Photo: autoevolution
CarPlay is the more reliable alternative to Android Auto, at least in theory. At some level, that is indeed true, as Apple’s walled garden reduces the likelihood of bugs when connecting an iPhone to the car.
On the other hand, it doesn’t mean that glitches don’t exist in the world of CarPlay, and the one we’re highlighting today is the living proof in this regard.
An issue that showed up recently, including on my iPhone 12 Pro running the latest stable version of iOS, causes the CarPlay menu to freeze for absolutely no clear reason.
Someone on reddit published a video to showcase the whole thing, explaining that everything else on the screen works properly. The menu is the only one that seems to be unresponsive.
Users have tried all kinds of workarounds, including turning off Assistive Touch and rebooting phones. However, manually closing all apps on the iPhone and then launching them from the head unit does the trick for me. For example, if the dock freezes when Waze runs on CarPlay, I open the app on the iPhone, close it immediately, causing the CarPlay screen to refresh, and relaunch the app itself.
At that point, everything is back up and running, though it goes without saying it’s not exactly the most convenient workaround, especially if you’re in a rush.
There’s more bad news on this.
Not only that Apple hasn’t acknowledged the problem, but the upcoming iOS 14.5 update, projected to land as soon as this week, doesn’t seem to be making any difference, according to users already running the GM build.
Some say the issue is gone after updating their iPhones, but that is most likely just temporary, as there’s a good chance the menu would freeze once again at some point after connecting the iPhone to the head unit.
An issue that showed up recently, including on my iPhone 12 Pro running the latest stable version of iOS, causes the CarPlay menu to freeze for absolutely no clear reason.
Someone on reddit published a video to showcase the whole thing, explaining that everything else on the screen works properly. The menu is the only one that seems to be unresponsive.
Users have tried all kinds of workarounds, including turning off Assistive Touch and rebooting phones. However, manually closing all apps on the iPhone and then launching them from the head unit does the trick for me. For example, if the dock freezes when Waze runs on CarPlay, I open the app on the iPhone, close it immediately, causing the CarPlay screen to refresh, and relaunch the app itself.
At that point, everything is back up and running, though it goes without saying it’s not exactly the most convenient workaround, especially if you’re in a rush.
There’s more bad news on this.
Not only that Apple hasn’t acknowledged the problem, but the upcoming iOS 14.5 update, projected to land as soon as this week, doesn’t seem to be making any difference, according to users already running the GM build.
Some say the issue is gone after updating their iPhones, but that is most likely just temporary, as there’s a good chance the menu would freeze once again at some point after connecting the iPhone to the head unit.
Google News