[paulg]

With the wireless charging pad and Apple CarPlay integration (via a cable) the vehicle is crying out for the Wireless CarPlay option.

Does anyone have any insights as to if this might be enabled in the future via a firmware upgrade?

 

[wendy]

I so agree Seems antiquated to still require a cord!

 

[mikeceb]

Agree. I was surprised it did not have wireless CarPlay. I ordered a dongle adapter as a workaround.

 

[paulg]

Agree. I was surprised it did not have wireless CarPlay. I ordered a dongle adapter as a workaround.

Me too. It's installed and running. There is a very slight lag when pushing buttons on the touchscreen. Otherwise ok.

 

[GusNYC]

Yes, it is a weird implementation to have to connect the iPhone for CarPlay when you have a wireless charger. It defeats the purpose, unless you charge a second iPhone. I also have the dongle, and the lag is really minimal.

 

[Acer]

Is it possible to connect Iphone with Apple CarPlay without USB cable?

 

[GusNYC]

Yes, it is a weird implementation to have to connect the iPhone for CarPlay when you have a wireless charger. It defeats the purpose, unless you charge a second iPhone. I also have the dongle, and the lag is really minimal.

 

[GusNYC]

Is it possible to connect Iphone with Apple CarPlay without USB cable?

Unfortunately the car (at least until the 2020 model) didn't have wireless CarPlay. It is possible to get a receiver to keep it plugged in the car, and gives you wireless CarPlay, but this receiver has to be plugged to the car. The one I bought is called CPLAY2air and it works really well.

 

[karenr]

I've been looking at dongle adapters so I don't have to plug my iPhone in to use CarPlay. I've seen the CPLAY2air, which is more expensive than some of the others that have popped up on the internet. I was wondering whether anyone is using any other less expensive brands and whether there is any performance quality differences to the CPLAY2air?

 

[paulg]

I am using CPLAY2air. It dropped in price just after I received it (Grr). Works as advertised.

 

[mikeceb]

I’ve been using the CarPlay2Air for a few weeks. It works as advertised. The cable is kind of short so it kind of just hung there so I got a command strip and attached it so it doesn’t flop around.

 

[He Keith]

I see this thread is a bit old, we just picked upa 21 XC 40 T5 R-Design and am looking at the CarPlay2Air, is everyone that is using oen still happy with it?

 

[He Keith]

I just got the CPLAY2Air adapter and it seems to work great. Takes maybe ~10 seconds to boot up, but so doe s the entire Infotainment. Very slight lag with it, but barely noticeable. A little 15lb double stick tape and it is not even noticeable in the car as the cord is the prefect length.

 

[Jezza]

I just got the CPLAY2Air adapter and it seems to work great. Takes maybe ~10 seconds to boot up, but so doe s the entire Infotainment. Very slight lag with it, but barely noticeable. A little 15lb double stick tape and it is not even noticeable in the car as the cord is the prefect length.

Thanks for sharing this info. I use CarPlay all the time because in Chicago I need a nav app with routing that adjusts with real time traffic. So this could be great. Wonder if the lag you described is worse when using nav app like Waze?

 

[He Keith]

Honestly the lag is not really noticeable, had someone else not mentioned it I would not have noticed. Wife loves it as the car remembers what she was last doing and fires it up as the phone connects. Very impressed with her XC40 and wishing Volvo had stuck with Sense on the XC40 P8 as the Android OS (and I am an Android person) is not ready for prime time and is a mess compared to Sense.

 

[Jezza]

Honestly the lag is not really noticeable, had someone else not mentioned it I would not have noticed. Wife loves it as the car remembers what she was last doing and fires it up as the phone connects. Very impressed with her XC40 and wishing Volvo had stuck with Sense on the XC40 P8 as the Android OS (and I am an Android person) is not ready for prime time and is a mess compared to Sense.

Yeah the new touchscreen interface doesn't even look polished imo. Hopefully it will upgrade. Still seems to be a big improvement over Sensus - the voice commands on mine are almost entirely useless.

 

[He Keith]

So our point of reference is our Acuras. I had a 19 TLX which was based on the older Acura infotainment and the wife had a 19 RDX which was based on the new infotainment. The old was very limited and only had basic voice control. Her RDX was their “latest’ but was a mess. Slow to boot, constant Bluetooth issue and CarPlay was a crap shoot. The 2021 XC40 Sence was a dream, virtually instant boot up (in comparison) and better voice recognition and commands. The navigation is excellent, I can say Whole Foods and it will tell me there are several and give me a list to select from. Sure Google built into the P8 is well, Google and you can speak natural language to and get great results. That said, the Sense graphics are far better. The Google maps look sad compared to the Sense maps. Traffic lines are on most main roads with Sense and with Google it is hard to see and then the traffic lines only seem to show up where there issues and then again it is not easy to see them. She loves Sense in her T5, and uses CarPlay all the time now.

IMO they should have held off on Android Automotive another year or 2 until either next gen XC40 or some other model gen update. I get early adopter, but I feel likeI am a beta tester in a $60K car. They seems tobe chasing Tesla in the wrong area(buggy quirky and extremely incomplete software).

 

[DOMTL]

Can anyone comment on CarPlay with their Volvo. I often just listen to Podcasts on my phone but this morning I thought I would try some music. I use CarPlay with a cord. When I use Amazon Music on my iPhone, the audio is predominantly from the center speaker like when I talk with my phone handsfree. The audio doesn't sound good. When I play music with the Bluetooth (unplug Carplay) the audio sounds richer and the Subwoofer kicks in. Is there a setting for this ? Is this a problem with CarPlay ? Is there a sound setting on the Volvo ?

Thanks everyone

 

[Seriously?]

I see this thread is a bit old, we just picked upa 21 XC 40 T5 R-Design and am looking at the CarPlay2Air, is everyone that is using oen still happy with it?

I used CarPlay2Air for about 6 months with fair success then it quit connecting consistently. After a month of suffering through much unsuccessful troubleshooting I gave up on it. I installed a RAM phone mount and a short heavy duty USB cable for my iPhone and that’s my chosen solution. It connects super quick and the sound is great.

I must say that I wish Volvo cared as much about and gave as high a priority to the electronics/infotainment as they do all of their safety features. I say this because I have been distracted while driving by the poor functioning and design of these system to the point where I am loosing my devotion to Volvo as a brand.

 

[Jezza]

I must say that I wish Volvo cared as much about and gave as high a priority to the electronics/infotainment as they do all of their safety features.

I think they have finally realized that consumer electronics is not their forte; hence the move to the Google platform. A very wise move in my opinion although I’m personally not a Google fan. Other manufacturers will follow suit. Other than Tesla, most are just already dated and awkward from day one, no matter how much the car costs.