CarPlay Maps not going into night mode

I had this same problem. Tried everything I could think of. In the end it was the dimmer for my dash lights. It was set on max brightness. Turned it down one notch and everything suddenly worked. Night mode has worked ever since 🙂. I have a '18 Subaru Crosstrek and this solved my problem. Hopefully it will work for you, too.

Newly installed aftermarket Pioneer Unit in a 2010 Acura. Automotive repair and IT background. I was having similar issues with night mode and the display not dimming with my headlights.

In my car, if the system dashboard and gauge lights are set to MAX, dimming/night mode does not work. Remember, the auto/on/off headlights for the car and the dashboard/gauge cluster brightness settings are independently controlled, but are usually interconnected. This was key for me to fix the issue.

When the interior brightness is set to MAX, the Auto/On/Off setting from the headlight control of the car does not allow dimming of the interior (gauge cluster, dashboard, nav screen, or night mode on Apple Maps) to engage. It makes total sense. The car assumes you want total interior brightness at all times, irregardless of the headlights current state.

Once I changed the car's gauges and dashboard lights in my system setting down a few notches everything worked correctly. Perhaps thats a factor in other peoples' cars?

I've been having the same issue for about a year, and it's absolutely terrible. But I've come to discover the reason and a temporary workaround.

• Reason Apple CarPlay goes into "night mode" when the vehicle's ambient light sensor notices a "change" in the amount of light available. This is clear as CarPlay does successfully dim the display when going through a dark underpass or tunnels, or when I drive during the sunset. However, when you begin your drive at night, there is no "change" in the amount of light. Many cars (including mine) checks for the ambient light at door-unlock-time, to enable lights, etc. So, by the time an iPhone is connected, there will no longer be this "change." Thus, CarPlay (idiotically) assumes it's daytime.
• Workaround In short, trigger this "change" manually. If your vehicle allows you to switch between "Day" and "Night" mode, navigate to your vehicle's settings screen and make the change. When you return to CarPlay, your map screen will have been dimmed. If no such setting is available, you can "cheat" the sensor by shining the light directly at it with a laser pointer or a flashlight. Note that trying to aim a light at the sensor while the vehicle is in motion is already dangerous, and doing so will also turn off automatic headlights and other nighttime features of vehicle, so do try this at your own risk.

I'm sorry, but that simply does not work. For one thing, my iPhone resides in a closed compartment and cannot tell day from night. I have changed every setting in the phone having to do with lighting. No success.

Secondly, the automatic lights seem to be on a different sensor from dash lights (or perhaps timer starts when ambient light falls). Driving into a slightly darker setting in the daylight, the automatic headlights come on, but the GPS does not dim.

When driving into my garage from daylight, the dash dims first, then about 10 seconds later, the lights come on.

The GPS will shift to night mode when passing beneath an overpass, porte cochere, or any public garage.

HOWEVER, I have installed the ios11.0 in my iPhone this evening, and everything works as it should.

I had the same issue with my 2017 Elantra. iOS9 worked fine but after upgrading to iOS10 maps would only turn dark after messing with the display controls every single time I started the car. Well, iOS 11 fixed everything. It works!!!!!

I have just installed iOS 11.0 on my cell (7+) and plugged it into my 2017 Hyundai Limited with automatic headlights. Sonata in my garage. At 11.15pm. Using Maps routed to the GPS. (Except for Sirius radio, everything comes from the iPhone).

The screen immediately shifted to night mode! Hallelujah!

I thought this was too good to be true, so two miles later stopped car and shut it down. Restarted and maps went back to day mode! With car running, I unplugged the iPhone then plugged it back in, and it shifted to night mode.

I'll give Apple a 9 out of 10 for this. But of course I fully expect that it probably will not work 24 hours from now.

It was a long time coming.

Instead of using a flash light you can just turn your headlights on. The radio dims when the headlight or parking lights are on. Either via the dimmer wire to the radio or the canbus system in the car allowing the radio screen to dim and radio buttons etc to become illuminated. Maps has a “bug” in CarPlay for whatever reason that isn’t transferring night mode when hooked up in the car

Mine works as it should. Have you tried restarting your phone? The usually things? I did notice one time around dusk it was daytime map on my radio but when in opened my phone (still connected and using CarPlay) maps was in night mode on the phone then switched to night mode on the screen on the radio.

I have an iPhone 8 Plus with iOS 11.1. iOS 11.1 was installed today, so I have not checked it yet. As of this morning, this is still an issue. I have an 2011 Jeep Wrangler with an aftermarket Kenwood stereo installed in it. With iOS 10.x or iOS 11 Apple Maps will not go into Night Mode. This is very frustrating when traveling at night and needing to use the GPS.

Glad to see these other posts; I was beginning to think was the only one.

Apple acts like they know nothing about it.

In daylight, mine goes into night vision when I drive into my garage, under a bridge, or into a parking garage.

It will shift to night mode at night for no apparent reason and stay that way until the ignition is shut off. Then five minutes later it isn't working again!

I have a 2017 Hyundai Sonata Limited.

iPhone 5s

Car: 2017 Hyundai Sonata Limited

Phone: IPhone 7+

If I unplug the iPhone from the car, everything but Sirius satellite radio disappears. The iPhone is driving the GPS.

I keep the phone in a compartment ahead of the gear shift. It is the same ambient light for it all the time: dark.

The GPS will shift to night mode in bright daylight going under a highway overpass, a port cohere, or into my garage.

I was told by Hyundai that the problem is in the OS10. But I have installed every update with no change. I hoped with my new iPhone 7+ the situation would correct itself. Nope.

Of course if you complain to Apple directly through their Apple Care tech support, the engineers will come back saying "operating as designed." This their standard boiler-plate response to any issue.

Hey guys,

I am having the opposite problem. At dusk my phone decides to go into night shift mode for maps. If I unplug it from the usb hub, CarPlay display returns to the Sync3 Ford display. I even proved this to myelf that it's the phone driving the brightness NOT the settings. Night mode on my phone renders navigation via Apple maps invisible. If I disconnect the phone completely the built in gps nav system in my brand new 2017 Edge reverts back to whatever I have it set to via settings. It has a day mode and a night mode and an auto mode. At dusk it knows not to do night mode. In fact driving into my dark garage does not make the phone do dark mode, only the car does...

so I'd like a manual setting for this. I should be in charge of my display. I'm not aware of how other implementations of CarPlay work but I have two Ford vehicles with Sync 3 and the same phone does this in both despite the settings on the car.

I guess my my problem is your solution.

I found no way to edit my post but I do believe now I was wrong. I learned that when the automatic headlamp sensor switches on the headlights the display automatically changes and CarPlay instructs the phone to change to night mode. Keep in mind I don't want night mode. I have bad eyesight for reading and that dim screen is useless. So I will say this -- my car and phone in iOS 11 are working correctly. The dimming and switch occurs despite whether or not I want it. The issue for me is the WHEN. Mine switches when there is still a lot of ambient light out coming thru the windows and glass roof. Turning off my headlights until I decide it's dark is the solution. I love lots of the neat things new cars have but sometimes they are a pain. I reposted in order to say this, and also to offer a troubleshooting solution -- try turning headlights on manually. Could be your car is slower to respond to darkness outside. Mine is too early especially driving into a sunset or shortly afterwards.

Same issue even with the new apple update. I wish apple would fix this because the maps are unusable at night.

I have a new iPhone 7+, with the most recent 11.0 operating system

Lo and behold! The night shift works! Perfectly.