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Old 12-16-2019, 12:09 PM   #1
robg
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CarPlay rant

I know we've discussed this before, but now that I have a vehicle with CarPlay I get to be annoyed with it on a more regular basis. It's almost 2020 and Apple has had years to improve, and yet, it still sucks!

-The icons that appear on the left for switching between recently used apps are too small and too close together.
-There should always be a way to quickly exit back to the car's native system (instead of having to first return to the main menu and then selecting the brand "app".
-it should be possible to cancel navigation in apple maps with one click, same with turning on/off the nav voice. Also, doesn't show a straight forward list of recent destinations, offers no onscreen keyboard for entering a new destination (you have to use Siri or get your phone out), and there's no one click "go home" button. Some of these annoyances (and more!) also apply to Waze and Google. Although the car's (land rover) nav is mediocre i find myself using it more than the Carplay nav apps because, overall, it's less annoying than the Carplay based ones.

Not apple's fault but:
-Pandora's CarPlay implementation is still as buggy as a beta. It often doesn't load, or hangs while loading and forces you to force quit the app on the phone. Sometimes it will manage to play the current station but won't load station lists. For some reason, the BMW specific integration that they did for "BMW Apps" worked much better (even over bluetooth). Also, why do I need to click a little "hamburger" icon to be able to thumb up/down. There's a ton of unused space where they could easily add those icons to the "now playing" screen. Maybe Apple is to blame due to some overly restrictive interface guidelines.
-Google maps is overly sensitive to gyro data and constantly wiggles back and forth-- very distracting and annoying. It also seems to get easily confused and will "jump" to neighboring roads.
-Waze constantly makes annoying alert noises. I can't figure out how to turn them off without disabling the nav voice. Plus the interface looks like something from Garmin from the 90s. Very ugly and cartoonish.

I suspect that Apple and other app developers rarely if ever test their systems in actual vehicles.

On a related note, touchscreens in cars just suck. Even in cases where large properly spaced icons are used, it takes more concentration to select something than it does with an idrive-type system. Unfortunately, it seems the whole industry is going that direction. I admire BMW for holding strong. Adding touch screens for the press (who always ding cars without them) but keeping the click wheel for actual owners who know how to use it is a smart move by them



/rant
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Old 12-16-2019, 01:30 PM   #2
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Counterpoint:

-The iDrive system works well for a very few specific functions, where you don't have to look at the screen at all.

-It is worse for every other function, and requires far more attention than a large touch screen does.

I agree on CarPlay, though. I generally don't like it; the one and only situation where I do is in rental cars, where it's better than trying to figure out the native OS in 30 seconds before I have to start driving.
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Old 12-16-2019, 01:40 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by robg View Post
I know we've discussed this before, but now that I have a vehicle with CarPlay I get to be annoyed with it on a more regular basis. It's almost 2020 and Apple has had years to improve, and yet, it still sucks!

-The icons that appear on the left for switching between recently used apps are too small and too close together.
-There should always be a way to quickly exit back to the car's native system (instead of having to first return to the main menu and then selecting the brand "app".
-it should be possible to cancel navigation in apple maps with one click, same with turning on/off the nav voice. Also, doesn't show a straight forward list of recent destinations, offers no onscreen keyboard for entering a new destination (you have to use Siri or get your phone out), and there's no one click "go home" button. Some of these annoyances (and more!) also apply to Waze and Google. Although the car's (land rover) nav is mediocre i find myself using it more than the Carplay nav apps because, overall, it's less annoying than the Carplay based ones.
I tend to agree on the buttons on the left. Also, the clock display is too small and it would be awesome if it pulled the exterior temp reading and displayed, too (the Camaro only shows external temp on the center display, not in an IP screen).

For going direct to the car's native system, does the RR not have a physical "home" (or similar) button?

The Camaro does and my wife's RAV4 does. I don't think I've ever gotten to the car's home screen from CarPlay without using a physical button. The Toyota also has physical buttons for Map, Audio, etc that will go to the default (or last used?) app within CarPlay. The Camaro doesn't have physical buttons for those.

None of the nav apps are perfect, each does some things better than the others, but they all work pretty well. I have my phone in a mount, so it's always accessible and I never have to "get it out." Waze and Google Maps work better with two screens when needed, but it's the only way in my cars to have Waze running and have audio app display simultaneously.

CarPlay doesn't work exactly the same on every car. Manufacturers and enable/disable thigns as they wish. With iOS 13, CarPlay can now address multiple screens. I don't know how well that's working out so far, but I don't think it works with many cars yet.

Overall, the updates for iOS13 addressed my showstopper issues, so it's always running for me and I'm pretty happy with it.

Quote:
Not apple's fault but:
-Pandora's CarPlay implementation is still as buggy as a beta. It often doesn't load, or hangs while loading and forces you to force quit the app on the phone. Sometimes it will manage to play the current station but won't load station lists. For some reason, the BMW specific integration that they did for "BMW Apps" worked much better (even over bluetooth). Also, why do I need to click a little "hamburger" icon to be able to thumb up/down. There's a ton of unused space where they could easily add those icons to the "now playing" screen. Maybe Apple is to blame due to some overly restrictive interface guidelines.
-Google maps is overly sensitive to gyro data and constantly wiggles back and forth-- very distracting and annoying. It also seems to get easily confused and will "jump" to neighboring roads.
-Waze constantly makes annoying alert noises. I can't figure out how to turn them off without disabling the nav voice. Plus the interface looks like something from Garmin from the 90s. Very ugly and cartoonish.
I'm not super fond of how music is handled in CarPlay. Upon initial connection, it sometimes starts up in Apple Music, which I never use, instead of Spotify. The "Now Playing" feature in CarPlay is annoying, but it works. Okayish.
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Old 12-16-2019, 02:08 PM   #4
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I wish it wasn't such a hassle trying to listen to actual radio while CarPlay is active
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Old 12-16-2019, 02:17 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by Plaz View Post
I wish it wasn't such a hassle trying to listen to actual radio while CarPlay is active
agreed
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Old 12-16-2019, 02:33 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by Plaz View Post
I wish it wasn't such a hassle trying to listen to actual radio while CarPlay is active
Ugh. I wish there was a good way to remove the radio. I HATE having my ear polluted by even a moment's exposure to that garbage.
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Old 12-16-2019, 02:37 PM   #7
robg
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Originally Posted by Plaz View Post
I wish it wasn't such a hassle trying to listen to actual radio while CarPlay is active


Ha- that’s the one infotainment thing that actually works well in my RR. I can switch sources from the steering wheel or lower touch screen while carplay stays on the upper screen. If I’m listening to radio and select pandora on carplay it automatically switches back to carplay as the audio source.


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Old 12-16-2019, 02:38 PM   #8
robg
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Quote:
Originally Posted by clyde View Post
I tend to agree on the buttons on the left. Also, the clock display is too small and it would be awesome if it pulled the exterior temp reading and displayed, too (the Camaro only shows external temp on the center display, not in an IP screen).



For going direct to the car's native system, does the RR not have a physical "home" (or similar) button?



The Camaro does and my wife's RAV4 does. I don't think I've ever gotten to the car's home screen from CarPlay without using a physical button. The Toyota also has physical buttons for Map, Audio, etc that will go to the default (or last used?) app within CarPlay. The Camaro doesn't have physical buttons for those.



None of the nav apps are perfect, each does some things better than the others, but they all work pretty well. I have my phone in a mount, so it's always accessible and I never have to "get it out." Waze and Google Maps work better with two screens when needed, but it's the only way in my cars to have Waze running and have audio app display simultaneously.



CarPlay doesn't work exactly the same on every car. Manufacturers and enable/disable thigns as they wish. With iOS 13, CarPlay can now address multiple screens. I don't know how well that's working out so far, but I don't think it works with many cars yet.



Overall, the updates for iOS13 addressed my showstopper issues, so it's always running for me and I'm pretty happy with it.







I'm not super fond of how music is handled in CarPlay. Upon initial connection, it sometimes starts up in Apple Music, which I never use, instead of Spotify. The "Now Playing" feature in CarPlay is annoying, but it works. Okayish.


Nope. They went touch screen mad a couple years ago and removed nearly all physical buttons. Pretty stupid.


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Old 12-16-2019, 02:45 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick M3 View Post
Ugh. I wish there was a good way to remove the radio. I HATE having my ear polluted by even a moment's exposure to that garbage.
Hey, another thing that Nick and I agree on!
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Old 12-16-2019, 03:12 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick M3 View Post
Ugh. I wish there was a good way to remove the radio. I HATE having my ear polluted by even a moment's exposure to that garbage.
NPR WNYC and Jazz 88 WBGO. I can't do radio commercials
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