petelp

Many cars either have no skip/prev track controls on the steering wheel, or have controls that don't support CarPlay.

When using Maps in CarPlay without track controls, and when I need to skip forward or back, I've got to leave maps in CarPlay, go to the CarPlay audio app, tap the on screen skip controls until I find the right spot/track in the audio, and then return to maps. (With my eyes off the road and on the screen for way too long). Siri works for this, but IMO its too disruptive. I use the audible app all the time and this is a big deal for me, since I very often need to skip back to catch something I missed.

I found a solution that works perfectly for me: , a bluetooth audio controller.

Here's how it looks in my new brand new Panny (its placed with its sticky pad in the cigarette compartment):

The second photo above shows that the compartment closes completely with the new button there

Here it is on a test drive Panny, with the button placed right below the display

It's really working beautifully. It is battery operated, with no wiring to install, just that little button. The MFR claims the battery will last two years. You just pair it to your iPhone and you're done. They include a steering wheel attachment, if you want to go that way, and a non destructive sticky pad which you can use to attach it to any small flat surface (As in the Photos). It also has a pause button in the center, which is a nice plus, and works well when pausing any audio app I've tried.

You can use it entirely by feel without ever looking at it. Because it talks to your phone, rather than the car's head unit, it should work with any any car, and any head unit. I'm using it with my iPhone XS Max.

Two minor imperfections to note:
1) In order to achieve its long battery life, it automatically goes to sleep about 10 minutes after your last click. The next time you press ANY button on this remote, it wakes up and reconnects with the phone. But that first click after it's sleeping will be ignored by the phone (for its intended purpose). Just wait about a second after that wake-up click, and its ready. At this point you can click as many times as you want, as quickly as you want, and every click works perfectly. To be clear, if for example, you click it once every five minutes, it will never go to sleep.

2) The volume doesn't work with carplay because this remote is controlling the iphone volume, and CarPlay volume is totally independent of iPhone volume. We all have usable volume controls in the car (The Panny steering wheel volume controls DO work with CarPlay) so it's not an issue, but if you want to use this for adding CarPlay volume control to your steering wheel (for cars which don't already have that), this won't do it.

I have to say I'm delighted with little device.

grasmere

petelp

Thanks. Wired. I believe all current Porsche CarPlay implementations are wired. Please correct me if I'm wrong (which I'd love to be)

petelp

Duplicate message deleted by original Poster.

PanHopeful

Thanks! Anyone else using this? Any follow up reviews or experiences?

petelp

I still have it and it still works. No problems. I will say that apple’s iOS 13 update to CarPlay somewhat reduces the need for this device.

CarPlay now allows maps and music controls, combined on the same screen with their dashboard view. I Now use that more than the controller.

nonetheless, I’ve had only good experiences with the device.

PanHopeful

Thanks! I was thinking this also might be convenient to allow Spotify/Apple Music transport control while using the PCM screens and options (other than CarPlay screen).

petelp

It definitely would.

And it would also be valuable for anyone who uses non-apple maps in carplay, such as google or waze, neither of which supported apple's dashboard view (the combo view with maps and audio controls) the last time I checked.

But note one possible problem that just occurred to me. The device may not work when connecting the phone to the car solely as a bluetooth device (ie without the wired carplay connection). I think I had a problem with that once, a along time ago, and haven't tested it since. I had forgotten that when I said "no problems"

if that's a deal breaker for you, let me know, and I'll try to test it again.

PanHopeful

Thanks. That is exactly my use case. I use WAZE through wired CarPlay. Sounds like this will give me transport hard controls in the ashtray regardless of which screen is open on PCM. Which is what I am looking for.

petelp

Based on my experience, it should give you everything you want.

But please read the full first post again to be clear about the wake up delay.

Pete

pokingaround

CarPlay now has the ability to specify which maps/nav app appears in the combo screen.

petelp

I know, absolutely. But as indicated in my post on this, the Map apps that wish to use that capability need to have code written to support it. And I have yet to see any map apps, other than Apple's, for which that has been done, despite the fact that the capability was introduced in iOS 13.4 several months ago. But we can hope.

Alex K.

you can also use apple watch for this purpose.

petelp

Quite true. And I used to do that before before I got the controller we're talking about. It was definitely helpful, but for me personally it was not nearly as convenient as the controller.

petelp

One other suggestion for people who end up buying the controller.

I got some very small clear plastic bumpers and placed one on top of each of the forward and back buttons. This further improved my ability to use it purely by feel.

The clear plastic bumpers are of the kind that are used for cabinet doors to soften the impact when closing the doors. They come with non destructive sticky glue on the back.

get the smallest ones you can find