I notice when my phone isn't connected to Wifi, it won't connect to the car and start wirelss Apple Car Play. I don't like keeping my phone connected to Wifi, so it's annoying to put it on when I get in the car. I thought it was supposed to connect via Bluetooth. Do I have something set incorrectly that it's requiring Wifi to be turned on?

 

You can run wired carplay through the USB-A port. Otherwise, you need the WiFi on if you don't want the phone cabled to the car. Bluetooth isn't fast enough to run CarPlay.

 

That does not mean you need to pay for the ATT WiFi for CarPlay to work.

 

Indeed, this is the in-car WiFi network we are talking about here.

 

I always use a cable to connect my phone for CarPlay. However, sometimes I'm slow in doing so and it connects itself with Bluetooth.

 

Wireless carplay uses Wi-Fi for data transfer (Maps, Music etc.). Bluetooth initiates the connection, then the actual data connection is on Wi-Fi. Bluetooth doesn't have enough bandwidth and needs Wi-Fi for the data transfer.

This is in CarPlay as well as Android Auto

 

That's a good point, I wonder if its smart enough to drop the WiFi and connect when the USB-A is plugged in. For people who want to use their phone hotspot to get the in-car services online without a car data plan, the system is going to have to drop the car WiFi and connect to the phone hotspot, then run CarPlay over the USB - I wonder if you have to connect the USB-A before starting the car up, to make that happen.

 

I don't think it dropped it and gave priority to the wired Carplay as I had hoped. I tested it but the lag from wireless made it obvious. I believe you would have to disable wireless.

 

You can't disable the WiFi if you want the car to use the phone hotspot. I guess you can set the phone to not auto-join the CarPlay car WiFi network, and set the car to auto join the phone hotspot network.

 

I don't know about that for sure. I have only used Andriod auto with a Pioneer head unit. And it has wired Andriod Auto only. It doesn't have any wifi feature built in at all. Yet I bought a wireless Bluetooth adaptor and literally can not tell the difference in anything. Now I don't know about Carplay but I'm about to find out! Because I just got a 2019 ES350 and it only has Carplay and putting my Pioneer radio in this car is not possible. So I bought a older iPhone. I plan on using that same Bluetooth wireless adaptor because it works on both AA and Carplay. If it all goes well I will eventually switch to an iPhone 16 but don't want to spend the money until I find out I like it like this.