The Carpuride is a cheap and quickly installed retrofit solution for Carplay and Android Auto in the car. a test.
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The carpuride is attached to the windshield with the extremely strong suction cup.
© Carpuride
Features: Carplay and Android Auto in every car
The Carpuride is a 7-inch touchscreen device that you can use to retrofit Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in your vehicle in just a few minutes. The Carpuride even supports Mirrorlink, but this smartphone interface has long since ceased to play a role. Depending on the version, you can even display the image from a reversing camera on the Carpuride. The most expensive variant should even support wireless CarPlay (not tested by us).
Buy Carpuride 7 inch for CarPlay and Android Auto
(various versions)
Conclusion: Inexpensive retrofit option with slight weaknesses
The Carpuride convinces in daily use. Only the unsightly cables and the occasional creaking in the car speakers are annoying. But there is nothing to complain about in terms of usability and Siri also works perfectly. The screen is easy to read even in direct sunlight. You can add Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to any older vehicle, even classic cars, in minutes and without tinkering, as long as a power outlet is available. Thanks to the extremely strong suction cup, the Carpuride should even hold on almost vertical windscreens like in the VW Beetle (if you want to put this high tension on the old screen).
Per
Relatively cheap
Quick and easy commissioning, no conversion or removal required
Flexible positioning
For Carplay and Android Auto
Good usability
Still working perfectly even after more than two months of testing
cons
Cable clutter and additional device on the dashboard
If the windshield is small, the view ahead may be restricted
Touchscreen: Brightness or reaction speed worse than smartphone display
Suction cup is difficult to remove
Advantages: Installed quickly and without prior knowledge
The advantage of the Carpuride compared to most other retrofit solutions that are available on Amazon, for example: you don’t have to do any handicraft work and don’t have to remove the existing car radio. So there is no risk of damaging anything on your car, scratching surfaces or even causing a short circuit. In addition, no specialist knowledge or manual dexterity is required. Commissioning only takes a few minutes and you can already use CarPlay or Android Auto.
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You can also stick the Carpuride on the dashboard with the supplied double-sided adhesive strips and the matching holder.
© Carpuride
Cons: Cable clutter and occasional creaking
However, the disadvantages should not be concealed either: With the Carpuride you get an additional tangle of cables on the dashboard and there is another device there or there is a device on the windshield. Because the Carpuride is attached just like a classic stand-alone navigation device (PND). Either with a suction cup on the windshield or with an adhesive strip on the dashboard. Which brings us to another point of criticism: the suction cup sits so firmly on the windscreen that, at least on our test device, you can’t get it off without having to worry about the windscreen cracking.
You absolutely need a 12-volt socket because the Carpuride does not offer battery operation. As soon as you unplug the power cord, the device turns off. The smartphone is charged during use via the Lightning/USB cable to the Carpuride.
During operation, there are rarely slight creaking noises in the sound output. Comments on Amazon also confirm this occasional acoustic problem.
Commissioning: Completed within a few minutes
Find a suitable place for the Carpuride on the dashboard or on the windshield. Make sure that the carpuride does not obstruct your view. On the other hand, you should be able to easily reach the touch screen. Then connect the cables: A cable for the power supply via the 12 volt socket/cigarette lighter and a Lightning or USB cable for the connection to the iPhone/Android smartphone. The Carpuride automatically recognizes the iPhone and starts Carplay by itself. The prerequisite is that you unlock the iPhone. The most expensive variant of the Carpuride is said to even support wireless Carplay, but we have not tested it.
In addition, connect the AUX cable to the AUX port on your radio if it has an AUX port. Alternatively, establish an FM connection between the Carpuride and the car radio. You need this connection if you want the Carpuride’s voice instructions – for example the turn-by-turn directions when navigating with Google Maps or Apple Maps or Siri’s answers to questions (“What’s the weather like?”, “How’s the traffic on the road?” Route?”) – or the music streaming from Apple Music etc. should be output via the car speakers. You must also select AUX as the source in the car radio or set the appropriate FM frequency.
In this case, the Carpuride regulates the music down as soon as the navigation system gives a driving instruction. As soon as this info is over, the Carpuride regulates the music louder again. In the test, this worked reliably with an existing AUX connection.
If you do not want any output via the vehicle loudspeakers and only want to use the mini loudspeakers built directly into the Carpuride, you can of course save yourself the coupling of Carpuride and car radio via AUX or FM; but for better sound we strongly recommend using the speakers installed in the car. If the Carpuride is running in stand-alone mode, the music also becomes quieter as soon as a turn-by-turn instruction sounds.
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Even the completely outdated Mirrorlink should still be supported.
© Carpuride
Audio output via car speakers also works without AUX and FM! Thanks to parallel Bluetooth pairing
Tip:
You don’t need an AUX cable or an FM connection if your car radio also supports Bluetooth. Because in this case you can pair the iPhone/Android smartphone with both the Carpuride and the car radio in parallel (in the car radio, select Bluetooth streaming as the source and not AUX). The voice output from Siri or the music stream then also take place via the car’s radio loudspeakers and you can control the volume using the car radio’s controls or set it to “mute” and also fast-forward and rewind the songs and at the same time play songs or playlists via the Select the Carpuride touchscreen. This seems to be the ideal solution at first, because it saves you the AUX cable or the additional FM connection. But there is also a downside: when a navigation instruction is issued, the volume of the music is not turned down. So you should only opt for this dual Bluetooth pairing if you only want to stream music.
Tip against creaking:
If you have opened the desired playlist and know that you no longer have to change the playlist and that you no longer need any other CarPlay functions, then you can disconnect the Carpuride from the power supply and continue to stream the music via your car radio. This always works if you have connected both the Carpuride and the car radio to the smartphone via Bluetooth at the same time. The advantage: there is no occasional creaking in the audio output.
Sometimes you have to turn the car radio off and on again after unplugging the AUX cable for the Bluetooth streaming to start.
Touchscreen: Sufficiently responsive
The touchscreen reacts sufficiently quickly and reliably to finger operation. It is easy to read even in direct sunlight.
Carplay with the usual multiscreen view
After starting, Carplay presents itself in the usual view and with the usual operating concept. You can read more about this in Apple Carplay in the test: functions, apps, retrofit solutions, wireless Carplay.
Siri recognizes our voice commands perfectly, even when the radio is on or the music is loud.
By default, Carplay uses the Apple Maps app for navigation. However, this must continuously reload the map material from the servers. This puts a strain on the monthly data volume of your mobile phone contract and can also lead to an interruption in navigation in the event of poor mobile phone coverage. You can avoid this problem by using Google Maps for navigation instead and downloading the required map material to your smartphone via WiFi and then using the maps offline.
Buy Carpuride 7 inch for CarPlay and Android Auto
(various versions)
Retrofit Carplay easily and cheaply: Here’s how
Retrofitting Android Auto easily and cheaply: Here’s how
Android Auto in the test: functions, apps, car manufacturers, variants