Wireless CarPlay dongle from aliexpress

[j32]

Has anybody tried this dongle to enable wireless CarPlay on our stock wired implementation?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33046274480.html

Seems like this is a Bluetooth and WiFi dongle that tricks the iPhone to connect wirelessly to the dongle, and tricks the car USB port that an iPhone is actually connected.

 

[7eregrine]

I'm going to bet no one has tried it. Especially considering the long lost of compatible cars... And there's no Mazda. Oh, and it's not even available yet.

 

[Young-nyc]

Looks like a good product, but i thought i read somewhere it cannot be done over bluetooth due to the limited bandwidth,
this is why BMW charges a subscription fee for using wifi for carplay.

 

[j32]

Looks like a good product, but i thought i read somewhere it cannot be done over bluetooth due to the limited bandwidth,
this is why BMW charges a subscription fee for using wifi for carplay.

It seems as if the dongle provides its own Wi-Fi connection

 

[Young-nyc]

very interesting!..

 

[7eregrine]

It seems as if the dongle provides its own Wi-Fi connection

The dongle plugs in to your USB port. It then uses BT to connect to your phone. That's how it looks anyway. It shows a wifi icon but doesn't mention it.
Pretty piss poor product page overall.

 

[j32]

The dongle plugs in to your USB port. It then uses BT to connect to your phone. That's how it looks anyway. It shows a wifi icon but doesn't mention it.
Pretty piss poor product page overall.

Hmm I would think that Bluetooth would not have enough bandwidth. My thinking was that the dongle would emulate a car with supporting wireless CarPlay and that the iPhone would then connect wirelessly to the dongle. On the other end, I was thinking that the dongle would emulate an iPhone connected via USB.

Wired CarPlay: iPhone -> Lightning cable -> Car USB Port
Wireless CarPlay (My thinking): iPhone -> Wireless Carplay Connection (Bluetooth + WiFI) -> Dongle | Dongle -> Car USB (emulating an iPhone directly attached to the car)

The video listed on the page is in Chinese, wonder when another company will start making a similar product but with better English translation.

If it only uses Bluetooth, I can't imagine it would work well.

 

[cali-cx-5]

Id love to hear if this works!

(but maybe its worth buying from somewhere you can return it)