Raspberry Pi 3 Apple Carplay

I recently picked up a Carlinkit Wireless Apple CarPlay Dongle from AliExpress and wanted to see if I could get it to piece of work with the Raspberry Pi 3. After some tinkering, I found a mode of getting it to piece of work by using a Raspberry Pi Android image and the application supplied with the dongle. In this mail, nosotros volition go over the process of installing an android image to the Raspberry Pi, downloading the application, the settings in the application and the bug I establish with the device and what I did to set up them. At the end of the commodity, I will sum upwards if it is fifty-fifty worth fifty-fifty purchasing one of these dongles.

Bank check out the video version of this blog post on YouTube.

#Android for the Raspberry Pi The Raspberry Pi has many distros that range from Raspberry Pi OS to Net BSD, Android has been ported many times to the Pi but nigh of the versions ported have been completely unstable or even price money like Emerita Bone. The version we are using today is the best one I could find after searching, This is KonstaKANG LineageOS xvi.0 (Android 9). This image is bachelor for both the Raspberry Pi 3 and 4 which is available to download hither (Raspberry Pi 3 Version, Raspberry Pi iv Version). Note both these versions are still non 100% stable and if you are experiencing whatever crashes or bug it might be worth trying other Android images for the Pi.

In one case you have downloaded the paradigm for your Raspberry Pi you will need to catch balenaEtcher, this program is used to write images to an SD Carte. To write the paradigm yous will need to open balenaEtcher and select the file you lot want to flash, and then insert the SD card into your computer, select the device and offset the flash. Once the wink is complete you can remove the SD menu and insert it into the Raspberry Pi. You lot are now prepare to power up the device and become through the setup process for the operating system, this involves setting the time, region and a few other items. Subsequently this, you should be at the abode screen and ready to proceed onto the next footstep.

balenaEtcher

#Installing the Right App From my research I take establish there to be two different types of dongles that are used for CarPlay, these two dongles run different apps. The Carlinkit dongle I accept is the first type which uses the AutoKit application and the other blazon uses the ZBox Awarding. I have constitute the download for the AutoKit application here (http://www.carlinkit.com/autokit) but I have been unable to find the ZBox application online (If you have a copy feel gratuitous to forward it to me to host). Installing each app is quite simple equally all you need to do is direct your browser to the links in a higher place and the APK will showtime downloading, one time the download is complete you volition need to get into settings and enable installing untrusted packages. Once that is done you can open up the APK and proceed with installing the application.

AutoLink App Main Screen

#Customizable Settings With the AutoKit awarding, there are many settings to configure, some of these settings are vital for having the app office correctly and some are cosmetic. The setting you may need to play around with is the working manner setting, this setting changes the way the app communicates with the CarPlay dongle. The speed mode is the fastest way simply does take issues with some devices like the Raspberry Pi where information technology stutters due to the depression CPU performance, fluency mode works on some other devices only threw an fault screen on the Pi, compatible mode is the slowest fashion but information technology works correctly on the Pi. Some other option of annotation is the ability to change the logo of the exit button in CarPlay, there is a number of popular brands and other icons to choose from.

Working Style Options

Logo Option Screen

#Issues and Fixes Over the period of testing out the device I found many problems acquired by the awarding and operating arrangement, these ranged from choppy music to no display at all. The most mutual problem I got was the overall choppiness with the application, this would exist either inclement music, slowness in the user interface, device crashes or even weird messages like the one pictured below. The fix I constitute for this outcome was to set up the speed of the device to compatibility, which fixed all of the higher up problems except for slowness in the user interface. I couldn't find whatsoever way of having the device run at a smooth speed and had to deal with the slowness. Another effect I had with the Android epitome not working on my HDMI to DVI converter and this was due to the video driver with KonstaKANG Android Images not supporting some brandish devices. The mode I solved this was by connecting information technology to some other display and enabling the SwiftShader software renderer by opening a terminal and inbound the following command.

                  [rpi3-graphics.sh](<http://rpi3-graphics.sh/>) swiftshader

#Summary Overall I got the CarPlay dongle working with the Raspberry Pi but I found the experience to not be acceptable for use on a day to day ground. The Raspberry Pi Android image ran well simply the application for the dongle was not stable and even after the fixes acquired the device to crash at times. I would not recommend ownership this device and instead put the money towards a car stereo or device that has CarPlay inbuilt.