Has any Android users bought an iPhone JUST to use Apple CarPlay ?

Do you know which cars have android auto?

 

I found this on you tube!

 

The scuttlebutt I heard was the other way around- Toyota didn't want either Apple or Google to play fast and loose with all the user data generated while driving around. They came to terms with Apple but Google wouldn't play ball.

 

I can only speculate that the manufacturing commitment deadline for the prime stereos occurred before the deal could be reached. Makes a lot of sense to do it earlier on the low-volume model and then get it right for the high-volume cars.

 

They had it on the Corolla now for a while, which isn't low volume at all. I suspect that the complication of the Prius Prime's split ecosystem is to blame for the delay. They don't have the 11" in any other car, so it must be low priority for them to put much development resources into something that serves such a small customer base. And only rolling it out to the Prius and the lowest trim Prime isn't an option, it would piss off higher trim users. If you look at Australia, they rolled out Android Auto for the Prius, but they don't sell the Prime there.

I still hope they will allow retrofits of AA. Else, I'll continue to have my Android phone stuck in front of the 7" display. An old Iphone wouldn't really help much without a data contract, else how do you use google maps. So in the end it means you need to pay 2 contracts or fully switch to Apple. That's not for me.

 

I hate iOS and have been a long-time Android user. I begrudgingly switched to iPhone because of work and Carplay is a slight bonus. Being able to use Google Maps/Waze and Stitcher for podcasts over the stock Toyota apps would be my reason to switch.

Can I just rant a bit about how dumb it is that Google Maps with Carplay overrides the phone's display to just show a list of directions. I've disconnected my phone from Carplay just so I can use the keyboard and type something instead of constantly shouting at my car hoping the speech recognition knows what I'm asking.

I am tempted to just mount a Android tablet over my screen.

 

A Nexus 7 magnetically stuck to my dash has been my "Android Auto" since 2012

 

I just this weekend grabbed a spare iPhone to see if it was worth having on in the car full time. It takes care of 90% of the complaints I have about the display.

Better maps. Better apps. You can have the climate control on the bottom part of the screen while carplay uses the top and no (stupid IMHO) map constantly on the top of the screen when I could care less driving locally.

The only big issue is that when your using carplay it blocks the use of any other Bluetooth devices. So I can't receive a call on my Android in the car without disconnecting carplay. And for me that's a big issue. If not for that I would have already installed the iPhone permanently in the glovebox as a 'brain' upgrade.

-s

 

Other threads seemed hit or miss. In that even the Australian one I think was for the 7 inch screen only. I really hope they make it happen but being healthily pessimistic for now ...

If it reaches a tipping point (this really is literally the only thing I don't love about the car) I may very well just put a Sim in an iPhone and add it to my plan. Can pretend its the 80s and tell people to call me in my carphone

Or forward my calls to it but none of that comes free and I doubt Verizon will give me the line for free just because I complain about the car!

 

Wow, that's lame! The Sony deck I put in our prius doesn't suffer like that at all. We regularly have an iphone doing navigation via carplay while listening to a 2nd device. Must be something with the hinky Toyota deck.

 

An older iPhone works, but doesn't use the full potential? I ask 'cus my son's phone died and he enlisted my vernerable iPhone 5 with his CX-5 (with CarPlay), and in short order had Google Maps on the car's screen, was talking, it saying "give me directions to Best Buy" and what not.