[noddin0ff]

One month of SE Sport Hybrid ownership here, approaching my first 1000 miles. So far, so good. I thought I'd share an a minor quality-of-life upgrade I made.

I have the wireless charging pad and it seemed a shame to clutter up the console with wires in order to use the CarPlay with my iPhone. There is, however, a USB-C port in the center console--I thought maybe I could use that for a wireless adapter. Short answer: I can and it works well.

I picked up a CARPLAY2air adapter which connects via USB (carplay2air dot com). I bought a tiny USB-C to USB adapter on Amazon ($9 for a 2-pack, www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CVX3516). Set up was reasonably straight forward (e.g. CARPLAY2air – Wireless Apple CarPlay Adapter - Apple Tech Talk). This thing ships from China and it's not clear to me that there's any real guarantee of support or warranties. There's not a ton of documentation. I considered it a reasonable risk. All went smoothly for me. YMMV.


Connecting, CARPLAY2air first handshakes to your phone via bluetooth and then switches over to a Wi-Fi network created by the device.

I have to say, it's a decent solution. It takes about 20-30 seconds after starting the car to connect up. I can keep my phone in my pocket if I like, or use the charge pad. Everything hides away in the center console. I haven't tested all the control features yet but the basics work fine. I can listen to my music, playlists and podcasts on my phone, use Google Maps, and the other CarPlay features etc etc.

cheers
-n0

 

[NefCanuck]

One month of SE Sport Hybrid ownership here, approaching my first 1000 miles. So far, so good. I thought I'd share an a minor quality-of-life upgrade I made.

I have the wireless charging pad and it seemed a shame to clutter up the console with wires in order to use the CarPlay with my iPhone. There is, however, a USB-C port in the center console--I thought maybe I could use that for a wireless adapter. Short answer: I can and it works well.

I picked up a CARPLAY2air adapter which connects via USB (carplay2air dot com). I bought a tiny USB-C to USB adapter on Amazon ($9 for a 2-pack, www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CVX3516). Set up was reasonably straight forward (e.g. CARPLAY2air – Wireless Apple CarPlay Adapter - Apple Tech Talk). This thing ships from China and it's not clear to me that there's any real guarantee of support or warranties. There's not a ton of documentation. I considered it a reasonable risk. All went smoothly for me. YMMV.


Connecting, CARPLAY2air first handshakes to your phone via bluetooth and then switches over to a Wi-Fi network created by the device.

I have to say, it's a decent solution. It takes about 20-30 seconds after starting the car to connect up. I can keep my phone in my pocket if I like, or use the charge pad. Everything hides away in the center console. I haven't tested all the control features yet but the basics work fine. I can listen to my music, playlists and podcasts on my phone, use Google Maps, and the other CarPlay features etc etc.

cheers
-n0

I'd be interested to hear your opinions on how well Siri works using that setup. I went with a console tray and a USB-C to Lightning cable in the centre console which works well but I forget my phone in the car every so often and it's a pain in the *** to use the drive thru and grab the phone to pay for things...

NefCanuck

 

[noddin0ff]

I'd be interested to hear your opinions on how well Siri works using that setup. I went with a console tray and a USB-C to Lightning cable in the centre console which works well but I forget my phone in the car every so often and it's a pain in the *** to use the drive thru and grab the phone to pay for things...

NefCanuck

Seems to work just fine. Siri activates when you hit the 'speak at your car' button on the wheel. Didn't seem like there was any lag talking with she/he/it. I got directions. Asked to play one of my personal playlists even though only approximately remember the name. The for/rev buttons, vol etc. all worked as expected. Phone stayed in my back pocket.

So far using default apple Maps. I think it may be possible to set up default to Google maps with voice activation. Will try that when I have some time. The first time I switched over to google maps, the phone asked for a bunch of preference options but my capable, well meaning, but impatient teen had the phone and set them all to something.

You can also set up multiple phones with this device. It will connect wirelessly to whichever is in the car, or ask which one if there is a choice.

 

[bamboogrowfast]

Me too! Constantly having problem to unplug the phone to pay for drive thru meals or car park fees at the gate... which is really one annoyed thing to use carplay in my ford. Another thing is that I have optioned a wireless charger in my car and wired carplay makes it useless since you need to attach the phone to SYNC 3 via the lightning cable all the time (and lightning cable will charge the phone while using carplay). I think wireless carplay makes a lot of sense especially if you have wireless charging pad in your car. I have bought my wireless carplay adapter (ViseeO Play2Air) hope to do the trick and relief me from the cable!!!

I'd be interested to hear your opinions on how well Siri works using that setup. I went with a console tray and a USB-C to Lightning cable in the centre console which works well but I forget my phone in the car every so often and it's a pain in the *** to use the drive thru and grab the phone to pay for things...

NefCanuck

 

[garymkrieg]

My car parks very close to the house. How far from the car do you have to be for the phone to drop the WiFi connection to the carplay2air. I obviously don't want the phone connected to the car if I'm in the house.

 

[Tane]

I am using a magnetic usb cable and seems to work really well.
The nice thing about it is that connecting with the cable is super easy and fast.

The sync system does a really good job of detecting and switching over to CarPlayor Android Auto really quick.

Just as an alternative to a wireless workaround.

 

[noddin0ff]

My car parks very close to the house. How far from the car do you have to be for the phone to drop the WiFi connection to the carplay2air. I obviously don't want the phone connected to the car if I'm in the house.

The carplay2air draws power from the USB-C port in the center console. This powers off when I turn the vehicle off. So, no connection when the vehicle is off. I assume, but don't know, that all the USB power ports shut off when the car is off. Also, technically, the accessories stay powered until I actually open the door to exit the vehicle.

 

[fbov]

... the accessories stay powered until I actually open the door to exit the vehicle.

You sure? On the C-Max, accessories stay on about 10 minutes... on a new 12v battery. Time dropped as the battery aged. At 2 minutes, it needs replacement soon.

Has anyone sat in their car long enough to find out?

 

[noddin0ff]

You sure? On the C-Max, accessories stay on about 10 minutes... on a new 12v battery. Time dropped as the battery aged. At 2 minutes, it needs replacement soon.

Has anyone sat in their car long enough to find out?

Yes, I'm sure. But, I also usually get out of the car when I arrive at my destination.

 

[chrisgb]

You sure? On the C-Max, accessories stay on about 10 minutes... on a new 12v battery. Time dropped as the battery aged. At 2 minutes, it needs replacement soon.

Has anyone sat in their car long enough to find out?

The duration that the USB sockets and APIM stay on after the ignition is put in the "off" position is dependent on the state of charge of the 12v battery. A brand new, fully charged battery will allow the accessories to remain on longer than an older battery, because it will take longer for the automatic shutoff threshold to be reached. The USB outlets/APIM are switched, and power to them will stop when the the ignition is off and driver's door is opened. They and the APIM will power up when the door has been closed and is opened again. The 12v sockets are unswitched, or "hot" until the low voltage threshold is reached.

 

[Vader101]

Making sure everyone is aware that this thread is for 2020 and newer Escapes. The 12v sockets could behave differently on the 4G Escapes vs the 3G Escapes.

 

[keithnteri]

One month of SE Sport Hybrid ownership here, approaching my first 1000 miles. So far, so good. I thought I'd share an a minor quality-of-life upgrade I made.

I have the wireless charging pad and it seemed a shame to clutter up the console with wires in order to use the CarPlay with my iPhone. There is, however, a USB-C port in the center console--I thought maybe I could use that for a wireless adapter. Short answer: I can and it works well.

I picked up a CARPLAY2air adapter which connects via USB (carplay2air dot com). I bought a tiny USB-C to USB adapter on Amazon ($9 for a 2-pack, www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CVX3516). Set up was reasonably straight forward (e.g. CARPLAY2air – Wireless Apple CarPlay Adapter - Apple Tech Talk). This thing ships from China and it's not clear to me that there's any real guarantee of support or warranties. There's not a ton of documentation. I considered it a reasonable risk. All went smoothly for me. YMMV.


Connecting, CARPLAY2air first handshakes to your phone via bluetooth and then switches over to a Wi-Fi network created by the device.

I have to say, it's a decent solution. It takes about 20-30 seconds after starting the car to connect up. I can keep my phone in my pocket if I like, or use the charge pad. Everything hides away in the center console. I haven't tested all the control features yet but the basics work fine. I can listen to my music, playlists and podcasts on my phone, use Google Maps, and the other CarPlay features etc etc.

cheers
-n0

I bought one for my 2020 titanium as it has the Qi charger. I couldn’t use the Carplaytoair box because anytime I used Siri it would kill CarPlay. I expected better for the price of the carplaytoair box.

 

[noddin0ff]

I bought one for my 2020 titanium as it has the Qi charger. I couldn’t use the Carplaytoair box because anytime I used Siri it would kill CarPlay. I expected better for the price of the carplaytoair box.

Yeah. This seemed to start happening when Sync3 got an update. Siri worked fine when initially purchased. A couple months ago, CarPlay wouldn't had problems connecting until I did an update to the CarPlay software. That fixed the connection issue but now I have the same issues as you with Siri. I haven't checked for CarPlay updates recently, but that's on my list of to dos.

 

[noddin0ff]

Yeah. This seemed to start happening when Sync3 got an update. Siri worked fine when initially purchased. A couple months ago, CarPlay wouldn't had problems connecting until I did an update to the CarPlay software. That fixed the connection issue but now I have the same issues as you with Siri. I haven't checked for CarPlay updates recently, but that's on my list of to dos.

Actually, it could just as easily be due to any of the many security and OS updates for the iPhone as well. I don't know. I did update the CARPLAY2air software this morning, and Siri is still broke. Haven't tried to make calls in a while. I'll have to test that too.