Carplay Freezes or Becomes Sluggish after Extended Use

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Level 1

4 points

Carplay Freezes or Becomes Sluggish after Extended Use

Not sure where to report bugs with Carplay so I just posted here. I had a Chevrolet Malibu LT 2021. I used my iPhone 11 Pro running iOS 14.2 with the car. Wireless Carplay was setup but due to the extended use I had my phone plugged in with USB in the car (not the USB-C connection it was using the standard USB-A connection).

I drove 12.5 hours to my destination using Carplay the whole time, and then used Carplay 20 minutes to an hour each day over the next 4 days following my arrival. On the 5th day I drove back 12.5 hours again however on this drive I noticed Google Maps would just close out and then re-open and I would have to reinitiate directions from recent destinations to get navigation back up and running.

In the last hour of my trip I stopped for gas and when I started the car again I noticed that Carplay was VERY sluggish even appearing frozen at times. The video on the screen had an appearance of poorly buffering streaming video (pixelated and smeared artifacts could be seen). My phone was still operating normally.

I concluded my trip and then I attempted to reboot my phone which didn't clear the issue. Next I performed a system reboot in the car by turning it off and then opening the driver's side door fully and leaving it open for five minutes. After the five minutes elapsed the car screen could seen performing a restart (the Chevrolet logo appeared after some time). I then turned the car back on and then proceeded to use Carplay (successfully) and then operations were normal once again.

https://youtu.be/1NHujfyFGqc

https://youtu.be/JPMwwtXozVk

iPhone 11 Pro

Posted on Dec 30, 2020 12:51 PM

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Answer 1

guymanstuff Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 31, 2020 7:57 AM in response to guymanstuff

I actually have a Pioneer unit in my 2007 Ford Explorer Sport Trac (AVH-W4400NEX) and have never seen this. In my truck when I turn it off and pull the key I know the unit looses power completely and it's as if it gets a reset every time the truck turns off. Does yours maintain a low power state or turn off completely when you turn your car off?

It seems that when a radio unit is able to maintain a low power state and never power off completely (as was the case with my rental 2021 Malibu) eventually it seems like there's some sort of memory issue with the components that handle the Carplay "extended desktop" functionality of the iPhone even though the phone remains unaffected.

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Answer 2

Dec 30, 2020 9:17 PM in response to guymanstuff

I just finished installing a brand-new Pioneer CarPlay receiver in my Hyundai Sonata, and after driving around for short while (paired with my iPhone SE 2020 running iOS 14.2 and later 14.3), I started seeing the same issue of pixelation / artifacts / tearing / smearing. I ran through virtually all methods of troubleshooting (restarting my phone, removing CarPlay, bluetooth connections, resetting the unit, using just wired vs wireless, updating iOS, etc.) and made no progress. Now tonight, my CarPlay visuals are just frozen. If I tap a button, return to the built-in Receiver menu, and return back to CarPlay, the screen updates to whatever corresponds to the button I pressed—but remains frozen.

Audio still works for me, but that seems to be the extent of functionality.

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Carplay Freezes or Becomes Sluggish after Extended Use

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