The-Dream

You need this.

https://carplay2air.com/

TheGreatJ

Looks like a great product and will order it in a heartbeat if it is indeed confirmed that my 992 doesn't support the wireless CarPlay. Although that shouldn't be the case. Even on that product's supported vehicles list it says that Porsche 911s until year 2019 are supported. Whereas 2020 992s should have the wireless CarPlay as a factory option. Thanks for the link anyway! This should be a great product for all 991.2 drivers.

sj24k

i've had zero issues with wireless carplay (February '20 build). easy to set up by myself since my delivery was socially distant. so far, it's worked flawlessly. i have to admit it was one of the tech features i was most looking forward to as my other cars either require wired connection or don't have carplay. that being said, i find myself using the PCM more than carplay these days (which is a surprise to me since i'm kind of an apple fanboy). but the PCM via bluetooth gives me easy access to all my music content and playlists on my iphone as well as siriusxm, and with the exception of Waze and an occasional podcast, there's not really anything I need or want carplay for. ordinarily i would choose a wired connection to a source with lossless files for the best sound quality, but this system (Bose) isn't really audiophile quality anyway, and I like the sound of the engine. so i'm content with the bluetooth PCM connection in this car. but i am happy to have wireless carplay when i want it. good luck to those out there experiencing issues.

TheGreatJ

Went to show the car to the dealer yesterday (again). Unsurprisingly they had no clue what to do or what was wrong. They extracted all the data from the car and told me that they would investigate and get back. Although I am not sure if it's going to bring any help to the fact that either the PCM needs to be replaced or the entire software reinstalled. Let's see... (I have another booking coming at their workshop next week for the two other most recent call-backs). I've also contacted Porsche Connect Hotline in this matter via email plus tried calling and left a call-back request. Haven't heard anything back for a couple of days now. I would agree that everybody having problems with the wireless CarPlay connectivity should demand their dealers to investigate as it seems that Porsche is unaware of the magnitude and widespreadness of the problem. Perhaps this way we can get a call-back for this issue as well!

Btw, whilst doing a roughly 1 500 km car trip over the last weekend I found nice use for the simultaneous utilization of CarPlay (namely Waze) and Porsche's own navigation software. I had Waze open on the big screen warning me about traffic cameras which there were plenty on the roads I was driving and PCM's navigation map giving guidance on the small screen and calculating the best possible route options in real time (which tends to work quite well in my opinion). I hadn't even realized before this simultaneous use was possible. Became quite handy as there were quite a few major traffic jams as well!

Patriot

Same here. Those with issues, I hope your dealer sorts them out.

jcbeckman

I have one of these that I was going to use in my Cadillac XT5, but it's very finicky. One time it hooks right up, other times it takes a few minutes. Didn't have much better luck in the Panamera. I didn't try it in the 992 because my wireless work OK.

TheGreatJ

Does anybody have a functional wireless CarPlay whose car has been manufactured before the week 25 of 2019?

I am getting totally contradictory information regarding the issue depending on who I am asking.

The official Porsche Connect Hotline told me that wireless CarPlay should work in all 992s and to contact my dealer to help with the issue of missing WiFi frequency.

My dealer had first no clue but then "investigated" the matter and told me that any 992 manufactured before the week 25 of 2019 would be missing an option/equipment that enables the wireless CarPlay. When I asked them what was this mystical option/equipment as the car basically has all the necessary tech and software to enable wireless CarPlay, they just replied: "no clue". What, wait? Can't you even try to investigate further to help me?

It became also obvious that they have absolutely no basic knowledge at all how the PCM works in general and must have thought that I was speaking in tongues when I started explaining them how different WiFi frequencies and apps work when utilizing them etc.. ( I have a M.Sc. in Technology, majored in software and telecommunications, not to brag but to verify that I know at least a quantum about the subject.) I am trying to be polite with them but one just can't accept an answer that basically explicitly states: "we don't know and truthfully, we don't care either. We're definitely not willing to investigate any further to help you as a customer". What the heck is wrong with these dealers nowadays? I've got so many examples of similar cases recently....

jfr0317

My 992 C2S was manufactured in May 2019, and it has functioning wireless Apple CarPlay. The car sat awaiting emissions certification until being delivered to the dealer in October 2019, and I took delivery in January 2020.

TheGreatJ

Thank you very much, jfr0317! This is a very important data point to me as my C2S too, in fact, was manufactured in May 2019. I wonder what's the purpose of the dealer telling this BS....

jfr0317

Here are photos of the version information on my car. It completed production May 7, 2019. Hopefully, this will hellp with your discussions with your dealer and Porsche AG.

TheGreatJ

Many thanks, John!

I just did the comparison, it seems that the differences in our software are in the obvious location dependent sections. I can't see anything major, other than the Media Driver and Gracenote version numbers varying a little. I'm still inclined to think that I might have a hardware related issue.. See pics of mine for reference:

fstezaws

I have a Feb 2019 build (Market Launch Vehicle) and wireless CarPlay works just fine. Not sure if there are other features that were part of this, but it synced up perfectly.

TheGreatJ

Thanks for sharing this, @fstezaws ! Based on my extensive (and exhausting) investigations on the issue and what people have been sharing on this forum, it seems that in the U.S. all the builds, regardless of them being early or not, have been included with the wireless CarPlay option. So far, based on the feedback what I've heard from other car owners, the missing wireless CarPlay functionality seems to concern only people and cars here in Europe.

I've also continued communications with my dealer and Porsche's Connect Support people and none of them have been able to confirm me definitively, whether the wireless functionality should indeed be included in all 992s, and should there, or should there not, be some early builds that are, in fact, missing it. All of this is very confusing... I cannot understand why Porsche cannot give us a straight answer. During this exercise, I've heard so many ridiculous explanations (both from the dealer, as well as directly from the Wolf's Lair) that are total nonsense and as a result, I don't know what to believe anymore. As a consequence, my Infotainment unit has now been exchanged already once, and it's due for another change as soon as the local dealership is able to get one into their hands from Porsche. The first exchange didn't fix any of the problems my unit was experiencing, let alone the annoying the wireless CarPlay mystery. (Apparently, they first switched my former unit into an old version that was suffering from exactly the same issues as my original unit. Yeah, makes a lot of sense to me as well!

Currently, the new unit is on back order, which is again a bit strange... How could Porsche not have any replacement units available (or at least information when to get one) for its newest 911 that's already been out on the market for a few years now here in Europe for such a long time period (over a month now)? Yes, this covid-BS is still here but it really shouldn't have that big of an effect anymore on items that are a part of every single build that comes out from the production line.

I've asked Porsche multiple times dead straight, whether my car is supposed to have the dual WiFi SSIDs (2,4 and 5 GHzs) or not, which (based on my investigations) seems to be, not just technically essential for the wireless functionality to exist, but the most evident sign of its existence in the car in the first place, and have yet to receive an answer. Why is it so damn difficult, Porsche??

P.S. I got twice an "official" explanation from Porsche for my other issue that was that my car had lost its connectivity totally through its embedded sim card (stopped receiving any kind of Internet access whatsoever, crucial for accessing the Porsche Connect profile for example, even though the car had had it in the past). The explanation was that my country was the sole European country that was left out from the list of supported countries for the Internet access through the embedded sim card and this was caused by the local telcos here not cooperating with the German equivalents. (I called BS as soon as I heard it knowing for fact quite a bit about the close rapports of our countries' telcos...) Well...after I finally got a decent guy (who for once called me back after he had promised to do so) at the other end of the telephone through the Porsche Connect Hotline, he had their technicians perform a reboot etc. on the server end () and as magically as they had come up with excuses to explain, why I was suffering from the lack of connectivity in the first place, my issue was completely resolved in a matter of minutes. As if the car had never had any problems whatsoever! What the F..? PORSCHE: WHY ARE YOU LYING TO YOUR CUSTOMERS?!?

Noah Fect

I think you indirectly answered your own question. Porsche didn't insist on proper support from their own OEM, so they have little choice but to handle customer complaints by swapping out the entire infotainment system. Even when it's perfectly obvious to anyone with a room-temperature IQ that it's not a hardware problem.

As a result, when someone does need a replacement unit, there are none to be found.
I don't think they're actively lying, they're just clueless. If you buy a car from Pioneer or Kenwood or Apple, you'll get similarly-worthless advice if you ask them how to diagnose a misfire.

At the end of the day, Porsche doesn't know any more about what they're selling than their dealers do, or in many cases, the end customers. They're not an automaker anymore, they're a systems integrator.

TheGreatJ

Good point and agree. However, one could expect them to keep at least some kind of a small surplus interim storage etc. on the production line that could also be used to serve purposes such as this, should similar issues not be very common.


With lying, I was referring to the part, where they told me that the car's sudden lack of internet access failure was due to it not supposed to have an embedded sim card with Internet connectivity in the first place, when in reality, they just were not willing to dig deeper to figure out the real reason behind the failure. Of course they knew that all of their cars are supposed to have Internet connectivity within the EU. The excuse was supported with obvious made-up stories and documentary. Any European can understand the level or ridiculousness, when someone states that the one European country that basically invented mobile networks would refuse to cooperate with their German telco counterparts to allow such a curiosity as basic 3G/4G/LTE Internet access for all modern Porsche cars. Something that is a standard operating procedure for any other car brand/manufacturer, even in our country, although we do have Polar Bears roaming freely on our streets. At the same time, and in real life, just recently, these same telcos somehow, superhumanly, have been able to pull through a free roaming agreement throughout the entire European Union. Not forgetting that a great majority of Porsche cars do, in fact, perform their rigorous winter testing in our ultra-modern, secret test track facilities in the Lapland, where they magically continue to stay connected via the means of mobile Internet and keep feeding Porsche servers in Germany with uninterrupted flow of test data. Very interesting indeed..