Finally!!!! Apple CARPLAY on my Toyota Tacoma!

Faster entry for things like Nav as you can either copy paste into the Nav app of your choice or use your phone’s keyboard. Cop spotting via Waze for those who enjoy traveling north of the speed limit. Access to your personal music library in the form of the phone’s built in music manager or your normal aftermarket music streaming apps like Spotify or Pandora. Podcasts.

And most importantly, substantially more future proof. Headunits only ever get worse after being released. Car play consistently gets updated.

 

You are right about it being more future proof. The car makers are pretty stupid in this regard. They used to charge 1,000 to 1,500 for what is essentially a generic screen with limited functionality. If you think about your smart phone as a computer that is constantly being updated Apple Car Play is simply a way to give you access to all of that through the screen on your Tacoma. It means you have an open system -- and not a locked one. For example, on my stupid BMW the maps are terrible but you have no choice -- you are locked into bad technology and bad maps that are not that frequently updated. By connecting your iPhone to your Tacoma you have Waze (which is far superior, in my opinion) but also any other map or navigation software. I imagine there are some good ones for public parks and trails, off roading, etc.

Many of us have important data on our phone that we use daily for business or personal use -- for example, contact management and communication. Having seamless access to that is also a huge benefit. I take a lot of phone calls while I am driving and it is nice to have one source -- my phone -- that I can use to manage all of that. Granted, there are some folks who are fine with a flip phone -- and there is nothing wrong with that. But think about anything you do on your phone -- having the ability to do that in your car is a pretty major convenience.

I would say top five things for Apple Car play for me:

1) Superior map options.
2) Personal and business contact management.
3) Music, podcasts, etc.
4) Speech to text for texting
5) Having one source for all of my needs (iPhone) and not having to maintain two separate resources.

Hope that helps ... may not be for everyone ... and that is okay ... but it essentially gives you all of the functionality of your phone on the screen of your truck. I am really pleased with it.

 

I thought I would miss Android Auto when I got my Tacoma, then I bought a phone mount.

It's great as a factory option, but considering the apps have reduced functionality over their phone counterparts and the downsides of aftermarket radios I don't see the appeal of a conversion.

 

That's another $250 spent just for the bezel.

 

can you watch Netflix and have it stream to the head unit with apple
Car play?

 

Larger screen, integration with car speakers and steering wheel controls, never having to remove your phone from your pocket to use it.

 

I don't think so ... but then again, I would never try that for obvious safety reasons ...

 

My phone screen is almost as large as an aftermarket head unit (Note 20) with much higher resolution and better touch response. It also plays just fine over car speakers and the steering wheel controls work as well.

And if I'm going to be doing all those things and more, I'll probably need to charge my phone too, which I can't do from my pocket.

 

Note 20 is 6.7". My screen is 9". That's a ~35% increase in screen size, and most people aren't walking around with mini tablets in their pockets.

Otherwise, I'm sorry to hear the battery life on the Note 20 is so poor.

 

When I need a larger screen I actually do plug in my tablet. I need the full functionality of GPS apps and a responsive touch screen when offroading.

No need to apologize, the lifetime power supply wasn't an option on my phone so I figured the couple times a day I'm forced to sit next to my phone would be a good time to charge it.

 

I suppose this is a good time to point out that at least in the case of CarPlay, battery usage is substantially reduced compared to using the phone directly for navigation.

 

Will this JUST do apple carplay? Or could it work with Android Auto as well?

 

Liking the seamless look of the head unit. What is the model number for the head unit in pic, and what harness etc did you have to buy? How much did you shell out, if you dont mind me asking?

 

This isn’t a gimmick like the alpha Rex headlight post that are a proven poor headlight is it?

 

@TheSt|G, @averagejp @CG256 and others. THANK YOU. I finally get it. I've Googled this before and the descriptions read like an advertisement. This makes a ton of sense now and totally see the appeal.

@Bustabeatgeorge Sorry for the thread hi-jack, didn't mean to take the conversation off topic slightly. Helped a good bit though.

 

Dasaita PX5. There is a megathread on here somewhere about them. I paid $389, and it came with the harness to be plug and play with the factory wiring and steering wheel controls. I think the only thing I had to add was a 3D printed bracket another member made and I had my friend print for me, and the hardware to hold it to said bracket. I ended up going this way because of how well it was integrated into the dash, unlike all those units from Pioneer and such that look like a 90s headunit glued to the dash.

Dasaita Android 11 Car Stereo for Toyota Tacoma 2016 2017 2018 Radio for Toyota Corolla 2017 2018 Dash for Toyota Sienna 2015 2016 2017 2018 with 9" Screen GPS Navigation 2GB Ram 32GB ROM Head Unit

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07JGVFTW5/ref=ya_aw_od_pi?ie=UTF8&psc=1&th=1

I think pretty much all of that can be found in this thread:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...e-carplay-wireless-and-oem-audio-plus.620897/

No problem. Highly recommend going wireless if you do try it out.