CarPlay light/dark mode.

You are correct about the threads. This is a user to user support forum and Apple does not participate here. If you wish for them to see feedback about products, you need to use the feedback link here, Feedback - iPhone - Apple

i guess it feels good to not be alone, but this problem is driving me bonkers. my observations mirror some of those here yet with some different nuances. which makes me think there are some subtleties between ios13 and different phones and different head units.

my setup : iPhone XS running 13.3, Pioneer 4500NEX wireless Carplay (interfaced to my Subaru using the idatalink maestro interface). here are my observations:

• about 1/3 - 1/2 of the time, Apple Maps is not in dark mode when it should be (between sunset and sunrise); if I switch to Google Maps, it is always properly dark. at other times, it is in dark mode as i would expect based on experience with ios12 and not having CarPlay to use (using my iPhone XS in a dash mount)
• if i am patient, typically in 10-15 minutes, the light colored maps will become dark eventually
• setting my phone and/or car unit to automatic dark mode or always dark doesn't improve the intermittency of this problem.
• my headlights and ambient light sensor do not affect the mode of the maps. turning the headlights on and off does dim the overall brightness of the car stereo display but does not affect the maps themselves.
• when the maps are light and i think they should be dark (again after sunset, but before sunrise), i can fix the problem by force quitting maps on my phone and launching maps form the car stereo. this of course is not safe while driving, but i have confirmed this fix many times after i've parked and completed my drive.
• Google maps works properly! thankfully, when get impatient/annoyed, i can use Handsfree Siri to choose Google maps instead.
• interestingly, right now, with my phone set to dark mode, maps initially comes up with a dark map (during midday), but when i choose to navigate, it shows up in light mode.

it seems to me there are a lot of conflicting settings and Apple needs to give us the option to configure exactly when maps are dark and light for both the iPhone itself and in CarPlay. (i would be happy if CarPlay just respected phone settings)

Update from me in quick bullet point form:

• upgraded to iPhone 11 pro (13.3.1), and still have same sporadic, unpredictable problem of dark mode sometimes working, and there times not. worse time was entire 25 minute drive in the dark, it did not switch to dark maps even though it was two hours after sunset and my stereo had gone into dark mode.
• i also determined its not only a CarPlay issue! before setting up CarPlay on my new phone, i used my 11 pro in a car mount and low and behold, when navigating, the maps were light when they should have been dark.

i really hope apple is working on this. i've more and more given up "waiting for the dark maps to activate" (usually 5-15 minutes) and when it doesn't work, i immediately ask Siri to use Google Maps instead.

Apple definitely needs to enhance Maps. I had started using it regularly over Google but the newer version woth dark mode is so frustrating and inconsistent it's not usable half the time.

1. Dark mode rendering is terrible
2. They MUST add an option to let users light mode - in Maps. Google has it, three options: light, dark, automatic. Apple needs to replicate it

While my phone screen on maps is in night mode my Car Play image of map from my phone is not. Sometimes it works and is night mode then randomly it switches over to the day time view on car play but always stays “night mode” on phone?

Have you checked the "Settings app" in CarPlay itself (not to be confused with the Settings on your iPhone?)

There is a setting there for "Appearance" that controls whether CarPlay using Dark mode or not. Perhaps that setting needs to be tweaked to do what you are looking for.

Your correct the “always dark” is only for the layout. But my lights have been off all day and my map was dark 1/2 the day then all of a sudden it went white. I figured it had to do with headlights but I have cycled my lights both ways trying to get it back dark and nothing works. I even covered light sensor to make lights come on and still nothing stays white.

I'm right there with you. Only instead of light mode I WANT Dark, my car interior is black and it looks great with dark mode. But even with my carplay setting set to "Always Dark" Apple Maps is always starting in light mode. I'm always having my car lights on, it's the law and safety. Flipping the maps mode with car light is an idiotic idea.

It's a bug in iOS 13 and probably won't be fixed until iOS 14. So many bugs with Apple these days. Same issue for me as well.

Maps does not switch to dark mode, sometimes it does, but often it remains light. Then worse still, during the day, maps is dark. Bug for sure.

I also had this problem, tried everything in the thread including forcing my phone to dark mode and although this would set the CarPlay display in Dark Mode, maps would always display in Light Mode (even at night).

I have however found a solution - I set my phone to schedule Dark Mode automatically from sunset to sunrise, and lo and behold my CarPlay maps now come up in Dark Mode at sunset when my phone changes its 'base setting'. This allows me to have my lights on during the day with light maps (my Audi A3 doesn't automatically change the display to Dark Mode as the Pioneer head unit is aftermarket) and when the maps do change to Dark Mode, the inside of the car is dark enough for night mode.

Hope this workaround works for others as well.

Thanks forn the suggestion. But unfortunately it doesn't help because it changes the entire iPhone to light, which is not desired. The objective is to change only maps to light. They gave the option for dark and automatic but not light. It’s so simple - apple needs to add the option for light in maps. Problem solved - we can choose what we want it to be when we want it to be without impacting the rest of the phone.

Hmm. My problem was indeed the reverse - maps always in light mode, even with CarPlay settings set to always dark. If you want the maps to be always white then I think you’re suggestion of Apple adding a ‘always light’ option is the only way to go unless you leave your phone on light mode too.

Hope you find an answer. 👍