Apple CarPlay connection issues

[Perry3]

I had similar issues at first with CarPlay hit and miss, but I changed the cable which is a spare(not a genuine Apple cable) and it’s been perfect since ( iPhone 12 ProMax)

Yup that’s done the trick. £6.99 from B&M… this car baffles me sometimes haha.

 

[Driver 13]

I’ve had mine in to MG three times, multiple cables (apple and others work in other cars and on my PC) sadly no matter what combination unless I “re-boot” the car they don’t work and then only for a day or two. I’ve noticed we all seem to focused around the cable being this issue, but the fact that I would say i can use the same cables on a PC to pass data to and from my pc would highlight an issue with the software on the MG. MG have also been unable to upgrade all of the relevant software on the car after three attempts!?!?

 

[Diggsy]

I’ve had mine in to MG three times, multiple cables (apple and others work in other cars and on my PC) sadly no matter what combination unless I “re-boot” the car they don’t work and then only for a day or two. I’ve noticed we all seem to focused around the cable being this issue, but the fact that I would say i can use the same cables on a PC to pass data to and from my pc would highlight an issue with the software on the MG. MG have also been unable to upgrade all of the relevant software on the car after three attempts!?!?

Can you check the port with something that plugs in and has a led light on it so you can see if it stays connected or not? Wondering if the actual USB port in the car is faulty, or has a dodgy connection…

 

[Tig170]

Mine has suffered with this, since oct 2022, was resolved by getting a short 1ft MFi cable, plus taking it to an apple shop to get the connector cleaned out of fluff (but dont watch how they do it!), once in a while it fails to connect now, but think its to do with face ID / screen on when connected, but 9 times out of 10 I pull out of pocket, and plug in, and it boots to the carplay screen. If the radio isn't on, a simple click on the star button on the right of the steering wheel bring up the radio screen, and the left star button brings back up carplay.

 

[OJEastwood]

I've used this cable and it's been faultless, which is hopefully of help

 

[EVDANG]

Hi, as @Tig170 suggested, i've been using face unlock and also waiting to hear the main dong when the car's system boots up before plugging in my non-apple cable to connect my iPhone 13. It doesn't work 100% of the time but it's the most reliable process I've found - working about 90% of the time. A big improvement

 

[cherielikethefruit]

I got my mg4 trophy last week and have followed the wired in apple car play but for some reason it doesn’t pick up my phone to make calls, voice reply to texts or anything - any clues how to resolve?

 

[EVDANG]

I got my mg4 trophy last week and have followed the wired in apple car play but for some reason it doesn’t pick up my phone to make calls, voice reply to texts or anything - any clues how to resolve?

A couple of quick suggestions:
Have you tried a different cable? It seems a bit random which work & which don't - with the non-apple ones seeming to be better.
Have you got your phone set so that CarPlay can use it whilst locked?

 

[cherielikethefruit]

A couple of quick suggestions:
Have you tried a different cable? It seems a bit random which work & which don't - with the non-apple ones seeming to be better.
Have you got your phone set so that CarPlay can use it whilst locked?

I shall try another cable. I’ve sorted the settings, just all so odd and annoying!

 

[Tig170]

I shall try another cable. I’ve sorted the settings, just all so odd and annoying!

get an MFi Certified iPhone Charger Cable , loads of trouble beforehand, non since (aside from some fluff in the connector)

 

[cherielikethefruit]

get an MFi Certified iPhone Charger Cable , loads of trouble beforehand, non since (aside from some fluff in the connector)

It worked! Thanks for the help. Who knew the 2 cables I tried could be fine for everything until I got this car!

 

[SD43]

Just to add my similar experience; I had the same issues with an Anker cable, swapped it for a genuine Apple one and haven’t had an issue since.

 

[sinhaEVnoob]

Just adding my experience. My iPhone 14 no longer boots up CarPlay on connection to my MG ZS LR. It worked faultlessly for months before. Have tried a range of new cables and all the points listed above.

My wife has IPhone SE and CarPlay works like a dream for her and for my kids who also have iPhones.

It’s not the car. Or the cable. It is related to the phone.

 

[Georgie]

I tried for months to get a stable reliable Carplay connection via the cable for my MG5 Trophy FL.

I tried to change connection order (car/phone) / restart phone/car/infotainment, switch off wifi on the phone and s.o. I suspected mobile network coverage as the car E-SIM might switch the roaming network and interrupt the authorisation.
All attempts worked only temporarily and were prone to disconnect randomly during driving. Also some of the apps like Electroverse were impossible to use (unresponsive) via Carplay even when other apps were working.
I used all sorts of brand new certified or Apple genuine cables. It was disconnecting randomly at the lightest touch of the phone or cable.
All these cables were 90cm(3ft) or longer and high quality. I knew cables were mechanically sound and electrically compliant.

For the last few weeks I replaced the cable with a short one (50cm). It works 100% as it is supposed to work. I connect and disconnect every day at least 6-8 times. Every time is working flawlessly and instantly. This one is a Baseus braided cable. I got from them various even longer USB A to Iphone / USB-C Iphone cables and they all proved compliant, reliable and resilient.

I had it from a pack bought few years back from Ebay and the short one I never used it until now.

Baseus Type C USB Fast Charger Cable Universal Data Cord Lead For iPhone Samsung | eBay

[ What You Get ]: We provide Premium Nylon-Braided USB Type C Cable, During the use of our products, if you have any questions or dissatisfaction, please contact our customer support team, and we will serve you wholeheartedly.[ 3A Fast Charging and Sync ]: 3A Fast Charge, Transfer speed up to...

www.ebay.co.uk

My explanation/conclusion is that the USB port for Carplay/AA is incorrectly designed for longer cables. It either doesn't deliver enough power or it's interfered from the car electronics.
For those that consider is the phone issue I suggest to try it in a different car (non-MG). As I rented several different cars (Nissan/VW/Mazda) with Carplay support and it worked perfectly I am confident that the fault is entirely with MG implementation.
I do not have a wireless carplay dongle but I would think with a short cable between the car USB-A port and dongle the Carplay experience will also be consistenly reliable.

 

[Mr Fibb]

I'm another MG4 Trophy owner with the same CarPlay issues. Works about 10% of the time and even then, will drop out after a while anyway. Lots of different cables, adapters, cleaning and wiggling (the connectors!) tried but nothing helps. Also tried my son's iphone, daughter's iphone, wife's iphone. All the same issue. Thinking it's probably the car at fault! I really want this fixed as I can't really stand the default MG GUI, I much prefer the usability of the CarPlay interface.

I tried for months to get a stable reliable Carplay connection via the cable for my MG5 Trophy FL.

I tried to change connection order (car/phone) / restart phone/car/infotainment, switch off wifi on the phone and s.o. I suspected mobile network coverage as the car E-SIM might switch the roaming network and interrupt the authorisation.
All attempts worked only temporarily and were prone to disconnect randomly during driving. Also some of the apps like Electroverse were impossible to use (unresponsive) via Carplay even when other apps were working.
I used all sorts of brand new certified or Apple genuine cables. It was disconnecting randomly at the lightest touch of the phone or cable.
All these cables were 90cm(3ft) or longer and high quality. I knew cables were mechanically sound and electrically compliant.

For the last few weeks I replaced the cable with a short one (50cm). It works 100% as it is supposed to work. I connect and disconnect every day at least 6-8 times. Every time is working flawlessly and instantly. This one is a Baseus braided cable. I got from them various even longer USB A to Iphone / USB-C Iphone cables and they all proved compliant, reliable and resilient.

I had it from a pack bought few years back from Ebay and the short one I never used it until now.

Baseus Type C USB Fast Charger Cable Universal Data Cord Lead For iPhone Samsung | eBay

[ What You Get ]: We provide Premium Nylon-Braided USB Type C Cable, During the use of our products, if you have any questions or dissatisfaction, please contact our customer support team, and we will serve you wholeheartedly.[ 3A Fast Charging and Sync ]: 3A Fast Charge, Transfer speed up to...

www.ebay.co.uk

My explanation/conclusion is that the USB port for Carplay/AA is incorrectly designed for longer cables. It either doesn't deliver enough power or it's interfered from the car electronics.
For those that consider is the phone issue I suggest to try it in a different car (non-MG). As I rented several different cars (Nissan/VW/Mazda) with Carplay support and it worked perfectly I am confident that the fault is entirely with MG implementation.
I do not have a wireless carplay dongle but I would think with a short cable between the car USB-A port and dongle the Carplay experience will also be consistenly reliable.

This sounds interesting, but I'm soooooo reluctant to buy ANOTHER cable! Thanks for the post though

 

[Grriff]

I know you said you've tried different cables but are they high speed? That is they do not have a white plastic insert in the USB plug.

 

[Mr Fibb]

I know you said you've tried different cables but are they high speed? That is they do not have a white plastic insert in the USB plug.

At least some of them were brand new genuine Apple iPhone cables (bundled with the phone). Are those high speed? I know they don't have the blue plastic insert.

 

[Georgie]

I know you said you've tried different cables but are they high speed? That is they do not have a white plastic insert in the USB plug.

I realised there is another point not dealt with - the USB interface speed.
According to Texas Instruments (TI) the lighting cable for Iphone supports USB2.0. i.e. 480 Mbps.
All genuine Iphone cables I've seen/used are with white inserts which confirm TI statement.

My Baseus USB-A to Iphone lighting cable 0.5m has black inserts which if it follows the convention is also USB2.0.
Here is a nice webpage that shows some USB conventions:

Know Your USB: A Practical Guide to the Universal Serial Bus

Become a USB expert with our comprehensive guide.

juicedsystems.com

A reference for Carplay interface from TI and challenges for long cables:

https://www.ti.com/lit/ml/slyp675/slyp675.pdf?ts=1704568814391&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252F

Inside the TI doc there is another useful link.
https://www.ti.com/lit/an/slvaeq2/slvaeq2.pdf?&ts=1589098829411

I understand that not everybody is comfortable with the specifics described by TI.
So in short from the TI document:
There are strict specs from Apple related to voltage /current behaviour on the interface.
There are challenges with longer cables as they degrade the signal quality. I interpret this as being longer than 0.3m.
In order to mitigate this issue appropriate design measures should be taken by the USB hub supplier.

So a USB2.0 compliant MFI cable and short (i.e. less than 0.5 meters) should work. Anything longer just exposes the problems from MG implementation of the USB hub.

 

[Ori]

I realised there is another point not dealt with - the USB interface speed.
According to Texas Instruments (TI) the lighting cable for Iphone supports USB2.0. i.e. 480 Mbps.
All genuine Iphone cables I've seen/used are with white inserts which confirm TI statement.

My Baseus USB-A to Iphone lighting cable 0.5m has black inserts which if it follows the convention is also USB2.0.
Here is a nice webpage that shows some USB conventions:

Know Your USB: A Practical Guide to the Universal Serial Bus

Become a USB expert with our comprehensive guide.

juicedsystems.com

A reference for Carplay interface from TI and challenges for long cables:

https://www.ti.com/lit/ml/slyp675/slyp675.pdf?ts=1704568814391&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252F

Inside the TI doc there is another useful link.
https://www.ti.com/lit/an/slvaeq2/slvaeq2.pdf?&ts=1589098829411

I understand that not everybody is comfortable with the specifics described by TI.
So in short from the TI document:
There are strict specs from Apple related to voltage /current behaviour on the interface.
There are challenges with longer cables as they degrade the signal quality. I interpret this as being longer than 0.3m.
In order to mitigate this issue appropriate design measures should be taken by the USB hub supplier.

So a USB2.0 compliant MFI cable and short (i.e. less than 0.5 meters) should work. Anything longer just exposes the problems from MG implementation of the USB hub.

I tried few cables genius and not at the MG4 and sometimes it’s work perfectly and sometimes not I also tried to connect and use Face ID and etc. I tried everything and I still don’t know how should I connect it to work every time. With my last car (seat Ibiza) I never had that problem also my parents have skids enyc which has CarPlay but using Type c cable and it works perfect with the same phone.
Today I use the carlink 5.0 which is not works perfectly some times it’s take a while to connect but it’s automatic trying until it does so..
Also i didn’t find 1 answer that works for all for each one something else works so I really think there is a problem with hardware I agree with the length of the cable but how it can be that in all the cars that I tried every cable works great but in the mg…

 

[Georgie]

I realised there is another point not dealt with - the USB interface speed.
According to Texas Instruments (TI) the lighting cable for Iphone supports USB2.0. i.e. 480 Mbps.
All genuine Iphone cables I've seen/used are with white inserts which confirm TI statement.

My Baseus USB-A to Iphone lighting cable 0.5m has black inserts which if it follows the convention is also USB2.0.
Here is a nice webpage that shows some USB conventions:

Know Your USB: A Practical Guide to the Universal Serial Bus

Become a USB expert with our comprehensive guide.

juicedsystems.com

A reference for Carplay interface from TI and challenges for long cables:

https://www.ti.com/lit/ml/slyp675/slyp675.pdf?ts=1704568814391&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252F

Inside the TI doc there is another useful link.
https://www.ti.com/lit/an/slvaeq2/slvaeq2.pdf?&ts=1589098829411

I understand that not everybody is comfortable with the specifics described by TI.
So in short from the TI document:
There are strict specs from Apple related to voltage /current behaviour on the interface.
There are challenges with longer cables as they degrade the signal quality. I interpret this as being longer than 0.3m.
In order to mitigate this issue appropriate design measures should be taken by the USB hub supplier.

So a USB2.0 compliant MFI cable and short (i.e. less than 0.5 meters) should work. Anything longer just exposes the problems from MG implementation of the USB hub.

Has anyone tried the shorter (less than 0.5m) USB Mfi cable to Iphone to confirm if Carplay it's stable 100% in their MG 5/ MG4? Mine is still 100% working.