[qaqa]

Wife has an iOS device, while I am an Android adherent. I get to experience both A-A and CarPlay regularly, based on whose phone is plugged into the car.

Having a good voice assistant is very important whilst driving. I feel that Siri is vastly superior to Android Assistant. Siri works almost instantaneously, is generally accurate and has a broader skill set. Android seems to query the cloud for every request which delays the response time noticeably.

Carplay's interface also is cleaner and more usable.

[wadewilson]

On our Mahindra XUV 700, since only AA (Android Auto) wireless is available, have been forced to use it. Otherwise, I have always preferred Apple CarPlay (It just works - there’s no crashes or connection issues like on Android Auto). When we first bought our Hyundai Creta in 2018, it was the first car in our garage that has Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. After using both the systems for a couple of days, Android Auto for me seemed worse in comparison to Apple CarPlay. Yes, I loved the fact that we could sideload apps on Android Auto, but there was the issue of stability.

So, here are the reasons why I prefer CarPlay over Android Auto (AA):

1. Primary reason - Stability and Ease of Use. While Android Auto gives us a lot of options when compared with CarPlay, they seem half baked and are slow and sometimes crash.
2. Siri just understands me. I don’t have to put on a fake accent to try and make it understand. Google Assistant on Android Auto on the other hand has a hard time understanding me for some reason and won’t play songs that I request.
3. While using Google Maps on Android Auto, you can type the address even while driving (passenger does the typing) but in Android Auto, you can’t. The passenger has to use voice commands to enter destination and this doesn’t work since as I’ve already mentioned Google’s voice recognition seems to not do too well in cars. Surprisingly, I have Google Home and it works beautifully.

There are a few more irritants but off the top of my head, this is what I can remember.

[vineetklkrn]

I am using Apple Car Play in the 5th Gen Honda City. However it keeps getting disconnected and restarts on every jerk. I have not ordered an Apple certified charging cable to see if it helps. However for now it is very frustrating.

[sarav100]

I’ve voted for Apple Carplay since it is so much better than Android Auto.

I was an android user too and kept using android auto for about an year. However, it was plagued with problems like music stream sound output switching to android phone speaker each time I terminate a call from android auto head unit. What made matters worse was that the interface was particularly laggy and it was a distraction as I had to keep doing each action 2-3 times. When I got ICE upgraded, I finally realised the processing limits of my Redmi Note 7 Pro have been reached and and the humble android phone is no match for the setup running Spotify, Google Maps and Google Assistant at the same time.

I switched to Apple car play since an year and it has been absolutely blissful. I haven’t faced a single issue in Apple Car Play apart from the fact that google maps is not its default maps application. Sound quality is great, so is the interface.

In my opinion Apple Car Play is much superior to Android Auto.

While we’re on the topic of headunits, it must be noted that generic low cost android tablet based headunits should be skipped altogether as there are much better options available at a similar price from Sony, Pioneer and Alpine. However, this doesn’t mean all android tablet based headunits are bad and the expensive android tablets that have DSP built in from brands such as Woodman need to be tested to see if they fare better.

[AutoConsultant]

Used both Android Auto (OnePlus 7T) and Apple CarPlay (iPhone 11) for the first year in my City and with its pathetic ICE I had AA/AC on 99% of the time.

Apple CarPlay is the clear winner for me. I primarily need 2 apps to work flawlessly - Google Maps and Spotify - and I have had a much smoother experience with AC. AA is quite laggy and tends to get stuck after some time. Siri also works better than google for voice commands.

In AA auto you need to have your handbrake on if you want to type in your location in google maps, otherwise you have to use voice commands which generally are not that accurate.

[NST440]

CarPlay for sure.

Having used both I can vouch for the ease of use , fluid performance and I have never had any issues with my oem player and pioneer player. I always use the original apple cable with my 13 pro max and even with my iPhone 11 it used to run like a breeze.

When it comes to software implementation and ease of use I believe it’s hard to beat apple. Have been using Samsung before and regardless of whatever hardware they plonk, the ios is far superior and same is the story with Apple CarPlay.

That being said I really wish android ups the game and becomes better so that the competition heats up and benefits the end user.

One more thing, since I use Spotify as my preferred streaming service, I really love the comfort of using Bluetooth over CarPlay during short runs or when in a hurry since there is no hassle of cables and Siri works like a charm, whether awaken via the car’s voice command or directly by saying the magic words.

[varun.petro]

I use both Carplay and Android Auto on daily basis in my Kushaq as I have android and Wife has iphone.
Android Auto is much easier to use. Navigation with Google maps is simpler and voice navigation works good. Major problem is while searching for destination, it is tough to figure out which one is correct when you have multiple results without looking at detailed description. You also can't access Google Maps on phone as it says to use car screen. They should have a feature when car is stationary, phone use is permitted.

However, car play has better interface and speed. While making calls via voice, carplay has less steps involved. I have been unable to get voice navigation working in Carplay with Google maps. I choose on phone and then it shows in recent destinations.

Both AA and Carplay have ocassional connectivity issues.

Wireless connectivity just makes everything very simple and effortless. Didn't made this a selection criteria initially but it should definitely be on anyone's list.

[greenhorn]

Due to me being a late adopter, I'm happy that my car just supports Bluetooth. Heck, my Indica got a Bluetooth HU just last year. I'm happy with my phone on a holder. But I did try android auto in a rental accent in the US, and I liked the experience.

….. But I don't feel like paying 20K just for that screen to be better integrated into the dashboard. Also I am an alpine Fanboy. Ill wait for android auto to trickle down into their budget offerings in a few years.

[muneemmk]

Prices of Android Auto/ Apple carplay branded headunits have been constant for the past five years.

While they bring down the price of the headunit the quality also seem to trickle down quite a lot , good quality preamps, multiband EQ all would be omitted and pre outs also would suffer the quality.

Alpine budget offerings are now almost at par with their pioneer/jvc/counterparts in price,the quality remains questionable though so does the ease of use GUI Or some basic functionality like FLAC support missing.

Most Android based Chinese headunits do have apple carplay and Android Auto support too now but not straight forward ! It's mostly through third party emulation softwares,Which makes it all the more buggy most of the time.

The choice is simple if you are looking for features alone go for Chinese Android systems if you have a bit of patience that would help too (blaupunkt including considered Chinese hu due to the fact that there is nothing german about it anymore)

If you want a long term high quality headunit with stable AA/ACP support with kickass audio quality go for a branded headunit in the following order

Pioneer>JVC>Kenwood>Alpine>Sony

Hope this helps everyone.

[Comrade]

I am an iPhone user and my wife is a big fan of Samsung note series. We connect both phones to our car for Navigation (gmaps on both devices). Both of us agree that carplay is seamless and user friendly than android-auto.

btw, if anyone is looking for a aftermarket HU with wireless AA and ACP, do consider Blaupunkt San Andreas 970 (B910AU). Its being sold for 35000-40000. It is NOT an android system, and is built around AA and ACP functionality. Even though its chinese engineered and built, it is using high quality components like qualcomm vehicular soc, OEM quality DAC and amp, RDS tuner etc. This radio has even been approved by usa’s fcc.

https://youtu.be/RgPD4P0XuDo

[hariswami]

I installed a Blaupunkt android system (Key largo) in my Marazzo m6+ as it did not support Android auto. Cannot say I am fully satisfied. The default processor in the HU is terribly slow and loading in built Google maps is a disaster (crashes as well). I access Google maps either with Phone link or with another paid app called HU reloaded. Tried both ways and things are 99% fine (With the HU reloaded app, the maps sometimes disappears and needs to be woken up from the pull down)

[Zen Av8r]

Originally Posted by attinder

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

Car Play supports Google Maps and I use Google Maps on Car Play all the time. One can also rearrange or prioritise the layout of apps.

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by hariswami

I installed a Blaupunkt android system (Key largo) in my Marazzo m6+ as it did not support Android auto. Cannot say I am fully satisfied. The default processor in the HU is terribly slow and loading in built Google maps is a disaster (crashes as well).

Dont want to take the thread offtopic but even I was not satisfied with android headunit in my car for exact same issues which you mentioned. For me, even headunit reloaded would crash or become slow most of the times. I finally switched to Blaupunkt “San Andreas” which is not same as these android headunits. It natively supports wireless carplay and android auto (same as OEM solution) and does not support loading android apps to HU directly. Also considered sony xav-ax8000 but that model had only one USB to be shared between either android auto or car play or usb stick.

[RMN]

Been using Android Auto for the past 3 years or so with my Freestyle and Note9. Never had any specific issues apart from bad cables. Voice commands, WhatsApp read/send and maps have always worked well. No complaints.

[Altocumulus]

I always have used Android Auto since I had Oneplus 7 Pro. However I always liked the split screen option of Apple Car Play since my wife uses an iPhone.

When the time came to upgrade my phone I switched to iPhone 13, one of the main reasons being Car Play.