I got the CarPlay Adapter carlinkit4.0 ($89 on carlinkit offical store) to enable wireless CarPlay in my car.
It has worked excellently, it's fast to boot up, and I haven't had any failure or glitches yet. By the time I've backed out of my parking spot and started to pull forward, it boots carplay automatically. It connects immediately when I get in the car and shuts off automatically after I get out. I will likely continue using this until Corvette enables native wireless CarPlay.
Pros:
Fast bootup ~10 - 30secs
Automatically connects to your phone
No glitches in audio on high quality
Easy to change settings
Works just like it should
PHONE CHARGING IS ACTUALLY USEFUL NOW
Cons:
Slow to disconnect when leaving car (seems to be due to the car)
Flashing green light when connected
Mounting:
I installed it between the two USB ports using a hanging strip (sort of like velcro but better). The adapter is nice and quite small, and the provided short usb cable works well for this location, though an even shorter cable might be better. The cable is long enough for the box to sit in the center console. However in this location the light on the unit is a bit annoying. The red when disconnected isn't bad but the flashing green light is distracting, especially at night. You could mount it reversed from how I did it, or put a bit of electrical tape over the light.
Connection:
Connection to the phone works automatically, as long as your Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are enabled. Connection is initiated via Bluetooth and then Wi-Fi details are shared to make the full data connection.
You can set up multiple phones and the device will have them listed in a simple interface when it boots up. This interface can be disabled in the device settings and it will just show a black screen while it auto connects. Auto connection can also be turned off.
Performance:
I've only ever used wired CarPlay in the past so I can only compare to that - I'm not sure how much of what I describe here also applies to native wireless CarPlay. Input lag is slight, but manageable. Pressing buttons is responsive enough but when swiping on the Home Screen or panning the map the screen lags behind the finger a bit. I find this to be a reasonable compromise to be able to use CarPlay wirelessly.
There is audio lag, about 1-2 sec, but that's totally fine for me. This seems to be so that the car can hold a buffer of audio so you don't get glitches. You can adjust it in the device's settings.
Bootup:
The light on the unit comes on, about 12 seconds
About 8 seconds later the head unit on the car says “Usb Connected”
About 10 seconds later music is playing
This adds up to a total bootup time of about 30 secs which I've found to be plenty fast enough in real life usage (it feels slower when you're timing it).
Shutdown:
It takes just over 3 minutes from when you open the car to when the device powers off and your phone reconnects to home Wi-Fi. This seems to be a limitation of the car cutting power to the socket. At about the 3 minute mark you get the notification that you left doors unlocked, then it cuts power to the CarPlay USB port. I've found that walking into my house can be far enough to break the connection (I park right outside my door) otherwise you can hit the Wi-Fi switch in control center and disconnect manually. I personally don't find this to be a huge deal.
Conclusion:
Overall I find this Wireless CarPlay adapter to be amazing and well worth the money to be able to use the phone charging or leave your phone in your pocket. There are minor compromises but none of them are deal breakers for me. And the carlinkitlife website's after-service is nice. If you encounter problems in use, they will give you a corresponding solution, and they reply very fast. They gave me a 15% discount and I only paid less than $90. The price is reasonable. I'm satisfied with this purchase now.
This can also be connected to android auto, but I don't have an android phone.
If you are interested and you love wireless carplay as much as I do, I recommend you try this.
It has worked excellently, it's fast to boot up, and I haven't had any failure or glitches yet. By the time I've backed out of my parking spot and started to pull forward, it boots carplay automatically. It connects immediately when I get in the car and shuts off automatically after I get out. I will likely continue using this until Corvette enables native wireless CarPlay.
Pros:
Fast bootup ~10 - 30secs
Automatically connects to your phone
No glitches in audio on high quality
Easy to change settings
Works just like it should
PHONE CHARGING IS ACTUALLY USEFUL NOW
Cons:
Slow to disconnect when leaving car (seems to be due to the car)
Flashing green light when connected
Mounting:
I installed it between the two USB ports using a hanging strip (sort of like velcro but better). The adapter is nice and quite small, and the provided short usb cable works well for this location, though an even shorter cable might be better. The cable is long enough for the box to sit in the center console. However in this location the light on the unit is a bit annoying. The red when disconnected isn't bad but the flashing green light is distracting, especially at night. You could mount it reversed from how I did it, or put a bit of electrical tape over the light.
Connection:
Connection to the phone works automatically, as long as your Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are enabled. Connection is initiated via Bluetooth and then Wi-Fi details are shared to make the full data connection.
You can set up multiple phones and the device will have them listed in a simple interface when it boots up. This interface can be disabled in the device settings and it will just show a black screen while it auto connects. Auto connection can also be turned off.
Performance:
I've only ever used wired CarPlay in the past so I can only compare to that - I'm not sure how much of what I describe here also applies to native wireless CarPlay. Input lag is slight, but manageable. Pressing buttons is responsive enough but when swiping on the Home Screen or panning the map the screen lags behind the finger a bit. I find this to be a reasonable compromise to be able to use CarPlay wirelessly.
There is audio lag, about 1-2 sec, but that's totally fine for me. This seems to be so that the car can hold a buffer of audio so you don't get glitches. You can adjust it in the device's settings.
Bootup:
The light on the unit comes on, about 12 seconds
About 8 seconds later the head unit on the car says “Usb Connected”
About 10 seconds later music is playing
This adds up to a total bootup time of about 30 secs which I've found to be plenty fast enough in real life usage (it feels slower when you're timing it).
Shutdown:
It takes just over 3 minutes from when you open the car to when the device powers off and your phone reconnects to home Wi-Fi. This seems to be a limitation of the car cutting power to the socket. At about the 3 minute mark you get the notification that you left doors unlocked, then it cuts power to the CarPlay USB port. I've found that walking into my house can be far enough to break the connection (I park right outside my door) otherwise you can hit the Wi-Fi switch in control center and disconnect manually. I personally don't find this to be a huge deal.
Conclusion:
Overall I find this Wireless CarPlay adapter to be amazing and well worth the money to be able to use the phone charging or leave your phone in your pocket. There are minor compromises but none of them are deal breakers for me. And the carlinkitlife website's after-service is nice. If you encounter problems in use, they will give you a corresponding solution, and they reply very fast. They gave me a 15% discount and I only paid less than $90. The price is reasonable. I'm satisfied with this purchase now.
This can also be connected to android auto, but I don't have an android phone.
If you are interested and you love wireless carplay as much as I do, I recommend you try this.
