App-Connect

[kennyc]

Hi all,

Haven't been on here for a while so if this has been asked or answered then please point me in the right direction.
Does anyone have app-connect, is it good? I'm booked in for a service next month as was thinking of asking the dealership if I am able to purchase an app-connect system. Does anyone have a 2014 Golf/GTI and upgraded to app-connect?
I called VW Australia last last year and enquired about it and they said that they don't allow upgrades any you need to purchase a new car!
I'm going to ask the dealership directly and see what they say, just curious if anyone has done the same.

Thanks

[readerr0r]

Completely new headunit i'm afraid. People can retro fit them, you get a bigger, better quality screen as a bonus, but it costs about $2K or so.

[kennyc]

Completely new headunit i'm afraid. People can retro fit them, you get a bigger, better quality screen as a bonus, but it costs about $2K or so.

Yeah, I'm aware it's a new head unit and am willing to pay, but i want the dealership to do it. But so far, according to VWA, they won't.

[colch]

I wouldn't spend 2k just to get the feature as it is now. At least wait until the wireless versions are prevelant. The thing I find annoying is you have to plug it in and go through the menu and even prompts on the phone to get it to work. It should work like Bluetooth - hop in the car, press media and away you go.


Can't comment on Apple Carplay but Android Auto is quite flakey. I tried a few phones and all had issues. My LG G3 only worked after updating to 6.0 even though 5+ is supported. Even then is still fails connection a lot of times and I've tried several cables etc.


When it works...the best bits are the voice and maps. It integrates with the voice button on the steering wheel and since google maps have heaps of POI's you can say something like "Navigate to Westfield XXX" or "Navigate me to Supercheapauto, Suburb" and it can get the address. You can also kick off Music via voice like "Play Coldplay" or "Play Track XXX" and it shows nice album art on the screen.


One annoying thing is if your navigating then this replaces the map with music and you have to switch back manually by touching.


Most of the other features I've tried are pretty light on...I got it to read and send SMS messages a few times but it was a bit hit and miss. Whatsapp integration is poor and Spotify is supported but I don't have to enough data to stream whilst driving so haven't tested. On a whole it still feels very "beta" like. A lot of commands I've tried come back as unsupported or "I'm sorry I can't do that yet".


So overall I hardly use it. That may change as the product/app matures.

[kennyc]

Thanks colch. Look like I'll leave it then. It looks good in the videos and stuff but I have never tried it.
So if you have navigation on and you are listening to music, you can't have the maps displayed and the music playing in the background?

[Peteintas]

Might be worth talking to Martin at Euro Car Upgrades, Home page he can walk you through the retrofit options.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[colch]

So if you have navigation on and you are listening to music, you can't have the maps displayed and the music playing in the background?

You can...what i meant was if you have maps on and say "play xxx" it switches to the audio "tab" (instead of maps) - but you can still hear the nav instructions going on in the background. You "tab" back to maps by pressing on screen - the audio will continue. Just a little annoying if your using maps and constantly changing songs...

[kennyc]

So I had a hire car after taking my car in for service. The hire car had App-connect. What I didn't know is that app-connect is just a feature in the head unit. It still has the standard maps, radio, phone etc but there is a section for app-connect where you can use your phone. It ain't too bad.
I asked the dealership if I can buy it but they said no at this stage as the head units are all modular but the connections are all different. Also the head units are all locked to the vin of the car at production and features cannot be unlocked.
He did say that i can buy it online somewhere (where all the features are already unlocked) and they can install it for me. But for over 3k all up, probably not worth it.

[kaiserky]

Still playing with carplay - not sure that it's worth the hassle.

Ky

[sillygogo]

tried out carplay and android auto on our golf. Don't really think it is worth it if you need to spend $2k. We don't have a large data plan so alot of things are out. Some of the uses are : Navigation, stream music, voice search etc.

Navigation: small delays, if you have inbuilt navigation then update your vw maps, done. No need to pay for data on your phone or have slow response where mobile data speed is low.

Stream music: Just use the apps on your phone and connect to the Aux port of the car, same result.

Voice search and call: use Siri or Okay google on your phone and bluetooth the call.

Voice command, just use Siri or Okay google on the phone. This could mean having the phone nearby.

We had the Carplay features on our and we rarely use it.