you would like to subscribe. Choices, choices. The in-car audio landscape today offers myriad options, including radio receivers, satellite radio receivers, voice-activated speakers, and Bluetooth or aux cord capabilities...
www.edisonresearch.com
I saw that article posted elsewhere, too, and am boggled by the data. Set aside CarPlay, I haven't listened to the radio since owning a car I could plug my OG iPod into with an AUX cable.
In my current car, the "radio" is one app among many within the infotainment system, right up there with SiriusXM, that I never use and only ever see for the few seconds before CarPlay takes control and I jump directly into Spotify, a podcast, or whatever I'm feeling. None of that built-in car audio functionality has any reason to exist, AFAIC.
Then again, I remember having a side conversation with my dealer about how I was glad the vehicle I was buying didn't come with a CD Player standard because I'd never use it, and he said something like, "you know how many people get upset and ask us to put it in?" which was like a $600 option. For a CD Player.
In my current car, the "radio" is one app among many within the infotainment system, right up there with SiriusXM, that I never use and only ever see for the few seconds before CarPlay takes control and I jump directly into Spotify, a podcast, or whatever I'm feeling. None of that built-in car audio functionality has any reason to exist, AFAIC.
Then again, I remember having a side conversation with my dealer about how I was glad the vehicle I was buying didn't come with a CD Player standard because I'd never use it, and he said something like, "you know how many people get upset and ask us to put it in?" which was like a $600 option. For a CD Player.
On a related note, it takes both hands for me now to count the number of people that I've introduced to CarPlay/Android Auto, in their own cars, that they've been driving for years.
And for at least one of them, a few weeks after showing them this amaz!ng feature in their car, I had to show it to them again in their second car.
Whenever my wife drives my car, when I get back in it’s always set for FM radio. It’s always slightly confusing because it’s the only time I see the radio interface. It’s actually pretty nice, but not something I use.
But I think she just doesn’t know how to set up the wireless CarPlay. She uses the wired version in her car all the time.
That article really surprised me.
But I think she just doesn’t know how to set up the wireless CarPlay. She uses the wired version in her car all the time.
That article really surprised me.
The % listening to Sat Radio got me. I’ve got the capability in two cars but nothing about it during the free trials made me think “this is worth $$$”.
Worst part is every new car being cursed with those ugly shark-fin antennae forever.
Personally, having been on the road for work a lot in and out of rental cars, CarPlay is a godsend. Standard interface wherever I go.
Worst part is every new car being cursed with those ugly shark-fin antennae forever.
Personally, having been on the road for work a lot in and out of rental cars, CarPlay is a godsend. Standard interface wherever I go.
people subscribe to Sirius Radio to get celebrity hosts that are only on Sirius - like Howard Stern. But agree, not worth the cost
I kind of understand this feeling. Not enough to pay extra to option one, but even after streaming became my most common way to consume music, I’d carefully curate a selection of albums to load into my car’s CD changer, and I still feel nostalgic for the way that just having the same albums available on my commute made me learn them note for note. These days, streaming has made it so I can barely listen to the same album more than once a month, but back then, I’d listen to some twice a day, just due to the convenience.
As for radio, I think it depends on whether you have any nice non-commercial college/music stations in your area. There’s still a lot of value in actual human-programmed playlists; it’s not all a Clear Channel hellscape.
For sure—ages ago I had a car with changer in it as well, and would painstakingly burn CDs for different moods and driving situations. The process was a lot of fun for someone who loves music. But really, that's what it's about—a process. And building playlists in a streaming service has subsumed the process of burning physical media for me, with far greater detail and hugely better variety. It also allows me to do it once—it's all on my phone, following me anywhere whether I'm in my car using CarPlay or taking the dog for a walk with AirPods or sitting at my Mac getting work done. CarPlay's value is how easy it makes it to transfer an exact experience into the car. Plug, and play. Even the interface is consistent. That's immensely satisfying.
I agree, there's still some excellent radio stations out there. Much fewer and farther between than they used to be, but they exist. Some of the NPR-affiliated stations near me do some really interesting music programming, particularly overnight.
But speaking broadly, I'm usually not a fan of human-curated playlists in music, beyond what I curate myself or from people or organizations I know share lock-step my interest in music discovery at the edges. This is one of my major beefs with Apple Music, with its marketing-focus on "human curation," and why, when using one of the many unearned free trials Apple keeps sending me, I remain largely unimpressed: If I take the types of music I have deep understanding of, and review Apple's human-curated lists, they stand bare as pretty terrible, major-label dominated, and rife with bias toward certain bands and exhausted trends. This is exactly the problem that plagues most radio for me, and why I was so focused on moving beyond radio as soon as technology made it possible.
Again, there are exceptions to that, both from traditional broadcast and internet-based sources. But the desire to seek them out wanes when the "solution" is right there.
Anyway. I'm not helping to keep this on-topic. Obviously, this is a subject I feel passionate about and can't let go of the desire to run at the mouth with some of the inherent, admittedly snobby, eye-roll-inducing fixations I have as a result. It's easy to get so myopic about a subject like music that you forget not everyone treats it as sand to be continually pounded. To use a phrase.
I listen to FM radio maybe 5% of the time while driving. We have an AM station for highway updates, and that's the only time I care about AM radio. Otherwise, it's podcasts or music from my phone.
I used to use my radio for NPR, but saying "Siri, play KQED radio" is super convenient, so .. I don't really use the radio anymore. Unless the Mazda takes a minute to connect to (wired) CarPlay and the radio .. set to NPR .. kicks in.
I also listen to NPR a fair amount (old school FM), mixed with Spotify and podcast streaming
Got a weird bug recently, presumably with iOS 17. Might have to do with my wireless adapter and timing or whatever, but sometimes the output stays connected to the Bluetooth audio output when CarPlay connects. Wouldn't be a huge deal, except the CarPlay audio output doesn't show up at all when this happens. My quick workaround is to just toggle wifi so it reconnects and it works.
Satellite radio is a godsend if you drive regularly in areas where cell reception is limited. I still have yet to figure out a way to reliably download music to my phone now since I started using Apple Music that doesn’t need to call home. What is sad is also hitting patches of drive where your car can’t see the sky and you lose satellite radio also. sighs
how to download in Apple Music (it used to be harder), can do playlists
support.apple.com
Add and download music from Apple Music - Apple Support
If you subscribe to Apple Music, you can add music from the Apple Music catalog to your music library. Stream music that you've added over an internet connection. Or download music that you've added to listen to offline.
Is some reason that CarPlay cannot fast forward or rewind music well? Even my tape deck decades ago got it right.
The iPhone when playing attachments, actually shows a waveform scroll bar to instantly see what's going on. But CarPlay shows a line and a dot, and you can't touch it. You need to hold down the arrow buttons, but it SLOWLY starts to move backwards for quite a while before it turns to a slightly faster pace.
I feel like it's going to give me a heart attack when I dare want to get back to a certain point in the song.
The iPhone when playing attachments, actually shows a waveform scroll bar to instantly see what's going on. But CarPlay shows a line and a dot, and you can't touch it. You need to hold down the arrow buttons, but it SLOWLY starts to move backwards for quite a while before it turns to a slightly faster pace.
I feel like it's going to give me a heart attack when I dare want to get back to a certain point in the song.
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My guess would be that they want your attention to be on the road, not on a timeline bar. I haven’t tested with CarPlay because I’m generally wanting only to restart or skip a track (using the steering wheel controls) but Siri can be used to navigate the track. “Go back xxx seconds”. Or if you memorize the punch-in, “Go to 2 minutes 3 seconds.”
I thing I discovered recently: if you hold the Home Screen button (on the bottom left of the screen), it will bring up Siri.
I still prefer “Hey Siri” while driving, but it’s a nice feature if you don’t have a dedicated button on your steering wheel.
I still prefer “Hey Siri” while driving, but it’s a nice feature if you don’t have a dedicated button on your steering wheel.
Did that and it still wants to call home. It's not usually a problem because I always have multiple ways to entertain myself but it is worth noting.how to download in Apple Music (it used to be harder), can do playlists
Add and download music from Apple Music - Apple Support
If you subscribe to Apple Music, you can add music from the Apple Music catalog to your music library. Stream music that you've added over an internet connection. Or download music that you've added to listen to offline.
It does work here & elsewhere.
downloading is a two step process by default: add to library by hitting the plus then downloading by hitting the triple dot and then selecting download, more info below
If you want to download music automatically, rather than needing to add it to your library first, go to Settings and enable Automatic Downloads. This removes the additional step and will immediately download something when you tap the plus icon.
www.makeuseof.com
downloading is a two step process by default: add to library by hitting the plus then downloading by hitting the triple dot and then selecting download, more info below
If you want to download music automatically, rather than needing to add it to your library first, go to Settings and enable Automatic Downloads. This removes the additional step and will immediately download something when you tap the plus icon.
How to Download Music From Apple Music
If you want to listen to Apple Music offline, here's how you download to your phone and desktop.
Even if it's on your phone, it still wants to call home to Apple IME. I have a smart playlist called Songs. It is every non video music track added to my Library and I download the whole thing to my phone. It still skips/stutters when I hit a bad patch of cell service - completely solved if I turn on airplane mode.
Huh, is that a non-US thing maybe? I listen to music non-stop on my motorcycle using Apple Music as well as in my car, and using pre-downloaded albums/playlists I get uninterrupted sound regardless of what no-service valley or vast plain I'm currently in. This has been true for ... 3 or 4 years now at least.
How is this not a solved problem for Apple Music? On Spotify, I select whatever tracks or playlists I want to listen to off-line and it "just works." I think I have to enable internet access once a month for the downloads to remain authorized. I also subscribe you YouTube Music and it's the same—it even algorithmically downloads certain tracks for me automatically in case I'm out of service. It's literally never once been an issue.
This is such a basic requirement for a streaming service, I wonder what else might be going on to cause this problem.
This is such a basic requirement for a streaming service, I wonder what else might be going on to cause this problem.
Just to offer additional comment on this - I am in the UK, and with songs downloaded to my phone from apple music, with wifi turned off, and airplane mode on, I can play songs without issue.
I am wondering whether the songs have actually downloaded when you have asked them to?
As hard as it is to believe, I did those ages ago. I've been using Apple Music from launch. It worked for a time and then stopped. On this latest trip that I took, I went in and manually clicked on the download arrow on all my playlists like I used to do before every trip before I set up the automatic downloads. Didn't really hit any spots on the route with no cell access though so...It does work here & elsewhere.
downloading is a two step process by default: add to library by hitting the plus then downloading by hitting the triple dot and then selecting download, more info below
If you want to download music automatically, rather than needing to add it to your library first, go to Settings and enable Automatic Downloads. This removes the additional step and will immediately download something when you tap the plus icon.
How to Download Music From Apple Music
If you want to listen to Apple Music offline, here's how you download to your phone and desktop.
I will keep an eye on it and see how it performs when I fly again.
I rarely listen to terrestrial radio - ktru (Rice U Radio) probably less than once a month. I am trying to live in Apple Music most of the time because of the higher quality and Apple One sub I have. I use SongShift to keep my Apple and Spotify playlists synced. Spotify still has superior suggestions, but Apple's newly updated Discovery Station that uses machine learning is a huge upgrade, but I will have days where it does shit that makes no sense.
Might be of interest to some (copyright issues?):
9to5mac.com
TikTok adds Apple Music integration for quickly saving songs to your library - 9to5Mac
TikTok is rolling out a new feature that offers deep integration with Apple Music, Spotify, and Amazon Music. Starting today,...
9to5mac.com
FWIW, I’ve never had issues with music downloaded through Apple Music, and I live in the southwest and drive in the mountains regularly where cell reception is extremely spotty or nonexistent.
I switched to one of hte newer American English voices (#5 I think?) and boy, I hadn't realized how much better the more recent ones are at enunciation. Super clear voice, much more natural sounding then the classic "siri" tones. Seems to get pronouciations and cadence a little better too.
Also, riding with a friend running Google Maps I was reminded of how much better Apple is these days at human-centric directions. Plus it seemed like at least with his head unit GMaps doesn't do the pop-up lane markers and stuff so you know which of 16 lanes you should be in for the upcoming spaghetti junction.
Also, riding with a friend running Google Maps I was reminded of how much better Apple is these days at human-centric directions. Plus it seemed like at least with his head unit GMaps doesn't do the pop-up lane markers and stuff so you know which of 16 lanes you should be in for the upcoming spaghetti junction.
I’ve been having issues with the Bluetooth paring in my 2014 GMC and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Music and radio stations not playing unless I toggled the car stereo Inputs.
Bluetooth not paring or taking forever to do so.
So I got one of these Instead of spending $1200+ on a new stereo that would work with the factory Bose system.
Podofo Portable Car Stereo Wireless Apple Carplay Android Auto,7 Inch Touch Screen Car Radio with Bluetooth Hands-Free/Mirror Link/Maps Navigation/Voice Control/TF Card/AUX,for Cars, Trucks, SUVs https://a.co/d/ajiTtAs
My phone connects via wireless CarPlay, and the screen connects direct to the aux input of the car stereo with an 1/8“ cable.
It works very well! The screen is on a switched 12v outlet, it boots up quickly, phone connects right to it.
I have an existing Panavise bracket in my truck for a MagSafe phone charger, I’ll switch that to the CarPlay screen and put my phone elsewhere.
Music and radio stations not playing unless I toggled the car stereo Inputs.
Bluetooth not paring or taking forever to do so.
So I got one of these Instead of spending $1200+ on a new stereo that would work with the factory Bose system.
Podofo Portable Car Stereo Wireless Apple Carplay Android Auto,7 Inch Touch Screen Car Radio with Bluetooth Hands-Free/Mirror Link/Maps Navigation/Voice Control/TF Card/AUX,for Cars, Trucks, SUVs https://a.co/d/ajiTtAs
My phone connects via wireless CarPlay, and the screen connects direct to the aux input of the car stereo with an 1/8“ cable.
It works very well! The screen is on a switched 12v outlet, it boots up quickly, phone connects right to it.
I have an existing Panavise bracket in my truck for a MagSafe phone charger, I’ll switch that to the CarPlay screen and put my phone elsewhere.
I mentioned this in the comments for the FP article about the Mach-e, but I’ll say it here, too.
I Turo’d a Mach-e a couple weekends ago, and it was new enough that it had the CarPlay integration that talks back to the phone. Directions in the drive cluster were nice, as was the Maps integration except for one thing.
In maps, when directions are on, the “Time remaining” and “Distance remaining” numbers are removed in lieu of a single “Charge remaining” number that displays battery percentage. Only ETA remains on the screen. My kids (and me, too, honestly), like knowing how many more minutes until we arrive, especially since they’re too young to understand clocks, let alone clock math. I only had the car for a few days, so I don’t know if it’s tweakable, but it was a bit of a UI disappointment.
I Turo’d a Mach-e a couple weekends ago, and it was new enough that it had the CarPlay integration that talks back to the phone. Directions in the drive cluster were nice, as was the Maps integration except for one thing.
In maps, when directions are on, the “Time remaining” and “Distance remaining” numbers are removed in lieu of a single “Charge remaining” number that displays battery percentage. Only ETA remains on the screen. My kids (and me, too, honestly), like knowing how many more minutes until we arrive, especially since they’re too young to understand clocks, let alone clock math. I only had the car for a few days, so I don’t know if it’s tweakable, but it was a bit of a UI disappointment.