[sunikkat]

Voted for others - I prefer a Android HU with wireless Apple car play. I have got a 4*64 GB aftermarket one for Octavia and the unit is very slick. The benefit is it gives the versatility of a tablet and you can download whatever apps you need. I rarely use Apple carplay in this.
The ones that come by default in new cars (atleast in new i20 from my experience) can only be connected through Android Auto or Apple Carplay and cannot download additional apps. While I do not have experience with Android Auto, the Carplay features are limited (obviously due to safety). But yes, apple carplay is very fluid and serves the basic features best.

[PaddleShifter]

Originally Posted by attinder

Carplay users: Is it possible to make Google maps as default navigation ?

No, you cant do that.

I always navigate by giving voice commands to Siri.

“Hey Siri navigate to xyz using Google Maps”. It works but there is an issue. You can not choose the route easily. A work around is that I save places in Google Maps as “Want to Go”. It is very easy to find places in Google Maps then.

Lastly, I often first do a search in my iPhone and find the route and start navigation. Upon connecting the phone to the HU, navigation starts automatically.

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by PaddleShifter

“Hey Siri navigate to xyz using Google Maps”. It works but there is an issue. You can not choose the route easily. A work around is that I save places in Google Maps as “Want to Go”. It is very easy to find places in Google Maps then.

Lastly, I often first do a search in my iPhone and find the route and start navigation. Upon connecting the phone to the HU, navigation starts automatically.

What i do with CarPlay and Google Maps is search an address on the phone and allow it to navigate before i leave. Exit it, and then on the Google Maps app on CarPlay, the address is present as a recent destination.

I also do the same as what you mentioned in the second para above.

[fiat_tarun]

I like the split screen homepage of Apple Carplay but prefer the overall functionality of Android Auto with the much better Google assistant and seamless maps integration. Being an android user also adds to the overall convenience.

Waiting for the refreshed android auto interface announced at the recent Google I/O which will bring split screen to even smaller displays.

[Kosfactor]

Have seen car play disconnect frequently on several vehicles , have seen Android auto being slow to respond as well on several vehicles. My choice would be Android Auto - On a phone mounted on the dash(wireless charging mount preferably), works well and no need to worry about car's head unit.

[dipdawiz]

Though voted for Android Auto, but to some extend I also think this thread and poll question (What head unit functionality do you prefer?) makes very less sense or effects very very less car users. Better it would have been a question to those who used both and explain which one they preferred (some posts in this thread answer that). Still, I think phone decides connectivity usage in car, not vis e versa.

So far I have not seen (or even heard, before this thread) anyone deciding on his/her phone purchase (Android or iPhone) depending on the usability of its connectivity in car. In general, people buy a phone and depending on whether it is an Android or an iPhone, they use AA (Android Auto) or CarPlay respectively - however good or bad the performance those two connectivity options may provide - it matters to very less (tends to zero).

Like, due to multiple reasons (debate of Android vs iPhone/iOS) I am using Android phone for long, and even with initial unstable AA, I kept using it. I do not think of moving to iOS anytime soon, so my usage would be always AA until that day comes.

[swarnava.ch]

Originally Posted by joshiviv

Similarly wanted to seek opinion on aftermarket units, if I do need to change the HU. I could just start off with a Sony HU in my old car and move it to the new car whenever I buy one.

If you don't mind me saying this, your voting is flawed. Every voter will vote for the phone compatible option they would have used so far. So, if I am using an iPhone, I would use Apple carplay, and hence my choice would be Apple Carplay by default. I would not have used the Android option ever as I didn't have an Android phone to try the other option. Vice versa for Android phone users. So, in essence, there would be very few people who have both phones who can truly give you their comparison and their views will be valid.

[prajwalmr62]

I would suggest you to get the HU which works with both. Car's HU has limited use cases for which both Andriod Auto & CarPlay provide nice solutions.

[Night Raven]

I have an iPhone SE and my wife uses oneplus 7. Both our cars support android auto and Apple CarPlay. In my experience the operation is seamless with Apple CarPlay. It connects 99% of the time without an issue, there is practically no lag and the voice commands with Siri mostly works well. On the other hand the android auto sometimes connects, quite often it won’t. Even when it connects its quite laggy. Voice commands mostly results in no response. My wife mostly doesn’t use android auto these days because of the call connectivity issues, she just uses the Bluetooth.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by Night Raven

On the other hand the android auto sometimes connects, quite often it won’t. Even when it connects its quite laggy. Voice commands mostly results in no response. My wife mostly doesn’t use android auto these days because of the call connectivity issues, she just uses the Bluetooth.

I used to have this flat face cable from Oneplus. It worked seamlessly with my Oneplus 5 and wife's 7. Am told by my colleague that the flat cable is no longer available in stores.

I do use the original round on-and-off. One thing I religiously follow is to plug the phone only after the head unit boots and gets connected to bluetooth. This technique works everytime.

The cable quality affects Android Auto and Carplay experience.

[vredesbyrd]

I have both the devices and my HU (RCD340) supports both. I prefer Carplay because it is faster, smoother and I am able to use split-screen. Also, Apple Music (local storage) works like a charm whereas PowerAmp on android is often wonky and buggy.

Also, I sometimes use my android phone as a GoPro.

[driver52001]

In my experience aftermarket Android ICE fares badly in sound quality output compared to dedicated ICE by Sony (XAV-AX series) or Pioneer or the likes. I don't use an iPhone, and i have mixed feelings about Android Auto. When it works, it works like magic. But it has a mind of its own. Reboots frequently. I'd go with dedicated ICE with CarPlay and Android Auto support, instead of an Android player only, which is basically a cheap tablet glued to the dashboard. Phone for communication, dedicated ICE for music. Separation of powers.

[vshankarhere]

Without doubt Apple CarPlay. While I get to use both Android Auto and ACP, I can clearly see ACP is much more polished and importantly bug free. Everything works as advertised. But when I am using Android Auto, I always have been facing weird bluetooth issue wherein after completing a call, the music resumes from the phone speaker rather than the car's. Also, while "Hey Siri" responses, when connected to ACP, always work as advertised, from the car speakers, "OK Google" responses are always routed via phone speaker and not the car's. Both these bugs are extremely annoying.

[nkm]

I cannot vote yet, but if I could my vote would go to car play by a long shot. I used to be in the Android camp strongly. But after using car play with my wife's phone, I realized carplay is better thought out than android auto.

Android auto has a lot more features, but most people will rarely use them. If all you want is maps and music, calls, and may be send a message/mail once in a while, carplay works better and is a lot less laggy. Carplay has a better layout too -- may be the upcoming android auto update will fix this. Also, Siri works better than Google assistant when invoked from the car for some reason.

Google somehow has made maps a bit worse on carplay though. Selecting an alternate route is nonintutive on carplay. Zooming in and out also is unnecessarily round about on carplay.

Connection stability is better on android auto (wired. I have not tried wireless variants of either). It rarely disconnects after getting connected -- but when it does it refuses to re-connect without a phone reboot. Carplay disconnects once in a while, but reconnects on it's own. I don't have an exact figure, but an estimate would be that carplay disconnects every 4-5 hours of non-stop usage, but comes back in a few minutes. I have not had it disconnect when using for shorter duration. Probably it is the phone heating up or something -- have not bothered to figure out the cause as I don't drive non-stop for so long any more. Android auto has disconnected may be three or four times for me over 4 years.

But car play connects better than android auto on first attempt. I don't remember any time carplay has refused to connect . Android auto seems to need a bit of coaxing once in a while to connect (reboot, reset the head unit etc). I have tried different phones and cables and it still is the same (it probably is the car/head unit).

[enj0y_ride]

My car supports both wireless Android Auto and Car Play. I felt Carplay experience to be more seamless. Aesthetically too it looks better. I feel, some apps ( eg: Amazon Music ) work faster on Carplay than AA [ not sure if its the issue with wireless connection alone ].

I have voted for Carplay.

Now, is it worth changing phone? No.