REVIEW: CPLAY2air Wireless CarPlay Adapter

REVIEW: CPLAY2air Wireless CarPlay Adapter

Wireless CarPlay (Without the New Car)

DISCLAIMER: The folks at CPLAY2air kindly provided the product for this review. As always, the opinions are my own.

CarPlay is easily among the favorite features of my new (to me) truck. After driving a beat up SUV for 15 years, I upgraded to a 2016 F-150* a year ago where I enjoy this feature every day. As great as CarPlay is, there’s a minor annoyance in how it’s set up in my car that gets frustrating over time: You have to take your phone out of your pocket and plug it in for CarPlay to work. While this isn’t a huge deal, the routine of plugging in unplugging it with every errand or stop becomes kind of a chore. For that reason, I’ve always been super jealous of the modern cars that feature wireless CarPlay.

That’s where CPLAY2air comes in; simply put, the CPLAY2air adapter claims to serve as a wireless bridge between your car’s USB port and your iPhone, giving you all of the wireless CarPlay magic (IF you already have wired CarPlay – check out the best double din head units with Apple CarPlay) without the price of the new car to go with it. The folks at CPLAY2air were kind enough to send us one to check out, and I’ve spent the last few weeks putting it through the paces. Is it the wireless CarPlay solution you’ve been looking for? Read on to find out!

Set Up and Initial Connections

Getting the CPLAY2air adapter up and running is at least partially straight-forward. Pop the dongle out of the box, locate the USB port in your car where you would typically plug in your iPhone for CarPlay, and plug the dongle in there. As far as modifying your car, that’s all you have to do.

Connecting it to your phone is where things get dicey, mostly because of some poorly written instructions (that feel like they were filtered from Chinese to English via Google Translate). Long story short, after you turn on your car for the first time with the dongle plugged in, you let it load for a few seconds, and then connect to it via the iPhone’s Bluetooth menu. I’m connecting to the unit with the Sync 3.0 system in my 2016 F-150*, and the dongle initially loads a strange looking grey screen with broken English, minimal progress info, and a few buttons that do absolutely nothing if you tap them. Although my iPhone 11 Pro connected via Bluetooth, there was no indication of success anywhere else, and no CarPlay screen shown… UNTIL I turned the car off and back on. After that, once the car was on for about 15 seconds, CarPlay miraculously popped onto my screen (after the same dance of bizarre loading screens).

Per their instructions, I also loaded a bonkers IP-address-based website on my iPhone that serves as some sort of update system. If you’re not a nerd like me, this sort of interface is pretty scary looking, but the update completed in seconds, and seems to have completed successfully.

Honestly, based off of this process, I didn’t have high hopes for how well this little dongle would work; however, daily use of the CPLAY2air unit has surprised me.

Performance and User Experience

I’ve used the CPLAY2air connection dozens of times in my truck over the last few weeks, and I feel like I have a pretty good handle on how it works in daily life.

First, the good parts… CPLAY2air seems to boot up, connect to my iPhone 11 Pro, and enable wireless CarPlay to work as expected about 95% of the time. When this happens, it’s actually pretty fantastic. I hop in my car, turn it on, and after about 15-20 seconds (and those gross loading screens, which you can learn to tune out), AirPlay pops right up and I’m off to the races. The interface is generally as smooth as when I’m using wired CarPlay, and outside of a few half-second button delays here and there, everything works great. Siri still works through my steering wheel. Calls sound fine. In fact, the only thing different from a wired connection seems to be the battery life indicator on the screen, and a few interface buttons randomly highlighted sometimes (which I can’t figure out). It’s the true leave-your-phone-in-your-pocket experience you’ve always dreamed of.

However, it doesn’t work reliably all of the time. About 5% of the time so far, it’s like the dongle doesn’t boot or connect to my phone at all; it’s fixed by unplugging it and plugging it back in, but that’s annoying. Once in a blue moon my audio or an animation will stutter (no big deal), and once in a blue moon CarPlay will just disappear entirely. That last one has only happened once so far, but it’s a pretty giant flaw that makes it tempting to try to fix the issue while you’re driving (a safety no-no that’s not a good thing).

95% of the time, it works every time. Whether or not that something you can live with is definitely up to the user. For me, the convenience outweighs the annoyances so far; I’m hoping a lot of that can be ironed out with software.

Build Quality and Reliability

The dongle itself looks and feels fine; it’s a nondescript skinny black brick of plastic that essentially looks like any USB hub you’ve ever used. It also doesn’t seem to get hot to the touch, so I don’t expect it to physically wear out over time.

What concerns me is the connectivity issues and whatever black magic this little box is using to work. As it appears to be a hacked-together software solution that is in no way endorsed by Apple, there’s always the worry that whatever backdoor this thing is using to connect will be shut down by Apple in a future phone hardware change or software update. That combined with the typical 5% of the time glitches I’ve experienced so far give me pause.

Affordability

Price-wise, I think the CPLAY2air’s $159 price tag is fair. Wireless CarPlay is a major upgrade that’s even now only featured on the newest vehicles, so being able to add it to your current car (and without any kind of serious modification) is a huge win.

Conclusion

I’m enjoying the CPLAY2air and its wireless CarPlay magic, but until it’s a more stable solution, I can’t recommend it to every kind of customer. If you’re the kind of user that doesn’t mind jumping through a few hoops and occasional glitches for a cool feature, though, you’ll love it.

*I’ve mentioned by 2016 F-150 a few times in this review, which you may be quick to point out doesn’t actually support CarPlay. It actually includes the computer and SYNC 3 system to support it, but comes from the factory with an old model USB hub that doesn’t work with it. If you simply replace that part with a $50 newer USB hub from Ford, it natively supports (wired) CarPlay just like the 2017-2020 model year trucks 🙂

Author

Eric is the creator of At Home in the Future and has been a passionate fan of the future since he was seven. He's a web developer by trade, and serves as the Director of Communication and Technology for a large church in Nashville, TN (where he and his family are building a high tech home in the woods).

53 comments

  • I wish I could get it to work. I just get a red light. Nothing on the car screen and nothing on the phone.

    • Device is rubbish – not worked for me. Impossible to get refund. Have you noticed Sales and Production of “device” are from China? It has access to phone data when you connect and you do not have control what device captures from your phone and sends back to China. Do not be stupid – do not pay for china on spy device.

    • Yes – Anyone reading this just stay away from CPlay2Air. This thing is buggy and unstable. Tried multiple times to fix with various firmware versions their “customer service” team sends you …it never gets better. I have a fairly mainstream 2020 Mazda CX-5 and an iPhone X. This is not an exotic combination …yet the damn thing never works right. Save your money! You will never be able to return it to mainland China, the lowest return shipping cost from the US is $62. Just stay away.

      • I know your post is old but. I just installed it in our 2021 CX-5. It’s working fine with no problems except(and this may have nothing to do with the Cplay) I can’t figure out how to get back to the Mazda Home Screen. I have a Chevy Colorado truck also and if I push the “Home” button it goes to the Chevy Home Screen. If I push “Home” on the Mazda it goes to the Apple Car Play Home Screen (all the icons). Is there a way to get to the Mazda Home Screen?

      • Seem experience! I got the carplay2air couple years ago for my accord, had issues and then a firmware update bricked it and I just can’t be bothered to do the 84 screen long procedure to resurrect it.

        Then ordered the new Carlinkit 3.0 from their official website: https://carlinkitbox.com for my CRV and it’s been great, no real complaints. Seems more stable.

  • It does not work for EU VW models 2014 up with Discovery Pro multimedia. Device works fine only for cases where only audio used – like Spotify. For applications with motion graphic like Google Maps it fails after 10 minutes of use – screen becomes blurry and touchscreen actions gone. Only reboot for Discovery Pro and re-pairing recovers usability. Seller/producer was unable to provide any resolution sadly – attempt return item will cost you 25USD – it will be deducted by reason “It was not seller fault”. Crazy. Poor quality, poor service and nasty method profiting from returns,

  • Hey Eric, you wrote “… and those gross loading screens, which you can learn to tune out.” Do you know how to do that? Device works really good in my Volvo, but I don’t want to see that ugly screens…

    • I literally just ignored them, as they only show up the first few seconds you’re in the car anyway.

  • Which I could get it. I paid for one 2 months ago and they have yet to get it out to me. All I get is excuses. I would advise not spending your money You may never see a result

  • Not worth it even if it’s $30. It’s very buggy, works intermittently, doesn’t work every time you get into your car and you have to unplug and plug back on again. The sound gets really bad every 6 minted on the dot and I have to pause and unpause the music playback to fix the sound issues. Updates to fix bugs are very rare and far in between, and at $180 including shipping is a ripoff. Almost unusable for voice calls because of the delay. Neet idea, but it needs to go back to the drawing board. This device being sold now for $180 is a prototype AT BEST.

  • I drive a 2018 Porsche Panamera which doesn’t have wireless Apple Car Play. I purchased this device, followed connection instructions, and have a fairly reliable connection. The reviewer in this article is correct that it connects properly about 95% of the time and the other 5% requires some fiddling to get a connection. My problems with the device and company are as follows:
    1. Eats my IPhone’s battery life
    2. Works fine playing music from my IPhone but actual phone calls go through a delay that makes person on the other end not sure if I’m hearing them. Also makes conversation awkward due the time delay. Another phone call problem is that after the call has been going on for a few minutes there is distortion making the conversation impossible. Usually requires a recall.
    3. I contacted this company via their “Contact Us” web site option. So far, I’m being ignored.

    Bottom line is that I’d like to return the device for a full refund. Its pretty good but not ready for prime time and the company doesn’t seem to care about its customers.

    • The audio delays have been pretty minor in my truck. I wonder if it just depends which car you’re using it in.

    • Because cplay2air is just a dealer of carlinkit, they don’t have a technical after-sales team at all, so they can’t help you solve the problem. You must go to the official website of carlinkit:
      https://carlinkitbox.com/
      They support two years of after-sales and even free replacement. I also only recently learned about it.

  • TOTAL SCAM. Absolutely horrible product and horrible customer service. I received the unit and followed the nearly non-existent “installation” instructions. The unit never worked in my 2020 Cadillac CT5, and after “troubleshooting” it for a week they basically told me I must return it and they would charge me $25 restocking PLUS I have to pay for shipping back to CHINA. They acted like it was my fault that this didn’t work with my car after stating on their website that it works with 2020’s Cadillacs. What a joke. DO NOT BUY FROM THIS COMPANY.

  • This company is a scam. Try leaving a review on their site and it doesn’t even update. I purchased a unit in May of 2002. Now it is end of July and no product. Emailed them and they just keep lying. Stay away from them.

  • Sounds like lots of folks are having a bad experience with the company. For what it’s worth, they were quick to communicate with me, and at least their PR person was US-based and friendly. BUT, I’m a product reviewer, so maybe they only turn on the charm that way :-/

    • Oh, they were quick to reply to me too.. and polite. But for all that PR effort, they never solved my problem. I paid $159 for something that has never worked stably since day 1. I’ve spent literally months trying to upload different firmware packages their “customer service” person, April, sends via Google Drive… but after all that, the damn thing does not work any better. Of course, they tell me they will exchange it if I want… I just have to pay the $62 (that is the lowest cost available with tracking!) to mail it back to them in mainland China (from here in the US). Seriously?

  • I specifically emailed them to make sure my vehicle would work with this unit.
    They confirmed it would do so.
    After I received the unit, it did not work. Then they said it doesn’t work with my vehicle.
    Now they want ME to pay for shipping back to China.

    DON’T BUY THIS UNIT. If you need to try one of these types of units, only buy on Amazon or other that pay for returns.

    • Be careful buying on Amazon. Many “sellers” ship their unit from China… and you’ll be on the hook to pay for return shipping if that’s the case. I’ve been burned on Amazon by this too. Buyer beware. If, when you’re checking out, the Amazon cart doesn’t SPECIFICALLY state the unit is shipping from a US location or Amazon warehouse, then you’ll be stuck with no choice if something goes wrong.

  • I purchased one for my Alpine iLX-007E unit. It says on there website that Cplay2air works with after market Alpine units. When I plugged it into usb it says Connected USB device is not supported.
    I contacted them and they replied I’m sorry, it looks like it does not work in your Alpine.
    There is a $25 re stocking fee and you have to pay for postage.
    This is an expensive unit, I paid $180.00 with no satisfaction.

    DON’T BUY THIS UNIT.

  • The sound gets really bad every 6 minted on the dot and I have to pause and unpause the music playback to fix the sound issues. It has access to phone data when you connect and you do not have control over what device captures from your phone and sends back to China. after I received the unit, it did not work. then they said it doesn’t work with my vehicle.

  • Thanks for your detailed and frank review. I was hoping this unit would give me some relief from the ongoing frustration of trying to get Carplay working via cable to my Hyundai Ioniq as it won’t connect about 30% of the time using the cable. Based on the comments here I think I’ll just stick with the cable as I don’t need even more frustrations in my life.

  • Well – Though I hate to see everyone else that gotten scammed by this piece of crap, it actually made me feel better to know that I wasn’t the only one to run into major problems. To look at CPlay2Air’s website, you’d think this device works perfectly… that’s because they appear to filter their reviews. I have an iPhone X and a 2020 Mazda CX-5… and this freaking CPlay2Air has NEVER worked properly from day 1. The representative at CPlay2Air (she calls herself “April”) has at least been responsive. Using Google Drive, she has sent me numerous firmware versions to install on the dongle via thumb drive – none of them work. The result is that every time I climb into this band new car, it’s a 50/50 crap shoot whether the CPlay2Air will even connect. When it does, it never stays connected for more than 15 seconds before entering an endless cycle of booting and rebooting. I gave up. Mailing anything back to China is a minimum of $62… so I’m basically screwed.

    This whole ordeal has taught me one thing: Don’t mail-order anything from China. They have you by the balls because there’s just no cost-effective way to get anything returned when their cheap crap doesn’t work.

  • I am a bit surprised about all of the fails I read in the comments. I have had this wireless Carplay adapter in my Volvo for more than three months and it has started over 300 times now, according to the car’s log. It only failed me twice which makes it over 99% accurate.

  • @ Eric Murrell

    Are you sure you are not one of their sales people? Maybe you get paid to push this product. Every reply to leave seems to somehow downplay the issue or continue to push the product. I can not say anything about the product, but the company is criminal. I made a purchase and decided 1 hour later to cancel. There was no cancel option which left me having to email/message the company. After three hours they finally communicated back to tell me they couldn’t process a cancel. I have to wait to receive the item and then return it. The product had not shipped yet they refused to cancel. After further research online I discovered this company is based in China. After reading reviews about returns it is obvious that they want to play odds people will not pay to return the product.

    I wish reviewers like yourself would truly review the company and not just the product. I do not know you and I’m sure your reviews mean well, but do your readers justice and know who you support.

  • Just received my order after waiting 3 weeks on Jan 7 2021 – excited to plug it in and start the “easy to use” devise in my 2020 Chevy Truck. It would not pair to my phone so I went back into the house to attempt to read the crappy instruction book which had me check for a firmware update. My devise showed latest software so I went back to the website for Cplay2air and noticed the 24/7 technical help advertisement. Although there is no place to actually call so I had to send in an email which stated “we usually reply within a few hours”. I will let you know how this turns out but I already feel ripped off after reading your reviews compared to their website with thousands of 5 star reviews.

  • didnt work from get go. big hassle to retrurn. they have NO customer service. you cant even review it on their site. want to charge 4o bucks to mail back to china!
    a refund it pretty much impossible. i disputed it w my credit card.

  • I am very disappointed in this company. I bought one of their devices for my brother’s 2020 Acura RDX and another for my son-in-law’s 2018 Honda Odyssey, both of which are listed on the website as being compatible. Neither were, even after following all of their advice and ministrations. While the device works well enough in my 2017 Porsche Macan, it is a fail in Honda products. Thet should be removed from their website.

    Further, their return process is absurdly onerous and the timeline abusive. To have to pay a shipping fee for a defective product and be at risk for a restocking fee in this day and age is absurd. Also, giving only 3 days (January 22 to January 25) to return is ridiculous. I have already lost today at work, then there is the weekend when I already have other commitments and I work again on Monday. I feel like I am dealing with a scam rather than a business.

    No one should trust that your device will work in their vehicle.

  • Buyer beware. If you enjoy gambling with $130 it’s up to you. The company doesn’t back their product and it’s in China. I have 2 of these. My girlfriend and I had each bought one for each other at slightly different times. Hers arrived first. We tried in her 2017 Chevy Colorado and it wouldn’t work at all….it wouldn’t connect…we then tried it in my 2016 Camaro (same system basically) and it DID work in mine…for about a month. After that it still worked but it had developed odd behavior…a 1.5 second delay between pressing a button and the button working, random blue buttons on the interface, and the most annoying part was Siri cutting off at the end of giving directions. Every time she talks she cuts out early.

    We received the second one, and at the time mine was still working so we tried the second one in her truck. This one DID work in her truck and is working fine and has no issues.

    I contacted the company about the problems with mine. No response. Some time later (weeks) I tried them again. This time they responded. They had me jump through a thousand hoops. The main thing I wanted was to reset it to factory specs because it worked in the beginnig but it apparently has no way to do that because they kept ignoring my question about the reset. They had me putting new systems on a USB, they had me resetting my iPhone, my car radio…then they came out with an update that had setting so they said to set this and set that. Nothing worked. At one point the music became unplayable and the whole thing was unusable but that got part rectified. But I still had all the same original problems.

    After 46 e-mails over a month I told them I give up, I’m writing scathing reviews and I don’t understand why they don’t just give me a new one to exchange since it worked initially. They then said oh sure, we will do a one-time exchange…please mail it to CHINA at MY expense and they will then send me a new one. Obviously there was no way I was doing that between the cost, the time waiting on it and just praying a new one actually arrived or being completely out the money.

    Their website has no addresses or contact information. Unbeknownst to me at the time it seems to be a Chinese company. Had I know this was a Chinese company I would not have bought it in the first place as they have a reputation for not getting what was advertised, poor quality, poor customer service, etc. etc.

    My girlfriends works ok. Mine works but not right. Not getting any satisfaction from them, I initiated a dispute with the credit card company for deceptive advertising and sending a faulty product. At the moment I have my money back but not sure how it’ll turn out in the end.

    Buyer beware.

  • I have an iPhone 12 Pro paired with a Pioneer NEX4200 head unit.

    I was excited to receive this as a Xmas gift from my parents as it’s quite pricey. When I plugged it in, it installed immediately and worked great for about 2 days. Then, problems started up. I noticed my Waze was frozen more than half the time the unit connected. I would have to plug/unplug the unit over and over again to finally get it to work. When changing songs, it would take 1-2 seconds to skip to the next one. So, I contacted customer service who then proceeded to ask me to jump through a series of hoops. I had to send them video proof of the freezing up and slow commands. I was asked to update my phone (which already was) as well as check and uncheck several options in the settings. I then had to perform several updates to the unit via USB. I was also asked to re-connect the Bluetooth connection several times. Nothing seemed to work, in fact, it only got worse as it started rebooting my head unit now. I could only imagine that this has to do with my particular phone model as it’s new.

    This went on for about a month… then, I finally said no more and asked for them to exchange the unit as I figured mine was faulty. I was told to package the unit up and send it to China (on my dime) for evaluation.

    I was of course unhappy with this solution as my parents had already paid for the product AND for shipping. To me, it’s quite obvious that the unit is faulty and not my issue, yet I am expected to pay additional fees in order to obtain a working unit, something I should have received from the beginning.

    I’m sure your order will be fine, however, know that if you ever have a problem, you will be expected to pay additional fees for any solutions. Good luck!

  • The sound gets really bad every 6 minted on the dot and I have to pause and unpause the music playback to fix the sound issues. It has access to phone data when you connect and you do not have control over what device captures from your phone and sends back to China. after I received the unit, it did not work. then they said it doesn’t work with my vehicle.
    pet ornaments

  • This company is a joke. Tried to leave them a one star review, and it never showed up. Only three stars and above are allowed.
    This never worked from Day 1.

    Wouldn’t activate. Wouldn’t update. Even after sending me the file to manually update. They had me try this, and try that. Nothing worked.

    Heard nothing from them until the warranty expired. These guys are a joke. 2017 Ioniq.

  • This is a total scam. I purchased it, came from China, plugged it into my car and all I got was a pretty red light. No connection, nothing. So I went through all of the troubleshooting steps that support provided and was ultimately instructed to send it back. At MY cost. Of $127.60, which is basically the cost of the device. Plus a potential $25 restocking fee if they disagree with my decision to send it back. They refused to refund the amount, so I threw it in the garbage and disputed the charge with my credit card. DO NOT BUY THIS FROM THIS COMPANY!

  • I had the same horrible experience described by many others.
    1. Made in China and shipped from China. Took several weeks to arrive!
    2. Had to contact the company’s support by email to assist with updating the unit.
    3. Unit had and still has connection and losing connection issues. If I use text, unit will disconnect every time. Several emails back and forth did not resolve the problem.
    4. Finally fed up after several weeks of back and forth, I emailed support to inquire about returning the unit. They asked me to ship to China and then, once received, they will issue a refund!
    This produce is useless and a waste of money! Do Not Buy!

  • Hi.
    I ordered this product and it’s frankly a scam. I didn’t realize it was coming from china and I wasn’t provided tracking and no communication, after 3 weeks, I filed a claim for no arrival. It arrived so I dropped that claim. But then the product didn’t work. After 10 mins, it would cause the screen in my 2021 to glitch and reset. Using air play via wired connection never did this. I contacted them and they said they would only return it if I paid to ship it to China ($30-40) plus a $25 restocking fee. I only paid $99 so I would have practically paid to have nothing. I asked if they were willing to provide other options (ie partial refund) since it was defective product and they refused to help in anyway. They also will delete and block any negative review on their website or Facebook to pad their reviews. They deleted mine off both. AVOID AND SEEK ANOTHER OPTION.

  • carplay2air is only good till it stop working, 10 months into and did a good job, till it stop working…… while on phone calls you would get disconnect as well while driving using the wireless carplay it would disconnect, so I emailed tech support because you have a one year warranty for this $119 top notch wireless carplay
    tech support is very good in getting back with you but they exchange several emails asking you to please provide videos of the problems you’re having and they do nothing to help you or do they want to replace this expensive device. do your self a favor and buy something cheaper!!! I just purchase one on amazon a lot cheaper and its working great!!! now I use the Carplay2AIR at my desk for paper weight….. DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY!!!!!!! ITS TOTALLY JUNK
    Michelle at carplay2air thanks for not helping me getting this $119 junk not fixed

    • Yes, it is said that cplay2air is a reseller of carlinkit, and so is the one you mentioned. Their official website is carlinkitbox.com. And I have seen the aibox released by them, they have three models, namely aibox, aiboxmini, and aiboxplus. I think the most cost-effective is aiboxmini, because they are all Android systems, the functions are the same, but the price is very different.

  • Of course, I was dissatisfied with this option because my parents had already paid for the purchase as well as delivery. Although it is clear to me that the device is defective and not my fault, I am required to pay additional expenses in order to acquire a functional unit, which I should have gotten from the start. I’m certain that your order will be satisfactory; nevertheless, you should be aware that if there is ever a problem, you will be required to pay additional expenses for any remedies. Best of luck!

  • Another hopeful yet a suckered-in customer. Waited for almost 4 weeks for delivery and ran out to install as soon as my eyes got done reading the all too brief instructions. Out to the garage with all the needed items. Followed instructions to a fault. “Apple device authorization failed.” Must need the update…scan the code…wait…wait…wait…server time out. Try typing it in. Nope. Now, for fun, I type it in on my computer, no go. Well, &#$*! Support is non-existent on the website 24/7! Left a message and yeah…not holding my breath!

  • Hey! Thank You for writing such an informative blog- content.
    It was really helpful. Do keep sharing blogs on such related topics!

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