Apple’s CarPlay has come a very long way. When it first arrived in 2014, it was not only a luxury, but available on only one vehicle: the Ferrari FF, a model costing nearly $300,000. It took months for the feature to ship on vehicles affordable to us plebes, and even then you sometimes had to upgrade your trim for the privilege. Today, CarPlay is so widespread that automakers only leave it out if they’re consciously choosing to prioritize their own OS.
Wireless CarPlay represents a growing slice of the pie, but it’s not guaranteed to be available, especially if you’re buying a used car. I lean towards spending more for it necessary, and there are a few reasons why.
The perks of going wireless
More than just the obvious
The biggest benefit, naturally, is being able to get in and out of a car without worrying about a USB cable every time. There’s still going to be a delay between when you turn your car on and when CarPlay kicks in (unless perhaps you have CarPlay UItra) — yet it’s nice to eliminate one less hassle when you hit the road, particularly if you’re in a hurry. One trick I discovered a long time ago is that if you load up directions and/or music on your iPhone before you climb in, you can be ready to roll as soon as CarPlay is active.
If you’re the sort of person who doesn’t like leaving anything behind in a car, you’ll never end up in that scenario where you’re ready to drive, but you forgot that your cable is still sitting on a table. And if you are willing to leave a cable plugged in, you might nevertheless appreciate reducing cockpit clutter. My family and I recently drove cross-country, and just the number of cables and devices up front created issues, particularly with a bulky laptop adapter drawing as much power as my car could offer.
In some circumstances, wireless can make switching between drivers easier, mostly if the other person likes to keep their phone in their pocket. I can’t offer that as a universal benefit, unfortunately — each iPhone has to be paired in advance, and it still takes a few moments (and several button taps) for vehicles like my 2022 Hyundai Venue to toggle users.
The natural worry about going wireless is battery power, and you may indeed have to plug in during long roadtrips, or if you’re prone to burning through battery life well before the workday is done. Using your iPhone’s Wi-Fi and 5G radios simultaneously drains a lot of juice. There are ways around this, thankfully. You can buy wireless charging pads or MagSafe mounts for your car, and the latest generation of vehicles — often EVs — have charging pads built in.
I should acknowledge another risk with going wireless: interference. There’s a peculiar phenomenon where CarPlay may cut out at exact geographic locations, one example being the highway north into Edmonton near Leduc. Depending on where you live, these disruptions can be caused by things like cellular hubs, high-voltage power lines, or even radar installations. There’s not much you can do short of going wired, avoiding an area, or temporarily turning off your dash interface to minimize the downtime.
How much does it cost to upgrade to wireless CarPlay?
A little or a lot
If you’re shopping for a new or used car in which one trim has wireless but the other doesn’t, the cost could be thousands of dollars. It’s not worth it in that circumstance — what automakers are really doing is bundling multiple upgrades together to drive up sticker prices, hoping that a handful of features will convince you to spend big.
If a car has wired CarPlay, you can probably buy a wireless adapter for $100 or less, which makes the decision almost trivial. The only time you should really be sitting on the fence is if a vehicle doesn’t have CarPlay at all. Installing a compatible head unit will cost you at least $150, and likely siginifcantly more, since you’ll want a dealer to install it for you. You also get what you pay for not just in terms of wireless support, but responsiveness and screen size. Consider resale value and your own long-term comfort before you cut corners.
