While there are several dongles available on the market, I recently purchased these and in most cases they provide a solid wireless CarPlay experience. Installation on my 2019 Volvo Now when I receive in the car, I no longer have to think about connecting a USB-C cable: CarPlay starts automatically and plays what I’m listening to.
The sound quality is excellent and I didn’t notice any major lag when scrolling through the CarPlay interface. Siri voice commands, which I rely on a lot when driving, work just as well as wired CarPlay (in most cases it works well, but sometimes background noise gives the wrong answer). CarLinkIt furthermore works perfectly with the volume and shift buttons on the steering wheel.
while they are IF The realization that plugging in a USB-C cable doesn’t appear to be a hassle, and may actually be the epitome of first-world problems, is a problem that has plagued me for several cars. USB-C cables (and previously Apple’s Thunderbolt cables) bend and break easily, especially when you’re trying to fit them into a car’s cramped accessory compartment. Dirt furthermore builds up in the phone’s charging ports, which can weaken the connections. After several cables broke during long trips, I simply had enough.
Frankly, I’m surprised that my experience with wireless CarPlay has been much less problematic than using a simple cable. This directly contradicts my typical mantra for any type of device: a wired connection is usually leading.
In this case though, I haven’t had various problems with CarLinkIt 5. It works 90% of the time and I only occasionally have connection issues when I connect my phone to my son’s tablets (I bet there’s some kind of WiFi conflict). In these cases, disconnecting and reconnecting CarlinKit can solve the problem.
My wife was additionally able to pair with CarlinKit and it was just as useful for her. we simply select the phone we want to mirror when CarPlay is activated., If we are both in the Volvo. I was concerned about mirror conflicts, but overall it hasn’t caused us various problems.
The only downside to using wireless CarPlay is that it doesn’t automatically charge your phone when connected to your car.
Therefore, you must leverage a wireless charger integrated in your car or purchase the corresponding accessories. I leverage it and it works like a dream. I don’t leverage it for short trips, but when I necessitate to charge I just slide my phone in and trust the magic of magnets and wireless charging.
The CarlinKit is one of those devices that you never have to think about other than unplugging or plugging it in every once in a while.
To resolve compatibility issues, the company releases firmware updates that you can install over the air via your phone. (There’s additionally a more complicated method for updating USB firmware, but I haven’t tackled that yet.) Other than that, it doesn’t require much babysitting. And isn’t that exactly what we want with all disposables?
