I am a new MB owner. My previous car had an aftermarket deck installed, by me, that featured wireless Apple Carplay. I became addicted to what seemingly is a minor convenience: keeping my damn phone in my pocket at all times.

I appreciate the common opinion that I should just suck it up and plug in my phone if I want carplay in my new MB. Those opinions are ignorant...once you go wireless you never want to go back...especially if most of your drives are about the length of a couple tracks of music.

So, today in the shower I thought that perhaps I could get another data-enabled iPhone or iPad and link it to my Apple ID and just leave it plugged in my center console.

I think this will get me most things that I want, namely my music streaming apps, google maps, podcasts and iMessages. I am confused about what I won't get out of this...do I not get any calls? Or can I receive calls on the secondary device as long as my iPhone is close to it? Or is that just for facetime audio calls? I know that my ipad has lit up a few times when I receive calls on my iPhone, but I don't know under what circumstance that occurs.

Does anyone here have a good grasp on all the "iDevices" and what my most economical option would be to make this work as best as possible? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Admittedly, this is kind of a ridiculous solution, but I don't see myself forgetting my phone in the car any less than I currently do.


Edit: I just talked to my IT guys to see what they thought...some of their comments:
1. Get a data-less device and setup that device to hotspot to my iPhone every time I get in the car. This, to me, seems like something that just won't work every time but I'll try it out.
2. Confirm that the car will take bluetooth calls from the phone in my pocket while carplay is activated via my other device. The IT guys said that their cars deactivate bluetooth when a carplay device is plugged in.

More edit:
3. There are some dongles out there with mixed reviews (there weren't two years ago when I installed my head unit), so I will order one and give it a go.
4. iPads and Ipod Touch do not work with Carplay, so I would need to get another iPhone to make the two device method work.

 

I'm in the same boat. I was ready to sign a lease on a brand new 2019 E450 Wagon and during a final test drive discovered that there is no wireless CarPlay - needless to say - purchase postponed until I can figure out a work-around. My 2017 X5 has it and I like it so much I had to upgrade a head unit in my 10 year-old weekend driver.

Did you try out your ideas?