Ford Brings CarPlay to 2016 Vehicles With SYNC 3 Update

I wonder if Toyota/Lexus IS ever going to cave?

As an owner of a 2016 Ford Fusion I can easily confirm that this update is NOT available on ALL 2016 Ford models. You must have the correct Sync 3 HARDWARE already installed from the factory and not the previous Sync version (i.e. My FordTouch). The Siri Eyes Free feature (added last year maybe?) works really great on the older system, but you can NOT simply upgrade the software and magically get Carplay in your vehicle. It's completely dependent on the newer hardware (which was not yet used in ALL 2016 Ford Models). Sucks but true. Now... you can pay big $$$$ and get the new hardware online and have it installed, and then upgrade to Carplay, but again...$$$$.

('https://www.macrumors.com/2017/05/19/ford-carplay-2016-vehicles-sync-3-update/')


Ford today released ('https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2017/05/19/ford-sync-3-software-update-apple-android-2016-vehicles.html') a SYNC 3 software update that adds CarPlay and Android Auto support to its 2016 model year vehicles.



Ford said customers with Wi-Fi-enabled vehicles can set up their vehicle to receive the update automatically. SYNC 3 version 2.2 can also be downloaded from the Ford Owner website ('http://owner.ford.com/') and installed with a USB drive, or customers can visit any Ford dealership to have the update process completed for free.

Last summer, Ford made CarPlay and Android Auto available in all of its 2017 vehicles with SYNC 3 ('https://www.macrumors.com/2016/07/25/carplay-all-2017-ford-vehicles/'). At the time, it promised it would bring CarPlay and Android Auto to its 2016 model year vehicles by the end of the year, and while it missed that target by about five months, the update has now arrived.

In late 2015, Ford retroactively added Siri Eyes Free support to 5 million 2011-2016 model year vehicles.

CarPlay brings Maps, Phone, Messages, Music, Podcasts, and a number of third-party apps like Spotify to a vehicle's dashboard. Apple's in-car software can be controlled with Siri and a vehicle's built-in controls for convenient access to common iPhone features. It's compatible with iPhone 5 and later.

Article Link: Ford Brings CarPlay to 2016 Vehicles With SYNC 3 Update ('https://www.macrumors.com/2017/05/19/ford-carplay-2016-vehicles-sync-3-update/')

Toyota? Are you listening?

If I had a Mustang GT (pictured), the only music I'd need was the sound of that glorious V8 engine.

Great news for me! Hopefully Ford will extend CarPlay to 2015 and earlier vehicles as well.

It won't happen, hardware does not allow for it. According to Ford.

Is is just me, or is does the Mustang pictured have a manual transmission?! I love it! Long live the H!

Yeah, the software is there, but CarPlay still won't work. You have to go to the dealership and pay 150 for a hardware upgrade, too. Attentively, you can search the forms online and find the partner for the USB unit and do it in your own.

I bought a 2016 Platinum F-150 and was told CarPlay would be a free upgrade at the end of 2016. Too bad that wasn't true. You'd think a 70k truck would have had the right USB in it... Smh

Alternatively, Android auto works great and doesn't require new hardware. I also think Android auto is executed better than CarPlay, so I'll be sticking with that.

Yeah, the software is there, but CarPlay still won't work. You have to go to the dealership and pay 150 for a hardware upgrade, too. Attentively, you can search the forms online and find the partner for the USB unit and do it in your own.

I bought a 2016 Platinum F-150 and was told CarPlay would be a free upgrade at the end of 2016. Too bad that wasn't true. You'd think a 70k truck would have had the right USB in it... Smh

Alternatively, Android auto works great and doesn't require new hardware. I also think Android auto is executed better than CarPlay, so I'll be sticking with that.

You can buy the hub for about $60 on the internet from handful of dealers. It takes about 5 minutes to change it out.

Car play and Android auto is the ugly stepchild in auto infotainment systems.

If you need the car to do something outside them, you must exit out of the connection and then re- establish connection. It's just not worth it.

It's still better to connect via Bluetooth to your contacts and leave it at that.

2017 E300 sedan, E400 coupe. Mercedes.

Disagree. It's pretty good and I use it every day. The best setup, which a lot of cars have now, are real buttons/knobs for climate control and the rest of the infotainment on the touchscreen. In real-world usage, you don't need to leave Carplay/Android Auto much if at all. Also, at least in my car (Chevy Volt), there's a home button to get out to the car's system, but it doesn't need to re-establish a connection at all... there's just an icon to get back to Carplay. It stays connected at all times. Some other notes:

- Personally, I don't use Sirius because I have Apple Music, but the radio is only two button presses away. There's a Spotify app, but I prefer Apple Music now because we have an Apple TV at home, and Apple Music is well-integrated into Carplay. You hold the speaker button on the steering wheel to access Siri, and you can play anything you want.

- Apple maps works fine and is integrated into voice control. I wish Waze was available for Carplay, but we all know that's not going to happen. For those times I want to use it, my phone is mounted to the dash also, but that's a workaround. Apple maps doesn't have pinch to zoom and scroll, which is lame. You have to press buttons. I have no idea why, since Google Maps has it in Android Auto and the screen is capable of multitouch.

- When the car is moving, Carplay will limit your ability to browse through contacts and music and things like that. I get why they added this, but there should be a way to override it because a passenger might want to do that. They probably can't for legal reasons, however. The workaround is to have the passenger just do it directly on the phone.

- Plugging in your phone every time is a minor annoyance. I've gotten used to it, but in the future, I hope that cars get wireless Carplay AND wireless charging that can keep up with the battery drain.

I purchased CarPlay on a 2017 BMW and I can tell you compared to BMW's software, CarPlay is absolute garbage. Here is a review I posted after I first started using CarPlay. Since writing this review a few months ago, I now have CarPlay disabled using the far superior BMW software (I don't know if Ford has their own software to compete with CarPlay). I've chalked it up to loosing $350 on a piece of garbage software from Apple.

---

Three days I go I received delivery of my new 2017 BMW 430xi. One of my motivations to purchase the car was because of BMW’s recent offering of Apple CarPlay, but after playing with BMW’s Bluetooth integration/software and CarPlay, I am very disappointed with CarPlay.

When I purchased the car, I had to decide at that time to purchase CarPlay because I was told the option could not be added after delivery. The option was only about $350 so I opted to purchase CarPlay because I love my iPhone and wanted to have what I assumed was the best possible iPhone integration. I owned a BMW 530xi prior to this BMW which did not have CarPlay and had only limited Bluetooth integration (e.g., only hands free calling and contact synchronization). Since I didn’t have any other type of integration with my iPhone on my previous BMW, I was looking for a change.

On first thoughts, the BMW software has a nice look and feel. The colors have a kind of rich design (no I don’t mean expensive but rich as in color tone and shading). I was impressed with the high level of integration between BMW’s software and my iPhone, this was before I activated CarPlay. On my BMW, you can integrate your iPhone using just BMW’s Bluetooth integration or you can activate CarPlay for a kind of dual/hybrid integration that is a mixture of BMW’s Bluetooth integration and CarPlay.

As I mentioned above the look and feel of the latest BMW software has nice color tones and a consistent look and feel throughout with excellent integration/coordination to the physical buttons on the center console (i.e., Menu, Navigation, Communication, Media, etc.) that surround their iDrive wheel. I would prefer a touchscreen to the mechanical iDrive wheel, but I admit it’s not that bad and I’m used to it from my previous BMW.

When I switch from one of the BMW screens to the CarPlay screen, the look and feel of CarPlay really jumps out as horrible in my opinion. The quality of the icons, the color scheme, the shading (or lack thereof) looks like something created by a 5-year-old. I realize Apple wants and probably needs to create a standard look & feel for CarPlay across all makes/models of cars, but when you jump into the CarPlay screen it’s a shock. This is probably more prevalent from car manufacturers, like BMW, that have spent many years and significant resources perfecting their Bluetooth device integration and have mature/refined software.

I will say that CarPlay’s integration with the iPhone seems good and what I would have expected from Apple, but over the past few days I’m starting to see that CarPlay’s integration is not much better than BMW’s integration. Like CarPlay, BMW’s integration includes contact integration, voice activated commands, comprehensive multi-media integration including playlist integration, and app integration like Pandora detected on my iPhone.

I will add that CarPlay does have messaging integration, BMW does not, and it appears maybe integration to other applications not provided by BMW. I have a feeling the Germans probably draw the line at messaging integration because they probably want us to concentrate on driving (a good thing) or maybe Apple refuses to allow third-party integration with their messaging application. I will add that CarPlay does not let you mess around with messaging while driving, so I don’t want to imply that Apple’s CarPlay promotes unsafe driving, it does not.

My number one complaint is the CarPlay mapping application. Compared to BMW’s navigation system, the CarPlay maps are absolutely HORRIBLE, and this is coming from someone who did not want to purchase BMW’s navigation system. When used on my iPhone, the overall quality of the Apple mapping system is fine, but as an in-vehicle driving system integrated via CarPlay and compared to BMW's navigation system they suck.

For example, the BMW mapping system automatically moves from a “day mode” to a “night mode” when appropriate. That means at night the BMW maps go into a very dark back ground with streets colored (illuminated) versus a light (or white) background and dark lines for streets during the day. The CarPlay maps remain in a kind of “day mode” (e.g., white background with dark lines for streets) even at night. So, you have this massive white light shining in your eyes and illuminating the whole cabin that screws with your night vision (yea yea yea I know, what about oncoming headlights, street lights, etc. effecting night vision). My other major complaint is that the CarPlay maps only use half of the large BMW display compared to the BMW maps that use the whole display. I could go on about the CarPlay mapping system but I’m not going to develop a side-by-side comparison, I will say that the actual map quality of the BMW maps is far more detailed than the CarPlay (iPhone) maps, and the Apple CarPlay mapping solution is not even in the same league as the BMW navigation system.

When I purchased my BMW, I was angry BMW forced me to spend $1,500 for the BMW navigation system just because I wanted to purchase CarPlay. It really irritated me because I kept saying, why do I need your navigation system when I’m going to purchase CarPlay, isn’t the reason for CarPlay so I don’t have to purchase your overpriced navigation system. The sales people at BMW could not give me a good explanation, but I really wanted CarPlay so I begrudgingly purchased the BMW navigation system … well I am sooooo glad I did because I would have been really upset seeing Apple’s pathetic mapping implementation through CarPlay.

In summary, I admit I’ve only used CarPlay and BMW’s Bluetooth integration for a few days. I might learn some cool things about CarPlay that I didn’t get with BMW’s Bluetooth integration (like messaging), but at this point, I’m leaning towards disabling Apple’s CarPlay and chalking it up to a $350 mistake.