Carlinkit 2.0 Wireless Apple CarPlay

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2024 CX90 PHEV Premium Plus
After seeing wireless dongle adapters discussed here and on other forums, I decided to bite the bullet and try one.

I went with the Carlinkit 2.0. Here’s their website but i purchased it on Amazon since I already have payment info set up there and Prime free shipping.

Inititally, my experience was that this thing was not easy to set up. It wasn’t plug and play. The instructions were not helpful. After looking at their website, Googling and reading posts on Reddit and other forums, I finally figured it out. But now that it’s working, I love it.

I’ve only had it for a week, but so far so good, There is an occasional delay when I pause music from the command knob, but any static or skipping has not been noticeable. Texting and phone functions work fine, Siri works. I have WebEx in CarPlay for the occasional work calls while driving but I haven’t had a chance to try that out yet. The unit has it’s own WiFi signal so sometimes there’s a pause as I leave the house until my phone switches to the Carlinkit WiFi to connect. It’s not much bigger than the key fob so it doesn’t take up much space in the armrest.

A few things that are helpful to know when setting it up that weren’t clear:

- What’s confusing is that the Carlinkit uses Bluetooth to connect to your phone first, then drops the BT connection and switches to WiFi which is the permanent connection. This is what made original set up confusing but there were other issues that complicated set up for me.

- The vehicle will read the device as if it’s an iPhone. In your General > CarPlay settings, it will be listed and can be customized just like any other CarPlay connection.

- It might be helpful to reset the unit if you’re having trouble installing it. Ultimately, this is what I figured out and then set up went much more smoothly, To do this, plug the unit’s USB connection into your phone’s wall charger to power it up, This isn’t explained clearly. You can then connect to it via an IP address with your phone through a browser.

- One Carlinkit model is apparently used for multiple car brands. Even though “MazdaABC” (or whatever it was) popped up in some places, “VOLKESWGEN24” showed in others. You have to bob and weave and select whichever is available at that point in the set up process.

After I reset the unit, the instructions on the dashboard screen walked me through set up. It pauses and I wasn’t sure it was doing anything at times but be patient and give it a few minutes. Remember to look at BT and WiFi settings on your phone And be aware that the unit name might change depending on what step you’re on. After resetting it, I was connected in about 10 minutes.

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Glad to see they ironed out the kinks and that it is now working well. I still wish we could retrofit the Mazda wireless carplay system. But this now look like a viable option. Definitely will be considering this as an option in the future.
 
What model CX9 have you got this in and what the rest of the system?

I have a 2021 CX-9 Grand Touring. It has one of the updated infotainment systems. It has the newer wide screen, updated menus, and graphics. It has a factory wireless charging pad in the cubby just ahead of the shifter. But it doesn’t have the updated volume knob - I believe on the new 3, the volume knob can also be pushed left/right to control some functions, the CX-9 doesn’t have that yet.
 
I will have to have a look. I have one of the 2018 CX-9’s and am looking to update some of the infotainment stuff. Want the car play stuff. Probably won’t get the wireless charging pad as I already have that via the Quad Lock window mount.

wasn’t aware there was a bigger screen and possibly a different button
 
I had purchased a carlinkit back around January 1 and it would not work. I read this post and decided to try the software update in my 2021 CX9 GT. The dongle first identified itself as volkswagen when I was looking for the bluetooth device. You do need to forget the car as a bluetooth device before you can connect to the dongle. I was able to go through the update instructions here in the 'online' mode:


After the update, the dongle works fine. I did notice the very minor delay when playing music. Using a wired connection, I push the button and the music starts or skips to the next track immediately. There is a fraction of a second delay when using the carlinkit dongle.

The only other surprise was that you have to look at the startup screen for carlinkit each time you start the car if the dongle is connected. This and the slight button delay are minor tradeoffs IMO to have wireless carplay. I'll be able to report later on stability.
 
Glad to see they ironed out the kinks and that it is now working well. I still wish we could retrofit the Mazda wireless carplay system. But this now look like a viable option. Definitely will be considering this as an option in the future.
No can do because most cars use bluetooth to connect to phones and wireless carplay requires wifi between the car and the phone. It's more than a software update, it would have to be a hardware update. It only took like what, 7 years for the car manufacturers to get WIRED carplay, maybe in another 5 they will all get on board with wireless. 😥
 
You are correct that wifi is required. But The cx-9 2021 in Canada has wireless carplay with the old infotainment system. That is why i have a glimmer if hope it could be retrofitted. The hardware and the software exists in the mazda bin store for 2021.

interestingly, mazda only implemented wireless carplay on the old infotainment system. Thats why it is available for 2021 on the Miata, mazda 6 and (in canada) the CX-9. The changes are probably all internals to the infotainment system and not swappable. But like I said, “a glimmer of hope”.
 
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Hi,

First time poster here. I've just purchased a used Carlinkit 2.0 clone (looks the same, comes in the same box, just without the Carlinkit branding) and it seems to work fine in my VW Golf (which is what the original owner used it in too) but it has the 30 second reboot issue in my wife's 2019 Mazda CX-5 with the older Connect interface, which is what I primarily bought it for.

According tot he web interface, it came with 2021.07.04.2222 firmware and I saw that the 2021.01.28 and 2021.03.06 firmwares were both reported to work with Mazdas that have the slightly older system.

I tried to roll back the firmware to 2020.11.10 rollbak image on the ludwig-v github page but it wouldn't work (no flashing LED) so I tried the 2020.08.04 rollback, which did work. However, after the rollback, the version on the web UI said 2020.11.10! I then flashed the 2021.03.06 firmare, which seemed to work but after the flash the UI reported version 2021.07.04 again. I rolled it back again and flashed the 02021.01.28 image and, again, the UI reported 2021.07.04.

Unfortunately, my wife is not at home so I can't check if the unit will now work in her car without the 30 second reboot but has anyone else seen this sort of behaviour (talking about the firmware numbers, not the 30-second reboot)?
 
When I mentioned earlier in the thread that I had to reset it, that’s exactly what I had to do. I had to roll it back to a previous firmware version.

i’m glad this topic came up again because I’ve been meaning to post an update for a couple of months now.

My unit bricked on me after about 6 to 8 weeks of use. After I got it working, it was great. It took about 15 seconds to build up but that was fine. I loved being able to set my phone in the charger and not worry about the cable. Once in a while I would catch a delay with a Siri command but overall the unit really worked great.

Then one day it stopped working. The light on the unit was steady red. I tried to access the IP address and reset it but nothing worked. I emailed the company 6 or 7 times with no response. I was sure to update my Amazon review every couple of weeks as well letting people know how unresponsive they were. Didn’t even get a refund.

These units seem to be hit or miss. When they work, they work great. Some people have used them for extended periods of time with no issues. And then there are some people like myself that got stuck holding a turd. :-/
 
As for the OP'S question - What’s confusing is that the Carlinkit uses Bluetooth to connect to your phone first, then drops the BT connection and switches to WiFi which is the permanent connection.

I learn that the carlinkit dongle is authenticated by Bluetooth and transmitted by Wifi. After the authentication, the Bluetooth will be disconnected automatically, but the wifi cannot be disconnected. If the Wifi is disconnected, the carplay will also be disconnected.
 
I had the CX9 upgraded to the car play system a while back and have been using the Quad Lock wireless car play adaptor.


This works great.

my car play itself, does not and constantly drops out/re sets and won't stay active. This happens when using the phone plugged in directly, so it seems to be an issue with the car play upgrade itself.
 
I had the CX9 upgraded to the car play system a while back and have been using the Quad Lock wireless car play adaptor.


This works great.

my car play itself, does not and constantly drops out/re sets and won't stay active. This happens when using the phone plugged in directly, so it seems to be an issue with the car play upgrade itself.
It is too expensive. The wireless box are actually the exact like thing as the carlinkit box under a different name at a higher price.
 
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