P3 Version

I installed this in a 2017 Mazda CX-5 Touring. Everything came as described but it only included instructions on how to connect your phone to the unit after installation along with an image of which ends of the wires connect to the unit and the head unit. After looking at a few videos on YouTube I found one that gave simple instructions on how removing the old unit, run the wires under the console without removing everything and an easy way to access the head unit to plug it in. Overall it took maybe 30 minutes to install. So far the CarPlay is working great, the wireless connection takes a few seconds but after that it functions as it should. The touchscreen and command dials still work as well. I some reviews about losing the connection after a few months so we’ll see but so far so good.

I installed this on my 2018 CX5 two weeks ago, and it works great so far! Apple CarPlay takes about 15-20 seconds to boot up after I start the car, and with the wireless version, I don't have to do anything. It will automatically connect via Bluetooth, so it's definitely worth it! I didn't want the hassle of always having to plug in my phone. I used the included foam tape to wrap both wires together, and it kind of started to unpeel itself in some spots, especially while under the warm sun, while I was taking the trim off of my dash in preparation for the installation. I don't hear any rattling, though, so I'm not concerned. The wires were just long enough to reach from the aux unit under the cup holders, past the passenger side of the gear shifter, the left passenger footwell panel, and up to the infotainment screen. I think the genuine Mazda wires are longer and more forgiving. It worked nonetheless, and I was able to secure everything with zip ties. The car feels brand new with Apple CarPlay! If you feel hesitant, just look up a few YouTube videos and give it a shot. You don't have to pay a dealer $500 for this service. Updating the firmware was more annoying than installing this! (If you didn't know - you HAVE to have a version newer than 59.xx.xx.xx installed BEFORE you install this part!! Look up a YouTube video for how to do this.)

My wife has a 2018 Mazda CX-5. She is the original owner. We were quoted over $300 to get Apple Pay back when she bought the car. I finally got around to installing apple car play myself, you have to make sure you have the right firmware, there’s YouTube videos on it. It was easy and effective. If you are not save with basic computer skills, then I would say leave it to the professionals. It took me less then 2 hours to update the firmware and install the retro kit. Everything worked perfectly on the first try! Finally no more phone mounts!!!! Had to drop this to a 1 star. It was an easy install. Worked perfectly for a few days and now the Apple Car Play is constantly disconnecting. When it works it’s amazing but it disconnects at least 10 times on a 30min drive. Now I have no idea how to fix this issue and I don’t feel like switching it back so I probably have to take it to an audio shop now.

I'm so happy that this product exists! I've been wanting to get CarPlay in my 2014 Mazda 3 for years, but was too intimidated by the install (I'm not handy at all) and the dealership wanted too much money for it. Now, I'm glad I waited because this seems to be the only unit I've been able to find that comes with wireless CarPlay, and it works perfectly! The install wasn't as difficult as I was expecting. I just followed the installation video on YouTube by Greg F. Pettus and took my time. The only reason I gave this 4/5 stars and not 5/5 stars is that the USB port where your phone is supposed to go in for wired CarPlay does not charge my phone at all. However, the USB port below that one works for charging my phone, and since CarPlay is wireless on this model, it doesn't really make a huge difference assuming that bottom USB port never fails on me. I'm super happy that this wireless CarPlay model is available and works great. I'd definitely recommend.

This Appleplay upgrade is a pretty awesome upgrade for my 2018 Toyota iA which is really a Mazda 2. It does not have Android function and only works via Bluetooth, still pretty awesome! Works great every time after 3 weeks of use. This item was not available when I bought my Toyota iA new. My Toyota dealer could not even upgrade the firmware which is required for this item to work. The firmware was easy to install , but near impossible to find. Now my Toyota screen shows the Mazda logo and Mazda colors which I think is really cool. I found the 2023 firmware from an anonymous user who couldn't use a real name or alias for fear of getting in trouble. The device install wasn't too hard after watching the Youtube videos several times. It took some effort, but is definitely worth it.

I purchased the wireless version of the Retrofit Kit and opted for professional installation. The initial experience was positive - it connected seamlessly and provided the convenience of a wire-free environment. However, I began to encounter issues by the third use. Suddenly, CarPlay wouldn’t load. Regardless of the numerous troubleshooting steps I took - from wired connections to device removal and reconnection, and even resetting my phone’s paired devices - the kit displayed inconsistent functionality. At times, it would just begin to work again after a few hours, leaving me puzzled about its erratic behavior. It's disheartening because when it works, it's fantastic. Yet, due to these reliability concerns, I initially rated this product 2 stars. Update: I wanted to provide an update regarding my experience with the seller. After my initial review, the seller promptly reached out to me offering troubleshooting advice, a replacement, or a solution to ensure customer satisfaction. It’s not often you come across such proactive and considerate customer service. Their dedication to addressing customer concerns has genuinely impressed me. Because of their outstanding customer service, I’ve decided to revise my rating to 5 stars. While the product had its hiccups, the company's responsiveness and commitment to their customers is exemplary. 5 stars.

Overall, this works but there are too many flaws. On just the connectivity of carplay, if you are only using one phone, this unit has no issues. Auto connects when you turn the car on and everything is great. However, if you share a vehicle (like my wife and I do), be aware that every time you get in the car with a different phone you need to manually connect to the box via Bluetooth on your phone. From that point forward it will auto connect to that phone until you switch again. Annoying as a car with true wireless carplay doesn't do this but its a minor inconvenience. The bigger issue for me is that this box stopped my SirrusXM from working. Plugged the old box back in, worked fine. You also lose you ability to connect hardwire as an option. Just not worth it for me at this price point.

When you haven’t started the car in a while, it does take a few seconds for the CarPlay to connect but nothing crazy. Super simple to install. I’d say the hardest part is removing the old usb hub. What I found to work though was removing the face plate with a couple picks in the sd card opening. Then you are able to access the four clips that need to be depressed. I actually shoved a paper clip in the four openings once I got the clip depressed. I was then able to just work the hub out with a pair of pliers. Probably sounds complicated for some clips, but it worked out great. Other than that, smooth sailing. You’ll have some extra cord, I just wrapped it up with a zip tie and secured it to some plastic behind the kickplate on the passenger side floor. Everything works great with the control knob, touchscreen, and voice commands. All fitments are nice and tight as well. Highly recommend.

Easy to install and does exactly what it said on the box, daughter could not be more happy with my efforts from an afternoon's work

UPDATE: Hat zweieinhalb Jahre meist sehr gut funktioniert. Immer mal wieder gab es bei iOS Updates Probleme, aber diese hat Apple dann immer behoben. Seit iOS 26 (Beta), iOS 26.01 sowie aktuell iOS 26.1 RC verbindet sich mein iPhone 15 PRO Max nicht mehr mit dem Gerät. Es ist somit aktuell nicht mehr zu verwenden. Ich hoffe immer noch auf ein Update, das das Problem löst. Original Rezension: Ich hatte zunächst vor, die kabelgebundene original Carplay-Integration von Mazda installieren zu lassen. Dann habe ich dieses Gerät entdeckt. Meine Idee war: Wenn die wireless Integration nicht funktioniert, kann ich hier einfach auf wired umschalten. Ich muss dazu sagen, dass mir mein Mazda-Händler das Gerät installiert hat. Kosten ca. 140 Euro. Ich bin mir aber sicher, dass ich es, mit den diversen Youtube Videos, auch alleine geschafft hätte. Der Händler hat mir dabei auch gleich die neueste Software Version für das Mazda Infotainment installiert, was alleine schon 30-40 Minuten dauert. Bei mir war die Box direkt nach der Installation nicht auswählbar. Das hat mir sehr viel Kopfzerbrechen gemacht, hat sich aber über Nacht „von alleine“ gelöst, da der Mazda da wohl den Strom komplett von der Box nimmt, was zu einem Neustart führt. Am nächsten Morgen hat alles funktioniert. Mein iPhone 12 ist schnell genug für Carplay, alles läuft geschmeidig. Die einzelnen Navi-Apps sind unterschiedlich gut in Carplay integriert. Ich habe früher immer TomTom go verwendet, das jedoch nicht ganz so gut integriert ist, wie Apple Karten, oder Google Maps. Aber ALLES ist besser, als die „here“-Karten des original Navis, dass sich ja nicht richtig mit dem iPhone Hotspot verbinden lässt und daher keine aktuellen Verkehrsinfos liefert. Ich hatte übrigens direkt, als das Gerät scheinbar nicht funktionierte, den Support des chinesischen Herstellers per WhatsApp kontaktiert, der sich direkt zu „Bürozeiten“ in China gemeldet hat. Ich nutze das Gerät jetzt seit zwei Wochen und kann nur Positives sagen. Eine Kleinigkeit, die auch in einem anderen Kommentar hier zu lesen ist. Von den beiden USB Anschlüssen lädt nur der das iPhone, der nicht das Smartphone Symbol hat. Ich vermute dieser Anschluss ist nur bei Carplay via Kabel aktiv. Man kann also nicht zwei iPhones gleichzeitig laden.

Be warned! It’s definitely not as easy as it sounds to install. You need to run cables through your car from your existing head unit, down behind your aircon, and depending on the location of your USB hub, even through the centre console to your armrest. I have a Mazda 3 2014 (BM SP25 GT) model. I bought this thinking it would be a simple swap of the usb hub and maybe the cables were just short and needed to be changed over. Looking at the instructions it seems like it’s just a swap and change cable. The instructions are almost useless when it comes to running the cables through your car. After doing lots of research and watching lots of videos, I learnt how to pull apart my car and do that swap. It’s not that hard to do but it took me about 2 hours all up. That’s not including watching at least an hours worth of videos on how to remove the car parts. Plus about another hour to update the firmware. The firmware topic was actually really annoying to arrange because you can’t simply download the firmware online (at least for my car in Australia). I had to join a Mazda forum and ask for support and wait for someone to send me the link to download the file. I waited 24 hours for a response. All up I’ve spent at least 4-5 hours to get his competed in my specific scenario. In the end the product does exactly what it says, the only issue would be the installation is not specific so they can’t provide a video for every make and model car. I’ve only tested it so far (1 day) and it’s working perfectly. I purchased the wireless CarPlay model and that works as well as the wired CarPlay. I will update my review if I have any issues like some people have mentioned about wireless dropping out.

Buen producto, fácil instalación. Lo recomiendo hasta ahora.

Le kit est livré avec tout le nécessaire pour l’installation : le boîtier, des câbles avec une bonne longueur, de l’adhésif moussé pour éviter les bruits parasites, des petits colliers et même un lien pour télécharger la mise à jour du logiciel de l’autoradio. Il ne vous manquera plus qu’un peu de patience et quelques outils de démontage des garnitures. Comptez 2h pour le montage (et encore je l’ai fait dehors en pleine nuit!). L’installation nécessite la dépose de nombreux éléments en plastiques, tant au niveau du boîtier qu’au niveau de l'écran. Si comme moi vous souhaitez l’installer sur une Mazda CX-3, vous trouverez sur Youtube une excellente vidéo « Tutoriel installation Android auto/Apple CarPlay sur Mazda CX3 ». Pour l’instant que du bonheur, mon iPhone se connecte immédiatement après le démarrage et les menus sont parfaitement fonctionnels en tactile (je n’ai cependant pas essayé en roulant) ou à l’aide de la molette de sélection.