[HSC4ME]

I'm familiar with XM radio from prior vehicles with a monthly subscription. I'm not familiar with Apple Car Play or streaming music from your phone to your auto stereo at all. Can someone summarize how these cell phone to auto connections work? Also, can you have XM on your phone and play it through your car stereo? Thx

 

[treybrad]

I'm not a Car Play expert, but I've used Android Auto a LOT and I believe they operate almost identically (as much as an Apple phone acts like an Android phone anyway).

Not all apps that work on your phone work on Android Auto, but there are plenty of options that do. I use a few apps to play downloaded music, podcasts, etc -- all of which you can fully control via the infotainment screen. Spotify, Pandora, etc all work great for streaming music.

XM specifically, I'm not sure -- but I would expect that they have an app and that it is compatible with AA/CP. It's not going to be streaming from satellites -- I'm sure it's a feed you stream via the internet, so if you're in remote locations without a data connection, you're likely SOL.

The biggest plus for CP and AA is navigation. Being able to have Google Maps right there on your infotainment screen, with all of your saved and recently searched locations and real-time traffic info is wildly convenient. I went to the trouble to retrofit an aftermarket unit into my 2014 Frontier because once I started using AA on my wife's Santa Fe I couldn't go back to sticking my phone in a suction cup thing on the windshield....

 

[Walking Black Bear]

XM from your phone would work fine, as long as you have a solid data connection. Since it's a real-time stream (minus the short buffer), if you get a weak data connection, your audio will drop. My daily drive has a lengthy dead zone - no signals AT ALL - so I make sure to download any podcasts I might want to listen to on Spotify before I leave home or have a couple of downloaded playlists ready to go.

Basically CarPlay/Android Auto are just mirroring your phone (with a simplified interface) on your dash with larger touch points. If you can play it on your phone, you can play it through your stereo. Except videos, for obvious reasons. Both work slightly differently, but mostly the same. They replace your vehicle's infotainment system when they're connected, but you can always jump back and forth between it and the factory stuff for HVAC and whatnot.

If you've never used either, it will take a tiny bit of getting used to, but then you'll realize how much you can get done just through voice commands and never look back.

 

[Gooze]

The best part of using CarPlay or Android Auto is being able to use the Navigation from your phone through your car....google maps or your iphone maps... although, I find Google's navigation to be much better than Apples's Navigation.

 

[HSC4ME]

The whole point of XM is to get the signal when there is no normal signal, so a XM Satellite setup in the car would be the only way to go. I will have to come up to speed on downloading music play lists to phone. Damnit! More tech this old guy has to learn...

 

[JMII]

The whole point of XM is to get the signal when there is no normal signal, so a XM Satellite setup in the car would be the only way to go.

This is one of the reasons I still pay for XM. I tow my boat to places (like the Everglades) where there is no cell coverage.