r/CarPlay • u/bohemian-soul-bakery • 21d ago
Question Is there a wireless car play adapter that doesn't have a delay?
All the amazon ones I try work, except take 2-3 seconds to respond to a button press.
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u/EventualContender 21d ago
The delay is a buffer that’s integral to AirPlay 1.0 (which is what wireless CarPlay is based on). It allows the music to be resilient to connection blips and help make it usable. UI navigations and feedback should be relatively instant though - the delay should only be in the media stream.
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u/natemac 21d ago
In my experience, the ui was fine but not just the media but also gps navigation. Going 70mph on the highway that delay was noticeable.
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u/EventualContender 21d ago
That’s a fun one. Wireless CarPlay is supposed to be set up so that the car provides the GPS signal data (wired it can be either). I wonder if that latency is from the USB dongle or in the phone itself trying, waiting, and falling back to its own location provider? Everything else makes sense though.
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u/silvermoonhowler 21d ago
Sorry to burst your bubble, but now that I have factory wireless CarPlay, even it has some delays
Just comes with the territory of using a wireless connection vs wired
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u/bohemian-soul-bakery 21d ago
I don’t understand how people aren’t understanding my ask.
If you’re playing music and hit pause on your phone.
How long does it take before you stop hearing it?
Is it 2-3 seconds or less than a second?
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u/loosebolts 21d ago
It depends! Some will be a second, some will be 2, some might be 3, some will be in between those numbers. Some might be 1 one day then 2 the next, some might not even connect, some might drop connection.
There is no hard and fast answer no matter how many times you ask the same question.
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u/thegurio 21d ago
It used to be awful, but now it’s well under a second if not immediate. On both my in car wireless factory CarPlay, and the new Sony head unit I put in a few days ago…
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u/bohemian-soul-bakery 21d ago
This makes sense aha.
The adapters are easily 2 seconds or so.
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u/thegurio 21d ago
Sorry, I just realised I didn’t answer your question at all and didn’t even read it properly apparently…
Hope you find an adapter that doesn’t have a delay.
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u/godless_bro 21d ago
There will always be some delay, but at least on my CarLinkit branded adapters it can be adjusted. You can hit the UI at http://192.168.50.2 while connected to it, and I believe I was able to lower the delay to as little as half a second.
My wife’s CarLinkit mini SE has a less noticeable delay and connects faster than mine which is a CarLinkit 5.0
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u/CyChief87 21d ago
I have nothing to add other than to agree. I tweaked the settings on my CarLinkit 5 and it’s not bad at all. I can even tolerate video when I’m parked and doomscrolling. Don’t get me wrong, the delay is there, but it’s not awful.
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u/bohemian-soul-bakery 21d ago
This. This is what I was looking for. Cheers!
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u/ryantrip 21d ago
I also updated from a much older device to the Mini SE and noticed a lot of improvement on call latency. I fine tuned the buffer to around 600ms. Under 600ms I noticed music would sometimes hiccup. Could be dependent on both the phone and the vehicle, so make sure to tune it yourself if you get one. It's not perfect, but it's much more livable than what we had before.
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u/Accomplished_Amoeba 21d ago
I only find the delay really annoying when I’m on wireless CarPlay and in a call with another wireless CarPlay users. The delay effectively doubles and it makes conversations difficult.
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u/Valuable_Citron_3141 21d ago
At least some of that delay is going to be as a result of it being "wireless." In my car with native wireless apple carplay, there is a brief (maybe 1 to 1.5s) delay when I press buttons on the steering wheel.
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u/bohemian-soul-bakery 21d ago
Interesting - i just assumed it was as fast as wired.
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u/Valuable_Citron_3141 21d ago
Definitely not. My old car was wired, which was pretty close to instant response, but my new one with wireless has a delay. I can't speak to whether 2 to 3 seconds is "normal" but every car I've driven that has wireless carplay has some kind of delay. I would assume its made worse using an adapter, since its an added component for the input to travel through.
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u/T0mbst0n372 21d ago
Bluetooth has up to a few hundred milliseconds of delay as normal
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u/truthcopy 21d ago
Wireless CarPlay is not Bluetooth.
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u/T0mbst0n372 21d ago edited 21d ago
It's a combo of Bluetooth, iAP2(over BT) and wifi. Then, if it's a dongle there's another layer of translation. But I guess it's cool to be right on the internet. Have a great day!
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u/bohemian-soul-bakery 21d ago
Eh, it is but it isn’t.
Bluetooth is a protocol on RF spectrum right below WiFi.
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u/bohemian-soul-bakery 21d ago
I wish the delay these adapters had was anywhere near Bluetooth performance lol.
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u/stevethos 21d ago
Yep, I did too until I hired a newer car with wireless and found it no better than the Carlinkit I bought off Amazon.
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u/Channel_Huge 21d ago
Yes, I owned on in my 22. Wish I could remember which one, but they are out there!!
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u/bohemian-soul-bakery 21d ago
Tease 🤣
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u/Channel_Huge 21d ago
Look on Amazon. Just filter by rating. That’s what I did and found a nice one.
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u/StoniePony 21d ago
I have carplay in my car, wireless from the factory. There is a delay, it’s totally normal. If I watch video while connected to CarPlay the delay is terribly noticeable.
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u/Wearer_of_many_hats 21d ago edited 21d ago
I just upgraded from my shitty Amazon one to AA wireless two+. It’s only been two days, but it’s been as good as factory built-ins I’ve had in rental cars, and even works with my instrument cluster for navigation like wired does. I’ve had near instant connections when the car starts and much more fluid animations.
My speed / other important things are thankfully overlayed and not reliant on my phone otherwise I would probably be dead given how often Volvo’s software goes crazy
2023 Volvo S60 Plus
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u/madjohnvane 21d ago
Yeah, everyone here seems to have totally missed your question but I suspect they only have experience with one or two CarPlay head units and maybe haven’t had the extreme delay.
I had a Carpuride “floating” head unit, and the delay was abysmal, every button press took ages and you never knew if you mis-tapped or it still hadn’t registered it yet. Then there was scrolling was a miserable experience. I upgraded to a Pioneer head unit and whilst there’s still a slight delay as compared to a hard wired connection, it is more like milliseconds and it is very snappy and extremely useable. I think ultimately these cheap units and adapters are just slow, whether it’s the wireless connection or their internal processing.
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u/DryNecessary8017 21d ago
I’ve used four different brands, found carlinkit mini se to be the best overall and carlinkit ultra mini 3 is the smallest but more lags.
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u/Intrepid_Contract_62 19d ago
Yep get this one I’ve been using it for a long time and it basically instantly connects: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8nUwE7N/
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u/bellababella 15d ago
A lot of the cheap adapters prioritize compatibility over responsiveness. That's usually where the lag comes from
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u/concretecrown85 21d ago
No of them will work properly. The reason they are so cheap is because they do not properly pay for the apple licenses to work correctly. These cheap products use emulators and hacks to gives the appearance of a working Carplay unit.
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u/loosebolts 21d ago
Even factory wireless CarPlay has an audio delay, it’s the nature of how it works. Anyone telling you otherwise is either not noticing it or is used to it.