I was able to download the GM of iOS 9.0 a week early.  Monday I drove from San Jose to Anaheim and on Thursday I drove back,  The whole time I used the iOS 9.0 version of CarPlay.

To begin with, like many of you, I was lukewarm on the support of CarPlay on my NEX unit (4000NEX).  Some things did not work and other times it would crash - especially when using music and maps at the same time.  To put it mildly, I have not been real excited about CarPlay and using it

But during my trip I became much more excited about CarPlay and feel iOS 9.0, for me at least, allows me to use CarPlay confidently for the first time.

• It never crashed once on my trip.  Sure, I lost my signal a few times on my trip so streaming music and GPS didn't work but it recovered elegantly and without me having to do a thing.
• I have posted about playlist folders not working at all (for me) but now they work great and as I expect them too.
• Artwork, without me doing anything, displays much better.  Darker covers are harder to see and daylight / sunlight definitely effects how it looks but I'd say that overall iOS 9.0 makes things better
• I never got maps to work long enough to get any traffic warnings or re-directs but during my trip I got several.

Are there still bugs?  I am sure there are.  But for my 6+ hour trip down to LA and another 6+ hour trip back it worked great.  If you have not upgraded to iOS 9.0 yet DO IT!

RC

I'm excited by your post. I have had a lot of issues with CarPlay and felt like I was the only one since so many here rave about it. I have had crashes, media playback not starting automatically when getting back in the car among other things. This has me excited to update to iOS 9 and hopefully have an improved experience.

I do wish Apple makes were less reliant on cell phone signal so I could use it wherever I am. For that reason alone I'm forced to use a head unit with on board maps.

Also, there is no shuffle artist button in CarPlay now. Siri is especially annoying. Siri, shuffle artist Foo Fighters. Bitch comes back with, "Here are some popular Foo Fighters songs." Ugh. That's not what I asked!

Areas without cell service vs local maps that are only as up to date as the last time you bought the update.... With cell coverage near universal right now, I find using Apple maps meets my needs 98% of the time.

+1 on updating to iOS 9.0...it is MUCH better than iOS 8.x.

CarPlay will thank you.

Except Apple maps can be updated with every OS update and are free. I wouldn't even mind a slight charge to keep all POI's and addresses stored locally.

I wouldn't even mind a slight charge to keep all POI's and addresses stored locally.

In iOS?

I have the exact opposite experience. IOS9 is way worse. Most of the time when I try to play a song or podcast the now playing screen is blank just showing a play button. This happens with iOS8 as well, but in 8 I could take the phone out of the cradle, start the song or podcast, and then put it back in the cradle and it would play through CarPlay. That workaround doesn't work with 9, in fact most of the time I can't even get audio out of the phone directly either. Spotify is just as bad. Oddly enough iHeartRadio does work.

I have the exact opposite experience. IOS9 is way worse. Most of the time when I try to play a song or podcast the now playing screen is blank just showing a play button. This happens with iOS8 as well, but in 8 I could take the phone out of the cradle, start the song or podcast, and then put it back in the cradle and it would play through CarPlay. That workaround doesn't work with 9, in fact most of the time I can't even get audio out of the phone directly either. Spotify is just as bad. Oddly enough iHeartRadio does work.

You are using a cradle?  Have you tried to just us a lightning cable alone.

I'm on 9.1 beta 1 and getting lots of random loss of connection.  I'll be listening to music through CarPlay and all of the sudden the 4100 doesn't recognize my iPhone any more.  Unplug and re plug then back to normal.  I didn't have this problem before 9.1.  I did report it to Apple.  

You are using a cradle? Have you tried to just us a lightning cable alone.

The cradle IS a lightning cable, it just snaps the Apple lightning cable in the cradle and uses it. There's no issues with the connection. If there was, CarPlay wouldn't even start.

I understand. But, introducing a cradle may cause the connection to be poor due to how the phone sits on it. In my experience, most issues with intermittent CarPlay comes from poor Lightning cable connection issues and/or dirt or lint the Lightning slot on the iPhone.

Look for the simple stuff first when problem solving issues. Eliminate the obvious before tackling the complex.

Usually I would agree with you, but not in this particular case. I agree a cradle could cause connection issues.. But my problem isn't a connection issue, it's a software issue. The way the Lightning connector and CarPlay work, either the handshake is there and CarPlay is enabled, or it isn't there and CarPlay is disabled. By its design it can't be enabled if there was a slight connection issue. (If there was a connection issue is see CarPlay disable or alternate between disabling and re-enabling which isn't the case)

I'm pretty sure the HU either needs a firmware update, or iOS does.

Usually I would agree with you, but not in this particular case. I agree a cradle could cause connection issues.. But my problem isn't a connection issue, it's a software issue. The way the Lightning connector and CarPlay work, either the handshake is there and CarPlay is enabled, or it isn't there and CarPlay is disabled. By its design it can't be enabled if there was a slight connection issue. (If there was a connection issue is see CarPlay disable or alternate between disabling and re-enabling which isn't the case)

 

I'm pretty sure the HU either needs a firmware update, or iOS does.

I'm guessing you're right that the head unit needs a firmware update, because one problem I'm having is that, when using CarPlay, sometimes the physical buttons on my 4000NEX stop working and the music can only be controlled by touching the screen.

My iOS 9 and 9.1 Beta experiences have been generally better than iOS 8.x.x with CarPlay. I will say that on my routine 3-4 hour trips out of town that I have experienced zero issues as long as I stay in the Native CarPlay apps or the 3rd party for CP. As soon as I mix in Waze *unsupported* or my Escort Live *unsupported* I notice that Maps has a harder time keeping up with location smoothly. This is not the case when CP is disengaged and my 6+ screen is showing Maps. Of course you can fix any streaming Music or Podcast issue by simply syncing your playlists locally before your trip (as I do with Spotify also). The next step is for Apple to allow you to offline Maps for everything except traffic the way Google Maps does. Give it time, it will. At that point the onboard outdated maps will only be worthwhile if you break or lose your iPhone.

I noticed on albums with dark(ish) covers, when I toggle between CarPlay Music and AVIC-5000NEX music, I see the black cover momentarily get a bit brighter - just about perfect brightness - before toggling over. This is repeatable.