Photo: vwcc_est on Instagram
Apple’s CarPlay is generally considered more reliable than Android Auto, but unsurprisingly, bugs happen here as well, and very often, they’re even more confusing than on Google’s platforms.
This is the case of a problem that’s still yet to get a fix and that apparently causes the region settings on the iPhone to change all by themselves when CarPlay is activated.
More specifically, users on Apple’s forums claim that when connecting their iPhone to the car, the region settings are automatically switched to the United States, no matter what country they live in and what iPhone model they use.
This behavior was first reported in iOS 13.2.3 back in late December, but according to user reports, it still happens in the very latest stable version of the operating system. So even if you’re running iOS 13.4, your region settings could still end up switching to a different country silently when CarPlay activates.
The switch to the United States region doesn’t come alone, as some also report various other issues, including the iPhone getting warmer than usual. And because the U.S. region settings are activated, other apps that are exclusively available in this market also show up on the iPhone, such as the News app.
“I have the same problem in Denmark, also on iPhone 7 - when connecting to CarPlay, region and language changes and iPhone gets hot. Sometimes I also gets the News app that doesn't work in Denmark. I'm running 13.4.1,” one user explains on Apple’s forums.
Is there anything you can do about this issue? Not really, as this is actually the big difference between CarPlay and Android Auto. While Google’s users can turn to generic workarounds like clearing the cache and data of Android Auto, this thing isn’t possible on the iPhone given Apple’s walled garden and CarPlay offered as a native application bundled with iOS at OS level.
More specifically, users on Apple’s forums claim that when connecting their iPhone to the car, the region settings are automatically switched to the United States, no matter what country they live in and what iPhone model they use.
This behavior was first reported in iOS 13.2.3 back in late December, but according to user reports, it still happens in the very latest stable version of the operating system. So even if you’re running iOS 13.4, your region settings could still end up switching to a different country silently when CarPlay activates.
The switch to the United States region doesn’t come alone, as some also report various other issues, including the iPhone getting warmer than usual. And because the U.S. region settings are activated, other apps that are exclusively available in this market also show up on the iPhone, such as the News app.
“I have the same problem in Denmark, also on iPhone 7 - when connecting to CarPlay, region and language changes and iPhone gets hot. Sometimes I also gets the News app that doesn't work in Denmark. I'm running 13.4.1,” one user explains on Apple’s forums.
Is there anything you can do about this issue? Not really, as this is actually the big difference between CarPlay and Android Auto. While Google’s users can turn to generic workarounds like clearing the cache and data of Android Auto, this thing isn’t possible on the iPhone given Apple’s walled garden and CarPlay offered as a native application bundled with iOS at OS level.
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