I had an 8000 NEX installed in my 2014 Outback, and just got my car back yesterday.  The installer and I spent a few hours wrestling with app mode.  We initially had trouble with the cable - iPhones are notoriously picky if you use non-Apple cables, which pretty much rules out the use of an extension cable.  They hid the lightning AV adapter (necessary for app mode) inside the dash, and used a lightning extension cable to come out of the dash into the phone dock.  Looked good, but didn't work.

Once we got the cable issue sorted out, App Mode was still incredibly rough.  You hit the app mode button, wait maybe 10 seconds for AppRadio to get going, hit the "allow" button, and eventually your app icons are up.  Hit the music icon (I forget the exact name), and wait another 10 seconds for the CarMediaPlay app to come up on the phone.  If you switch over to map view on the 8000 and the phone leaves the CarMediaPlay app, then if you want to browse music again we almost always had to force quit CarMediaPlay before we could get back into the music browser again.  It was very, very painful.

In the end, I cried Uncle and asked them to connect the dock directly to a USB input with a stock lightning cable.  No fuss, and everything just works.  Music plays right away, without waiting for apps to boot up, and no force quitting.  I don't have app mode, and I don't have any video, but I like the built-in non-app music browsing interface on the 8000 so I'm mostly happy with it.

I asked the installer to leave the HDMI cable connected and poking out of the dash, so I'll try app mode from time to time, especially after firmware updates have been released.  Of course I will try out CarPlay once it's available.  My better instinct tells me to wait 2-4 months after release before I try it, but I'll be lucky if I can hold out 2-4 days.

I had an 8000 NEX installed in my 2014 Outback, and just got my car back yesterday. The installer and I spent a few hours wrestling with app mode. We initially had trouble with the cable - iPhones are notoriously picky if you use non-Apple cables, which pretty much rules out the use of an extension cable. They hid the lightning AV adapter (necessary for app mode) inside the dash, and used a lightning extension cable to come out of the dash into the phone dock. Looked good, but didn't work.

 

Once we got the cable issue sorted out, App Mode was still incredibly rough. You hit the app mode button, wait maybe 10 seconds for AppRadio to get going, hit the "allow" button, and eventually your app icons are up. Hit the music icon (I forget the exact name), and wait another 10 seconds for the CarMediaPlay app to come up on the phone. If you switch over to map view on the 8000 and the phone leaves the CarMediaPlay app, then if you want to browse music again we almost always had to force quit CarMediaPlay before we could get back into the music browser again. It was very, very painful.

 

 

 

 

In the end, I cried Uncle and asked them to connect the dock directly to a USB input with a stock lightning cable. No fuss, and everything just works. Music plays right away, without waiting for apps to boot up, and no force quitting. I don't have app mode, and I don't have any video, but I like the built-in non-app music browsing interface on the 8000 so I'm mostly happy with it.

 

I asked the installer to leave the HDMI cable connected and poking out of the dash, so I'll try app mode from time to time, especially after firmware updates have been released. Of course I will try out CarPlay once it's available. My better instinct tells me to wait 2-4 months after release before I try it, but I'll be lucky if I can hold out 2-4 days.

I have the apple hdmi adapter in my glove compartment so I can easily chose how I want to use my system, wether it be direct USB/ Lightning or if I want to use app mode when you need to use the HDMI.

THE extension cable I am using is from amazon if your interested and works like a charm.

I also have an otterbox case and the lightning connector fits fine with the case on, I know some cables won't work with the case on, but this one does.

http://amzn.com/B00GP08858

Yep, AppRadio mode has lots of bugs. But what makes you guys think that CarPlay will be any better? Most likely the same bunch of engineers who implemented AppRadio mode are going to implement the CarPlay mode, and the same QA department who approved AppRadio for release is going to work their magic on CarPlay as well.

Yep, AppRadio mode has lots of bugs. But what makes you guys think that CarPlay will be any better? Most likely the same bunch of engineers who implemented AppRadio mode are going to implement the CarPlay mode, and the same QA department who approved AppRadio for release is going to work their magic on CarPlay as well.

One would think that with Apple's name on the program, they'd demand better.

That said, AppMode has been temperamental as long as there's been an AppMode, which has been long enough that Pioneer should either get it right finally or simply ditch it.

I'm quite confused as I understood the AVICSync app need for the 5/5s to run app radio on the NEX units wasn't out yet. Sure, you can mirror with the HDMI cable and Pandora, AHA, etc work with the USB/Lightning cable, but true app radio doesn't work yet, right?

The AVICSync app is *still* not out yet, so you must contend with the older AppRadio and CarMediaPlay apps instead.  It's very klunky.  I think that App mode will run better once AVICSync is released - at the very least you should no longer need to launch two apps just to play music.  Likely it will require a firmware update so don't forget that!

The installer that put in my 8000 said that they haven't had any visits from their Pioneer rep lately, which they usually get when something new is coming out, so they said that they think it's not likely AVICSync is coming out any time soon.

User Tekki - I'm keeping my HDMI adapter in my glovebox as well - I'll try app mode from time to time but I probably won't use it often until either AVICSync or CarPlay is released.

Yeah, AppRadio mode is almost useless to me too.  CarMedia Play is one of the least stable pieces of software I've ever used.  Try EC touch if you want a media player app that works in AppRadio mode.  The main thing for me is that none of the navigation apps work without issue.  Waze-black bar across the top of the screen, navigation itself is hit & miss.  NavFree-doesn't speak street names.  MotionX-asks you to pay $25 then still isn't very good.  Man, I can't wait for CarPlay to be released!!

EC Touch has been the biggest piece of crap to me... I paid for the addons too and it does nothing but crash..  The developer wants me to give him my Spotify username and PW to troubleshoot... I supplied him with multiple debugs, can't imagine why he needs my UN and PW...

It seems the latest update may have fixed my crashing issue.. we'll see..

I echo the clugey way AppRadio was put together. It is so illogical how somethings work when it's plugged in to USB1 or USB2 then Bluetooth playback is disabled. It makes me wonder wether these weird workarounds are Pioneer's way of engineering around Apples Strict API issues. I am crossing my fingers that CarPlay will open up the strictness of their API and make operations less clugey. My other theory is that Pioneer has tried so hard for the device to work with both Android and iOS that what suffered was the user experience.

I'm quite confused as I understood the AVICSync app need for the 5/5s to run app radio on the NEX units wasn't out yet. Sure, you can mirror with the HDMI cable and Pandora, AHA, etc work with the USB/Lightning cable, but true app radio doesn't work yet, right?

 App Mode has nothing to do with AVICSync.

The AVICSync app is *still* not out yet, so you must contend with the older AppRadio and CarMediaPlay apps instead.  It's very klunky.  I think that App mode will run better once AVICSync is released - at the very least you should no longer need to launch two apps just to play music.  Likely it will require a firmware update so don't forget that!

What makes any of you think that AVICSync will improve app mode? AVICSync will offer connected content and add the vehicle info with the Mystro device. It has nothing to do with App Mode that I can tell.

But what makes you guys think that CarPlay will be any better? Most likely the same bunch of engineers who implemented AppRadio mode are going to implement the CarPlay mode, and the same QA department who approved AppRadio for release is going to work their magic on CarPlay as well.

Well now we know. Car Play on an NEX was demoed today. Fortunatly Pioneer only built one warning message into using Car Play and there are no reoccuring messages after exiting Car Play and then going back into Car Play mode. Very good news. Also Car play and App Mode wont be able to be used together as they require different connections. Check out the article at AppRadioWorld.

http://appradioworld.com

Does anyone know if CarPlay will play movies that are on your iPhone?

Car Play does not support video.

I just watched a handful of videos of Carplay running on the 8000NEX.....I WANT IT!! 

http://www.macworld.com/article/2147901/carplay-for-the-rest-of-us-pioneer-demos-apples-interface-in-its-nex-infotainment-systems.html

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101676232

I just hope Spotify works on CarPlay right out of the box. The icon appeared on the Ferrari demo of CarPlay, but no one ever actually opened the app so I wonder if it was just a dummy icon.

I wonder how different the phone interfaces will be. Say I don't always have the phone plugged in for carplay but have it paired to use hands free Bluetooth calling. So I use the phone one way then. But then when it's plugged in for carplay, it uses the carplay interface for calls. It would be nice if you could still use the carplay phone interface when on Bluetooth only.

car play will use the lightning cable. no other cables needed.

I'm talking about the interface on screen, not the physical connection interface.

There will be a hands free interface while not in CP mode and a CP mode hands free interface.

I WANT IT ASAP. Hopefully some hacks car play to do much more

There will be a hands free interface while not in CP mode and a CP mode hands free interface.

Has anyone hacked together a docking station for your iphone yet where you can just slip it in and it has a lightning connector built in? Going to try to do something like that to make it easier and not have the cable flopping around.

There's no hack required. I use proclipusa cradles.

As far as Spotify, not all the apps are ready yet. For example Apple just recently updated the Podcasts app to work with CarPlay. If Spotify isn't ready right at launch, it won't be too far behind. 

car play will use the lightning cable. no other cables needed.

Do you think it will work on both USB 1 & 2?