CarPlay on Tacoma

Traded my 2018 OR for a 2023 OR - one of the main things I was hoping to get was Apple CarPlay - the new truck has it - but it seems pretty awful. My biggest complaint is that there's no interface, thru CarPlay to Sirius that's on the stock radio while using CarPlay. My iPhone has Sirius as an app but it doesn't sound nearly as good as the Sirius that's available in my truck. Am I missing something in the way to get this to work? As is, I only use CarPlay now when I need to use Google Maps or Waze. Thanks in advance.

 

The whole multimedia setup in this truck is stuck in the 1990’s. Needs an update badly.

 

I use the controls on the right hand side of the steering wheel to listen to the radio or Sirius with the head unit displaying CarPlay.

 

right - but when CarPlay is on -you can't tell what station it's on - or what is playing - other than looking at the display behind the steering wheel - just such a worthless setup. I was hoping I missed a step somewhere - on my wife's Mini, you can split the screen on CarPlay and it will show you what's on the radio on the left side of the split screen.

 

Replacing the stock head unit and speakers was probably the best upgrade I've done yet.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/trying-to-decide-on-a-head-unit.792730/#post-28391511

 

I don't mind the head unit - however, I think you just have to forget about CarPlay- I really don't even need it for maps - my phone mount lets me see the display fairly easily. Just was hoping there was some magic setting I was missing

 

Carplay and a wireless charger are nice for me, they get the phone away from my ADHD fingers.

 

If you listen to Sirius your stuck in 2012 iPhone has a million songs and podcast I pay $24 a month for 3 phones extra storage, Apple TV and all the music, podcast you want. Also if you have prime that comes with podcast music and the prime stuff.

 

SiriusXM has a CarPlay app. There’s a bunch of internet-only channels (depending on what SiriusXM plan you subscribe to) and much better sound quality. The app isn’t the best but generally works OK but the real downside is it won’t work without a good cell connection and isn’t great about recovering from a connection that dropped briefly. Depending on how much you listen and at what quality setting you pick, it can chew through a fair amount of data (same as any other music stream), too, so heads up if you don’t have unlimited data.

 

Part out

 

install the Sirius app in Carplay and then all the channels are visible. Also, get a

$30 Wireless CarPlay Adapter - Fastest 5Ghz - AutoSky - Plug and Play - USB-C and USB-A Cables - Wired CarPlay Required

wireless adapter.