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Toyota Offering Retrofit CarPlay Upgrades for 2018 Camry and Sienna

Monday April 29, 2019 12:31 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Toyota recently announced plans to bring CarPlay to 2018 Toyota Camry sedans and 2018 Toyota Sienna minivans through a new retrofitting program that will be available through Toyota dealers.

According to CNET, 2018 Toyota Sienna minivans and Camry sedans will soon be able to visit a dealership to add CarPlay support to their vehicles. Amazon Alexa compatibility is also included.


Visiting a Toyota dealership will be required to install the CarPlay update, which will be made available through new software. Toyota has not yet confirmed if the CarPlay update will be free or if there will be a fee.

Toyota has introduced CarPlay in quite a few of its 2019 and 2020 models, but to date, CarPlay has been limited to newer vehicles, so this is the first time Toyota is making it available in a 2018 vehicle.

Other Toyota vehicles equipped with CarPlay include the 2019 Avalon, 2019 Corolla Hatchback, 2019 Sienna, 2019 Camry, 2020 Tacoma, 2020 Tundra, 2020 Sequoia, 2020 Corolla, 2020 Yaris Hatchback, and 2020 Highlander.

It's not known if Toyota will, in the future, provide similar CarPlay retrofitting options for other Toyota vehicles.

Related Roundup: CarPlay
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yossi
3 weeks ago
I can't understand any car maker putting out a car without Car Play support. I will not even consider a new car without one.
Rating: 21 Votes
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realtuner
3 weeks ago

I've never understood this line of thinking. There are a plethora of things more important than a stupid phone integration system in a car but it amazes me the number of that kind of comment.
Won't pay for Isofix seats, extra airbags, winter pack, (heated front screen etc), won't fit winter tyres when appropriate. But yeah, Carplay is a must.


You're completely missing the point.

People aren't going to buy a car ONLY because it has CarPlay support.

People usually cross shop vehicles in the same class/price range. If two vehicles are similar, yet one has CarPlay, then that could easily be enough to sway the buyer to choose that vehicle. Modern vehicles are pretty competitive, and you're not going to find two vehicles at the same class/price where one is fully loaded while the other is a base model.
Rating: 7 Votes
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sjinsjca
3 weeks ago
Good. They lost a sale to me for lack of CarPlay in a Lexus NX. CarPlay and Android Auto are becoming must-haves... or deal-killers, depending.
Rating: 7 Votes
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AngerDanger
3 weeks ago
Don't get me wrong; that's pretty nice. But you could save a lot of money with my rather sophisticated DIY alternative:



Rating: 7 Votes
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H2SO4
3 weeks ago

I can't understand any car maker putting out a car without Car Play support. I will not even consider a new car without one.

I've never understood this line of thinking. There are a plethora of things more important than a stupid phone integration system in a car but it amazes me the number of that kind of comment.
Won't pay for Isofix seats, extra airbags, winter pack, (heated front screen etc), won't fit winter tyres when appropriate. But yeah, Carplay is a must.
Rating: 7 Votes
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FBeye
3 weeks ago
YES YES YES!!! FINALLY!!! I own a 2018 Camry and this is huge, as the standard Entune 3.0 system is simply a turd...
Rating: 5 Votes
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mattopotamus
3 weeks ago
I can already imagine people calling the dealerships and they are clueless about this.
[doublepost=1556567194][/doublepost]

I can't understand any car maker putting out a car without Car Play support. I will not even consider a new car without one.


Honestly a Tesla is probably the only thing I would consider that doesn’t have it.
Rating: 4 Votes
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Pbrutto
3 weeks ago
Oh yeah? How about Prius prime or CHR??? The 2018 and 2019 C-HR have the EXACT same head unit, but the 2019 has CarPlay.
Rating: 4 Votes
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iObama
3 weeks ago

It's highly likely you'll need to have your iDevice connected to the car via USB for this to work. Don't underestimate what a pain in the neck it is to fish your phone out of your purse/pocket every time you hop into the car and hook it up via a USB cable that may or may not be conveniently lying around. It's just disgusting that CarPlay isn't inherently a WiFi thing.


Uh... I feel like 95% of people who use Bluetooth audio do that every time they get in the car anyway. (Like myself...) Disgusting feels like a strong word.
Rating: 3 Votes
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Ebok
3 weeks ago

Mazda charges 250USD for installing car play :(


i would glady give honda $250USD to put it in my 2015 honda accord, which was SUPPOSED to have carplay but got delayed till the 2016 model.

i love my honda but this decision to not give us the option is pissing me off.
Rating: 3 Votes

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