Another scenario where it can be useful is if your car has only wired CarPlay and you want to run Android Auto on it. Would have been perfect for my X1 but alas, BMW feels wired CarPlay is too old school.

To use Android Auto, for once, you don’t need an app, but it does require phones to run Android 11 or higher. The Wireless Android Auto feature must be activated in the Android Auto app. Then when the interface for the U2-X appears on the dash, you must double-tap an icon on the lower left. That is not at all clear on the interface and I wouldn’t have copped to it had I not found it in the manual. Most cars, if they support wired CarPlay, probably also support Android Auto (or vice versa, depending on how you roll). Obviously, not all dongles do that. The OttoCast U2-X does, and at a reasonable price. It's nice to have a dongle that supports both if you have a family that crosses the mobile OS streams. It includes a 12-inch USB-A to USB-C cable and a USB-C to USB-C cable. The U2-X is rated for any vehicle with wired CarPlay from 2016 on, but not for BMWs or Sony aftermarket head units. Kia: Soul, Optima, Optima Hybrid, Sedona, Soul EV, Cadenza, Sorento, Forte, Niro, Optima Plug-In Hybrid, Niro Plug-In Hybrid, Rio, Stinger, K900, Telluride, Kxcross, Seltos, K5 Compatible with iPhones from 5 (iOS 7.1) to 14 Pro MAX (iOS 16), the Carlinkit Mini Adapter requires that your car has CarPlay pre-installed. Typical connection time is 7-14 seconds.You will need to communicate to the CS team or support team and they will be responsible to generate the return AWB and handle the return for you. Once it has booted up and it displays its boot menu on the CarPlay display. You then need to connect your iPhone to the same Bluetooth ID that is displayed on the boot menu screen. On pairing to the dongle from my iPhone I could see the same connection and CarPlay boot-up speeds as seen on the other dongles I have tried that run this same firmware. I can see other makers adopting this dongle’s smaller form-factor soon. So I would expect other brands to release smaller dongles soon too. It is good to see CarLinKit has chosen to continue with using the newer AUTOKIT software, with its faster boot-up speeds, so if you already have a 3.0 dongle or a dongle with this same software, then I don’t see the need to update to this new one. If you use Carplay and Android Auto in Aftermarket Android Head Unit, You can choose 👉 Carlinkit Autokit (CCPA) . It's specially made for Android head units, which is suitable for model system versions above Android 4.4+. Features: ✅ Convert Your Wired Carplay/ Android Auto to Wireless! So CarlinKit has been one of the more popular brands for Apple CarPlay dongles. They were the first major brands to bring us the USB Apple CarPlay dongle for Android systems, and they also lead the charge with one of the first wireless Apple CarPlay dongles too. So it is always interesting to see what they come out with next, and this new Apple CarPlay Mini 3.0 dongle is just one of the newly updated dongles they have released over the past month.

On the home screen are apps to launch CarPlay or Android Auto, plus others such as Google Maps. Pretty much any app available in the Google Play store or that you can sideload is an option—they even ship with a few of the non-Google-Play apps available on the device. You’ll need to log into individual apps and keep them up-to-date, like on your phone. If you prefer to mirror your phone to the dashboard (or your TV), you select the Phone Cast app and activate screen mirroring on your phone—it should work like a charm with iOS. The search ended with Carlinkit 4.0. Once you connect the device, you are greeted with a login screen and you have to connect the Bluetooth from your phone to this device, after that just follow the prompts on your phone and voila, you are connected! That was as expected but what I really wanted to see is how it worked with multiple phones previously paired, and to my surprise, it works perfectly. It starts off and gives a list of previous phones and you can choose from those. It then tries to connect and if the Bluetooth and wifi of that phone is active, it will start it off. If your car model is listed below, the unit is compatible with your vehicle. However, if your model is not listed, please ensure that your vehicle meets the following requirements to use the unit: Seat: Alhambra, Ibiza, Leon, Toledo, Ateca (do not recommend using it on Android Auto), Arona, TarracoEnjoy easy, effortless access to your CarPlay system with an automatic wireless connection—no USB cable required! This simple retrofit method offers a convenient way to make CarPlay wireless, allowing you to seamlessly play music, get directions, and use Siri. Simply plug and play to start using the system effortlessly. Compatible Devices