Morning all. I picked up my new to me 2018 Octavia estate SE technology on Monday. It is a massive upgrade from my 2009 C4.

I’m looking for a dongle for using apple CarPlay wireless. The cable connection works fine but I’d rather not have wires where a wireless solution is available. Have any of you used/got a dongle that works? What would you recommend?

There's a few available on AliExpress - cheaper than Amazon.

Have a look at this thread (there are others)

Edited 21 August, 202521 Aug by Cakemonster
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I went down this rabbit hole a while ago, and ended up buying 5 or 6 different ones off of Amazon and AliExpress and testing each one for a couple of weeks.

Loads of them are super janky, with connection issues nearly every use. Some advertise features that they don't actually support.

I used a Carlinkit 5.0 for quite a while, and while it was mostly fine I found that responsiveness was slow and sometimes it didn't connect/start up properly. If you order a Carlinkit, order from a well reviewed store on AliExpress as it's much cheaper than off Amazon or their website.

I tested:

• Carlinkit 5.0 2air

• Carlinkit 5.0 SE Pro

• Carlinkit Mini Ultra

The 5.0 was fine? It worked, but had connection issues occasionally. The Mini SE was essentially exactly the same performance. I'd avoid the Mini Ultra. It regularly disconnected, and was just unreliable overall. They do all have GPS passthrough though, which is a plus.

Again, if you want to buy a Carlinkit buy from AliExpress as they're considerably cheaper (eg Carlinkit 5.0 2air on Amazon is £42, on AliExpress is £22). Just make sure you check the reviews of the seller before buying.

I settled on this one from a company called Sunweyer - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CTCX67F7 - it isn't amazingly well reviewed on Amazon but it's consistently connected every time I've gotten into the car and seems responsive overall. A small positive is that it's a bit smaller, so you don't have a cable hanging either. It's also the best one I've used overall.

I also tried:

• MSXTTLY

• MMB Wireless Adapter

• ByteWave Wireless CarPlay

Personally I'd avoid these three, they don't have GPS passthrough which is a key feature I wanted. This means it uses the cars GPS instead of the phone, which saves on battery over longer journeys and means it's usually aligned with the direction of travel from the beginning.

I've been using this wireless CarPlay adapter for 6 years and found it 100% reliable.

https://a.aliexpress.com/_EJKlhEE

This is perfect. I have been using the android auto version for over a year and 0 problems

I've had a couple off ali express and had no issues other than every once in a while they seem to stop connecting to the phone so I go through the process to update the firmware on the device and they work again. It appears to be constantly checking for new firmware and stop working when one is released, or that's the only reason I can think for what happens

The one I use can't check for firmware updates as it has to be done by PC, it does not have OTA Update.

If the searche can be an issue, maybe that is why it runs well.