Wireless CarPlay functionality is not globally available (disabled in my country)

[marscosta]

So after having a Leon 2020 for over 2 months, having chosen it, in part, due to the Wireless CarPlay capabilities (which I would use daily), and having struggled to get it to work for the last months (followed the manual, tried to get help online, etc.) I finally contacted Seat for some assistance in getting it solved, only to find out that the feature is not available in my country, and they don't have an estimation of when it will be...

So, ignoring the obvious issue of having a feature widely advertised that is in reality unavailable, and the false publicity (which I'm currently insisting on with Seat), the next point in my mind is if it's possible to force Wireless CarPlay somehow? As in, I know there's ODB modifications, maybe other software modifications, so would it be possible to work around this country-specific block somehow?

My iPhone actually immediately tries to connect by Wireless CarPlay when I turn on the car (even the Seat software sometimes bugs out and shows Apple Carplay green button in the dashboard in this situation -- only to disappear after I try to touch it...), so I'm sure it's just software toggle somewhere.

Any ideas ? Or I'm thinking way outside the box on this one ?

 

[FalconTech]

Following the reports of Wireless CarPlay in my country, I came to the conclusion:
- Seat is lying about the lack of availability in the country.
- Apple denies restricting CarPlay functionality for certain regions.

It works in Skoda, VW works, in some León demos it works, in some users with a lower version of the infotainmen package (L or M) it works.

 

[Deleted member 123864]

Following the reports of Wireless CarPlay in my country, I came to the conclusion:
- Seat is lying about the lack of availability in the country.
- Apple denies restricting CarPlay functionality for certain regions.

It works in Skoda, VW works, in some León demos it works, in some users with a lower version of the infotainmen package (L or M) it works.

Apple is pretty upfront about restrictions on CarPlay in certain countries. https://www.apple.com/ie/ios/feature-availability/#apple-carplay

 

[FalconTech]

Apple is pretty upfront about restrictions on CarPlay in certain countries. https://www.apple.com/ie/ios/feature-availability/#apple-carplay

This list is strictly correlated to Siri availability. It has nothing to do with the use of CarPlay and its limitations.

 

[marscosta]

Apple is pretty upfront about restrictions on CarPlay in certain countries. https://www.apple.com/ie/ios/feature-availability/#apple-carplay

Wait what! My country is actually not listed in the "Apple CarPlay "section... But I've been using Wired CarPlay for almost 4 years (first in a Renault Megane, and now in the Seat Leon). To be clear, Wired CarPlay always worked perfectly. So does that list mean it shouldn't ? Or does it apply only to Wireless CarPlay ?? Now I'm confused...

This list is strictly correlated to Siri availability. It has nothing to do with the use of CarPlay and its limitations.

It does not actually, there are several sections on the page, one of them for Siri but others as well, including CarPlay. Also, in any case, I've been using Siri for years in my iPhone and Wired CarPlay without any issues...

Following the reports of Wireless CarPlay in my country, I came to the conclusion:
- Seat is lying about the lack of availability in the country.
- Apple denies restricting CarPlay functionality for certain regions.

It works in Skoda, VW works, in some León demos it works, in some users with a lower version of the infotainmen package (L or M) it works.

So is there something we can do? If the official brand states it's not available, I guess there is not much we can do besides getting irrefutable proof and asking them for an explanation...

 

[FalconTech]

Also, in any case, I've been using Siri for years in my iPhone and Wired CarPlay without any issues...

Me too.
But do you use it in your native language or another?
I use Siri in English in an unlisted country and not in my native language. For this reason, HomePod is also unavailable in my country because Siri is not available in my language. Nevertheless, I've been using it successfully.

During the test drive, I connected the iPhone, the phone asked if I wanted to connect wirelessly. But that's it, nothing else happened, he never asked again.
In my car, he never asked. The dealer says it's matter an update and we have to wait.

Make sure BT is active on your iPhone. Then you can connect your iPhone to the Infotainment system and use it wirelessly via Apple Car Play. For safety reasons, don't operate the mobile device while driving.

As you can see it works.

 

[Vangel87]

Anything new regarding car play? I contacted Seat and they told me that wireless car play is blocked by Apple in Poland. Obvious lie because it works in other brands like Skoda

 

[AndyRBL]

wireless apple car play works in Romania but not for Seat/Cupra. On DACIA, VW, AUDI it works. I'm confronted with the same problem with my Cupra Formentor. Has wireless carplay, but not in Romania. Poland i think is restricted as well. idk why

 

[Vangel87]

wireless apple car play works in Romania but not for Seat/Cupra. On DACIA, VW, AUDI it works. I'm confronted with the same problem with my Cupra Formentor. Has wireless carplay, but not in Romania. Poland i think is restricted as well. idk why

We should start some sort of petition for unlocking this feature, it's probably some oversight of our local Seat branches.

 

[AndyRBL]

We should start some sort of petition for unlocking this feature, it's probably some oversight of our local Seat branches.

I tried. I've sent e-mails. I've talked to the local dealer. No one cares. Dacia owned by Renault with the 10k euro cars has it and Cupra owned by VW in a 50k doesn't. It's pathetic. I'm more upset about the fact that no matter the country, we pay the same price for these features and some have it, some don't.

 

[ethano]

Same issue here with 07/21 Cupra Formentor VZ in Czech Republic, totally frustrated. Got an official statement from Seat/Cupra HQ it's a HW issue which won't be fixed by any future update. I'm about to contact our local authorities to investigate that there are products with different quality on different EU markets.

 

[Maypack]

Same issue here with 07/21 Cupra Formentor VZ in Czech Republic, totally frustrated. Got an official statement from Seat/Cupra HQ it's a HW issue which won't be fixed by any future update. I'm about to contact our local authorities to investigate that there are products with different quality on different EU markets.

The HW on your car will be the same for any LHD Formentor built for mainland Europe so if it doesn’t work for you it shouldn’t work for anyone in mainland Europe.

As others in mainland Europe can use Wireless CarPlay and you can’t it seems to me that it’s more to do with the country and Apple.

The HW isn’t changed on vehicles dependant on which country they are built for. So again It’s got to be something to do with the country and Apple.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[AndyRBL]

The HW on your car will be the same for any LHD Formentor built for mainland Europe so if it doesn’t work for you it shouldn’t work for anyone in mainland Europe.

As others in mainland Europe can use Wireless CarPlay and you can’t it seems to me that it’s more to do with the country and Apple.

The HW isn’t changed on vehicles dependant on which country they are built for. So again It’s got to be something to do with the country and Apple.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It doesn’t have to do anything with the cou try because other cars from the vw group (vw, skoda, audi) in those countries can use wireless apple carplay. I don’t know what exactly is the problem and no one wants to give me a straight answer

 

[Maypack]

It doesn’t have to do anything with the cou try because other cars from the vw group (vw, skoda, audi) in those countries can use wireless apple carplay. I don’t know what exactly is the problem and no one wants to give me a straight answer

But obviously Seat/Cupra don’t get to use Wireless Apple CarPlay in certain countries so it does have something to do with the country in relation to the Vehicle Marque.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[xeizo]

But obviously Seat/Cupra don’t get to use Wireless Apple CarPlay in certain countries so it does have something to do with the country in relation to the Vehicle Marque.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Most likely some licensing cost to Apple connected to enabling Car Play in a country, for certain countries someone at Seat has decided they will not pay, just a guess but I don't think I'm too far off the mark. The markup for a Octavia vs a Leon must come from somewhere.

 

[AndyRBL]

Most likely some licensing cost to Apple connected to enabling Car Play in a country, for certain countries someone at Seat has decided they will not pay, just a guess but I don't think I'm too far off the mark. The markup for a Octavia vs a Leon must come from somewhere.

Maybe .. but we still pay the same price for the infotainment and we do have wired apple carplay.. my seat dealer says it's not available YET.. so maybe at some point there will be. So far on the list there are Czech Republic, Poland and Romania. Maybe others

 

[KokDu]

Here is from another forum (reuqres OBDeleven dongle and PRO license to try it)


*******"
Has anyone had a play with the OBDeleven dongle to get the wireless carplay to work?

I just bought a dongle thing but could send it back and save £100 if the below (lifted from OBDeleven skoda app request section) works, i'm offshore at the minute so waiting on my stuff to be delivered.

App name: Wireless CarPlay

Module : 5F. (Information Control Unit)

Adaptation

Vehicle Configuration

MirrorLink = On
WiFi_Client_HMI = On
Apple_DIO_Wireless = On
wlan_5ghz_switch = Activated
Apple_DIO = On

Smartphone_interface_for_rhmi : activated
Remote_HMI : on

Under installation list DK-1 Systems:

Data_Medium : yes
Multimedia_extension : yes
Media_connector : yes

Under installation for external media, activation:

Connection 1 : activated
Connection 2 : activated
Connection 3 : not activated
Connection 4 : not activated

------------------

Additional input from Audi A7 owner:

Reboot the MMI (not sure how you do that!), or lock the car, and give it an hour or two - that's what I did.

Do not plug your Apple device into USB !!

Make sure the WIFI hot-spot is turned on in the MMI settings.

Pair your Apple device with Bluetooth - it should now ask if you want to enable CarPlay.

If it doesn't, delete the pairing, and connect to the car's wifi first from the Apple device, and try pairing via Bluetooth again.

Mine worked fine first time, and has worked successfully each and every time I've entered the car.

There's some additional settings for CarPlay under nhtsa_properties, I've not touched any of them, as I have no idea what effect they have.
*****

 

[TarekElsakka]

Here is from another forum (reuqres OBDeleven dongle and PRO license to try it)


*******"
Has anyone had a play with the OBDeleven dongle to get the wireless carplay to work?

I just bought a dongle thing but could send it back and save £100 if the below (lifted from OBDeleven skoda app request section) works, i'm offshore at the minute so waiting on my stuff to be delivered.

App name: Wireless CarPlay

Module : 5F. (Information Control Unit)

Adaptation

Vehicle Configuration

MirrorLink = On
WiFi_Client_HMI = On
Apple_DIO_Wireless = On
wlan_5ghz_switch = Activated
Apple_DIO = On

Smartphone_interface_for_rhmi : activated
Remote_HMI : on

Under installation list DK-1 Systems:

Data_Medium : yes
Multimedia_extension : yes
Media_connector : yes

Under installation for external media, activation:

Connection 1 : activated
Connection 2 : activated
Connection 3 : not activated
Connection 4 : not activated

------------------

Additional input from Audi A7 owner:

Reboot the MMI (not sure how you do that!), or lock the car, and give it an hour or two - that's what I did.

Do not plug your Apple device into USB !!

Make sure the WIFI hot-spot is turned on in the MMI settings.

Pair your Apple device with Bluetooth - it should now ask if you want to enable CarPlay.

If it doesn't, delete the pairing, and connect to the car's wifi first from the Apple device, and try pairing via Bluetooth again.

Mine worked fine first time, and has worked successfully each and every time I've entered the car.

There's some additional settings for CarPlay under nhtsa_properties, I've not touched any of them, as I have no idea what effect they have.
*****

I wonder if this actually works? I'm tempted to order the OBDeleven adapter & license if it can actually activate wireless CarPlay.

 

[FalconTech]

Updated OBDeleven app, with ability to unlock SFDs is available in Android play store. Let the tests begin.

Let us know how someone manages to activate.

 

[RoadXY]

Let us know how someone manages to activate.

Today (11-11-2021) SFD is unlocked for non-beta users.
Some said they managed to unlock it:

OBD Modifications

The question is now is the unlock SFDs log in a unit for further investigation by the dealer? :unsure:

www.seatcupra.net