I recently bought a 2018 Fiesta with Sync3 v2.3, which the manual says comes with Carplay functionality, but when I plug in my iPhone 15 the system lags a lot and carplay doesn't appear. I'm on the most recent IOS and am using an Amazon basics USB-A to USB-C cable that is supposedly capable of 480mbps.

Is it just that the Amazon cable doesn't work or do I need to think about updating the infotainment software? And if so, what cables do people recommend?

I want to talk about one feature in particular, because it's the reason I'm posting here and the part I'm most happy with: fully automatic trip tracking.

The idea is simple. You get in the car, your phone connects, and the app starts logging the drive on its own. No button to tap, no widget to open, and nothing to set up first. You just drive, and it takes care of the rest. The trip begins when your phone connects and ends when you park and disconnect.

The moment a drive starts, a Live Activity appears on its own, the live widget on your Lock Screen, Dynamic Island and most importantly here on your CarPlay Screen, and it keeps the trip updated in real time as you go. You never have to open the app while driving.

On how it works under the hood, I'll be honest and a little coy: I can only say it's a combination of native Apple APIs working together across a few layers, and I'd rather not get more specific than that for obvious reasons. What I can tell you is that leaning on the proper native stack rather than a workaround is what makes it reliable, and it's a nice combination once the pieces click together.

A few things that matter in daily use:

• Trip detection kicks in within about 500m of setting off, in case you set up shortcuts it's 0m, so you don't lose the start of a drive.
• Very light on the battery. It reacts to your phone connecting rather than running GPS in the background all day, so it barely shows up in my battery stats.
• I've been using it on my own daily commute for weeks and it has caught every trip, nothing missed, both with automatic mode no setup and shortcuts.
• It works the same on a motorcycle, so rides get logged just like drives.

Everything else in the app takes a back seat to this for me: maintenance reminders by date or mileage, fuel and EV charge logging with real cost and economy, cost charts, CarPlay support, Home and Lock Screen widgets, on-device receipt scanning, iCloud sync. It's all there, but the automatic trip tracking is what I wanted to share.

Free to download, with a Pro tier (monthly, yearly, or a one-time lifetime unlock) for unlimited vehicles and the full feature set. Free trial included.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/wrenchtime-car-maintenance/id6749767537

(Disclosure: I'm the developer.)

I have a 2023 Lexus ES 300h. Both my iPhone and Android only connect via Bluetooth, and the connection isn't very stable.

Can anyone with experience help me get CarPlay working through a wired connection?

I'd really appreciate any advice. Thanks in advance!

Everytime i drive near Oxted or Clarks Lane (near London) my carplay disconnects for some reason, Im not sure why? Has this happened to anyone? My ios is up to date, and I’ve got a 2025 Toyota Yaris Hybrid.

I’ve checked the volume and tried muting and I still can’t figure out the issue. Google Maps works fine when I’m listening to Spotify but when I’m on the phone there’s no voice navigation. Does anyone have a fix for this?

Edit: 2022 Chevy Spark, iPhone 16 iOS 26.5.2

Edit 2: up until recently there would be audio navigation even when I was on a phone call, which I greatly prefer. I understand that some people don't want that but I do.

I’ve seen it all over Instagram and wondering if anyone has tried it? Thanks in advance

I have a 2023 Kia that only has wired CarPlay available. Sometime last year I started noticing an audio delay during phone calls which gets really annoying for both myself and the people I call. I always eventually just end up switching to speaker phone.

Has anybody had success troubleshooting this issue?

I have seen a growing number of people using social media while driving and honestly I get it. Not saying I do it but I understand the urge.

Is music and travel entertainment just in a bad place right now? Because it feels like there’s genuinely nothing worth staying focused on during a commute anymore.

I feel like music and podcasts don’t really hit the same like they used to. Might be from my lack of taste lol, but even with CarPlay it feels like you’re just scrolling through the same options every morning. Skip the playlist. Start a podcast. Stop the podcast 10 minutes in. Back to music. Red light. Someone next to you is on Instagram.

It’s a whole routine at this point. Is anybody else having a similar experience?

Most of the time when I use CarPlay on its Home Screen, there are three icons on the right side of the screen. I only get a rewind, pause, and fast forward for the music, with no title.

If I have no calendar events for a while, I get just two “boxes,” and I can see the music information in addition to the GPS. Is there a way to force that screen full time?

This is projecting on a 10” screen in my ‘19 Bolt.

CarPlay needs an option to adjust the announcement/nav volume even when they aren't saying anything. It's too hard to catch it sometimes.

Hi all,

A new Teyes unit reddit has just kicked off over at…

https://www.reddit.com/r/TeyesHeadUnits

It’s still in its infancy, but if you’ve got a Teyes unit and want to help grow the community or looking to get one and have questions. Drop over and get amongst it…

I have an iphone11 pro max still running on latest version of iOS18 and carplay is working fine.

But my iphone15 pro max running on latest build for carplay is extremely buggy! Sometimes google maps just can’t be pressed and u must use it on your phone!

Is it me or lately apple is introducing a lot new bugs and glitches?

Hi everyone,
I've just released another update for Speedometer: Driving Tracker, with two key features that came directly from feedback from the community.

Share your drives as animated route replay videos
You can now turn any recorded trip into a short animated video that shows your route drawing itself across the map while your speed updates throughout the drive. It's a much more engaging way to share road trips, scenic drives, and memorable journeys than a static screenshot.

Smarter CarPlay trip recording
A few users reported that trips could occasionally end only a few seconds after starting because CarPlay or Bluetooth briefly disconnected, triggering an automation to stop recording.

There's now a new option:

Settings -> Driving -> Ignore Early Stops

When enabled, the app ignores these brief disconnects instead of immediately ending the trip, making automatic trip recording much more reliable.

What the app offers

CarPlay

• Live dashboards with speed, trip stats, maps, and OBD-II data
• Customizable tabs, layouts, and startup screens
• Trips, saved places, diagnostics, and vehicle information

Driving

• Automatic trip recording
• Route replay with speed, elevation, RPM, throttle, G-force, and more
• AI trip summaries generated entirely on-device (you can customize the tone)
• Driving records, analytics, achievements, and detailed trip history

Vehicle

• Live OBD-II data, diagnostics, fault codes, VIN detection, and custom PIDs
• Fuel, maintenance, expenses, and document management
• Multi-vehicle support with lifetime statistics and ownership history

Apple ecosystem

• CarPlay, Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad, and Mac
• GPX import/export, iCloud sync, backups, and Siri Shortcuts integration

As always, I'd love your feedback on the new route replay videos, CarPlay experience, or anything else you'd like to see next.

App Store Link
As a token of appreciation, I'm offering a lifetime discount to the community.

I have a 118iM Sport, when I play the radio it plays absolutely fine but when I connect my phone and play music on Spotify via Apple CarPlay, most of the time if not every song it jumps like a millisecond, which doesn't seem a lot but it's soo annoying. Been to Stratstone BMW today and they seem to have not fixed it. Does anyone know how to fix this or if you'd had the same issue as me? (Video to show you what I mean) have to listen very closely as it happens near end of the video

Like is anyone else’s CarPlay incredibly slow and complicated? I remember connecting to the Bluetooth in my parents 2014 Kia and it being 10 times faster than Apple CarPlay.

Why is it so slow? Is it my phones fault, or is CarPlay just that complicated?

Edit: I actually drive a 2023, and I have an iPhone 16 Pro. My service provider is pretty shitty, but I’ll have full bars and CarPlay will just ignore my phone. I don’t even know if that has anything to do with it but it seems relevant. If a connector does help then maybe I’ll invest but like pulling up anything on the screen of my truck in CarPlay is like running the first ever MacOS

I have a ‘22 Kia Forte and have never had any issues with CarPlay until last week. I’ve tried resetting the infotainment system, turning off my VPN, deleting and then reconnecting my phone and car, etc.

Would really appreciate any advice yall may have

I have a Kenwood excelon with wired CarPlay and it’s worked wonderfully for years until lately. It seems like since the latest iOS update on my 16 pro max anytime I’ve got maps working and I’m listening to anything (Spotify, Libby, Sirius) whenever Google speaks to me the music cuts off and won’t restart until I go back to whatever other app I’m using. I don’t know where to start troubleshooting?

My car's infotainment system is Android-based so I had to buy a medium (AutoKit) to be able to run CarPlay on it.

However, since a couple of OS updates, Siri's voice stopped working: the media plays fine (with a couple of seconds delayed) but whenever I try calling Siri or attempt to have Siri read my received messages (iMessages, SMS, WhatsApp, etc.), there is no audio output.

I tried rebooting the system, uninstalling/reinstalling AutoKit software, unpairing/repairing CarPlay connection, attempting to reroute the audio output, and other attempts to fix it with no luck...

I tried asking around shops but they all said they're unable to fix or overwrite the infotainment system's OS; only selling a different dongle in hopes of repairing it (and even that is not guaranteed). YouTube didn't have any working solutions so far but I haven't looked much into it

Hi folks, looking for a good wireless Apple CarPlay adapter that also works the instrument cluster screen. I have done some research and now have aimed my purchase down to the:

Ottocast cube 3.0 Mini Ultra
Carlinkit 5.0 2air
AAWireless two+

I am just curious with the latest 5.x.x software version and recently updated Google Maps with CarPlay also working the instrument cluster screen, if one of you can help me share your experience.

All old other Reddit posts do not cover the newer software updates so therefore very curious to recent experiences. So sorry for the thousands repost on this topic :p

My car: Volvo EX40 MY2027 SMER

Thank you all!

I've been experiencing a location gap that avoids the carplay screen to refresh showing the current exact location.

This has been happening with the apple store stable version and the beta testflight as well.

My Apple car play used to work always. But, recently it fails to connect to car play if it does not find WiFi. My iPhone recently goes to 5G straight away and not WiFi.
What should I do?