CarPlay Disconnects When VPN is Connected

Hate to break it to you, but the VPN is probably doing more to compromise your privacy than it is to protect it.

You're not going to get a response from Apple here. This is a user forum. Apple does not participate.

Survey: Your VPN Service May Not Be That Private After All

You get no more privacy protection by using your VPN service than you do by just trusting it to your ISP or cellular carrier.

You don't have to believe me if you don't want to, but it's true. ISPs and cellular carriers are regulated to at least some degree. Your VPN provider is not. They can do whatever they like with the data flowing over their network... not to mention the fact that at some point, the data has to leave their network to reach the destination, leaving it just as vulnerable as it would be without the VPN.

As to your specific problem, that's not an Apple service or app. If it causes you problems, disable or remove it. It's obviously interfering with the connection to your car.

I have a complete understanding of the issue.

What did the developer of the VPN app say when you reported the problem to them?

It seems to me that you're actually trying to promote your politics more than you're trying to solve a technical problem, since your reasoning for why it's a valid problem are entirely political rather than technical...

So... net neutrality is weakened... great, lets throw all our eggs into a for profit basket that is completely unregulated. Sure. That makes sense...

So, here’s the thing. KiltedTim is actually correct.

The only “citation” needed is that CarPlay works fine natively; the issue only occurs when a third party app (unrelated to Apple) and service (also unrelated to Apple) are introduced. Ergo, the problem is caused by said app and service.

You should reach out to the developer to report the issue, and in the mean time continue to use your workaround.

If you truly believe it to be an Apple issue, get in contact with Apple directly and see what they have to say.

So I have been using a VPN for quite some time and have been using CarPlay since it was introduced in my 2016 vehicle. I work for an auto manufacturer so I get to change cars out every 6 months or so. Last Wednesday, I had a 2017 model year and CarPlay worked fine with my VPN (which I usually never turn off). Thursday when I got my 2018 (same make and model) CarPlay wouldn’t connect. After much troubleshooting, I got it down to the VPN. I came here looking for an answer... I’m glad I’m not the only one.

I have to ask, why do you never turn off the VPN? Unless you need to be constantly connected to a private corporate network, the value of using such a service is questionable at best when using WiFi and completely worthless when using cellular data.

Long story short, I work in the far corner of a concrete building inside another concrete building of a manufacturing facility so the cellular signal is pretty bad. I can usually make phone calls, some iMessages go through, but data is almost non-existent. Since the coverage is so bad, I join the guest wireless network. Well, the guest wireless is QoS through the floor, like 600kb/s. Using a VPN bypasses the QoS restrictions so I just leave it on. I have unlimited data usage with my client so it doesn’t really matter that I leave it on all the time.

That's entirely your choice.

As for the problem. You may not be the only one with the problem, but it is NOT Apple's problem.