PSA for those with Honda CarPlay issues
tl;dr: disconnect from your VPN (or allow LAN connections)
I recently got an iPhone 17 and was being driven mad because, at first, CarPlay worked flawlessly on my 2019 Honda Fit (EX). However, next time I plugged in CarPlay refused to open. The phone was charging, the icon on the infotainment showed CarPlay, but it would hang for ~10s and close with a "no devices found, check cable, etc.". Android Auto worked for years without hiccups.
Nothing changed after a factory reset, reboot, etc. of the infotainment as many recommended.
I saw an offhand comment with how a VPN can cause problems. I'm connected to one 24/7 and I'm sure it worked earlier when I didn't set it up yet. I disconnected from the VPN and CarPlay immediately worked. The VPN I use has a "Allow LAN connections" setting which made disconnecting from the VPN unnecessary.
Wanted to throw this out there for people troubleshooting in the future. Not sure if this is specific to Honda or Apple, but my money is on how Apple devices do networking.
Tangentially related, I bought a 2020 Ridgeline earlier this year, and it does not have the wireless Android Auto capability. I purchased this adapter and it has been an amazing quality of life improvement. I do a lot of short trip / start and stop / kid wrangling, so having it just work with my phone in my pocket has been great. It takes about 20 seconds to connect, but it's more reliable than the wired connection was (I would sometimes have to unplug and replug the phone several times). Can't attest to to Carplay, but Android Auto has been great. The only issue I have encountered is sometimes it won't connect if the phone is right on top of the adapter.
It also seems to be a real company supporting the software and hardware longer term, releasing firmware updates, rtc.
I'm in the same boat, my truck (2020 RAM 1500) only has native wired support, not wireless. I purchased this one that boasted both Android Auto, and Apple Car Play, for my truck. I'm pure android, and my wife is pure apple. So I thought dual ecosystem would be good. It was utter garbage, I returned it after a week and purchased a Motorola MA1, as it's the only one that boasts official endorsement from android. It's been great, would highly recommend if your adapter ever starts acting up.
Another +1 for the AAWireless, it's been incredibly reliable and never stutters, super happy with mine too!
I briefly considered getting one of these adapters under the assumption there was something borked with Honda/Apple software without a way to fix. It's cool to hear they work; wireless is super convenient. But charging, especially on longer road trips, is a nice bonus.
Yeah, I keep a cable for charging, but it is power only, and I generally use the on longer trips.
There is surprisingly little room in the cabin (relative to my 2006 ridgeline), or I would have tried to set up a storage spot with a wireless charging pad.
In my old Ridgeline I had designed and printed this awesome trash can but there's no room for something like that in the newer model. I like many things about the new one, but I really miss my trash can!
CarPlay was giving me issues in my non-Honda car a few months ago and wouldn't connect no matter what. Tried resetting the car infotainment system, added and removed the phone from the and even ordered a new wireless CarPlay adapter. It took about two days for me to notice my VPN was on. Worked as soon as I turned it off.
I know CarPlay does some weird networking stuff (the connection to the car is a peer-to-peer WiFi connection), so it doesn't surprise me that it makes things wonky.