For me one of the most compelling infotainment options comes through CarPlay since it makes the navigation, music, text messaging and voice calling so much better - even Siri is useful in the car. I have been searching for a way to add this to my 2014 since I am happy with everything else and don’t want to spend $50k to upgrade in order to get it through a 2018+ S Class.

I installed the Joyeauto kit a few months ago and wanted to give an overall review of my experience and whether I would recommend it. The CarPlay features are familiar to anyone with a 2018+ but for anyone who has an S without it I have included a comparison before:after. I am in no way affiliated with the supplier.

Joyeauto

Price: Relative to buying a newer S class it was cheap - $300-400

Installation: I’m not particularly experienced at car electronics but I managed to install it myself with the help of a couple of folks on this forum when I got stuck. It looks a bit more daunting than it is but you do have to be prepared to unscrew the center console in order to get it in. Or just pay a reputable shop to do it for you.

Support: Company is Chinese but provides good response times over their WhatsApp channel. They usually answered my questions within 24 hours.

Wireless CarPlay: Unit offers both wireless and wired CarPlay. Both are fine but GPS isn’t as accurate with the phone in my pocket so I usually place it in the cup holder anyway. Also supports Android Auto and screen mirroring.

Controls: Uses the center console main rotation knob to navigate through the menus. Also uses the Back button and the Tel button (to summon Siri). I have audio routed through the RCA connectors in my center console and the system set to AUX input. Holding the Back button switches from COMAND to CarPlay. Comes with an adapter to route audio through USB if you don’t have RCA.

Navigation: Waze, Google Maps and Apple Maps are light years better than the built in navigation and have the additional benefit of free up-to-date maps without having to pay $hundreds for map upgrade disks.

Audio: I listen to a lot of podcasts and it’s great to have the app user experience on the main screen. Having Spotify and the other musics apps on screen is wonderful too. Audio quality is very good.

Telephone: Easier to call up and dial contacts versus built-in system but the system has a lot of echo for the listener so I usually switch to MB Bluetooth after the connection is made to improve this.

Messaging: CarPlay will dictate your messages and allow you to dictate replies - the built-in COMAND system is much more basic.

Siri: Actually useful in the car - Siri understands destinations and adds reminders correctly. Voice commands on the COMAND MB system was so bad I gave up using it years ago.

Bugs/Issues: GPS accuracy is best with the iPhone in the cup holder versus pocket. Echo on phone calls (switch Bluetooth to MB to correct this). Can’t see temperature settings for AC until you switch out of CarPlay mode. Reverse camera switches automatically but forward camera needs you to switch out of CarPlay mode too.

Overall: Not quite as good as built-in CarPlay but very close and the best solution I have tried for pre-2018’s.

Happy to answer any questions if you have an interest.

Screenshots: (Note I have SplitView screen so photos have some rainbow effects, not visible in actual use):

 

So have you swapped to a new phone? I upgraded my iPhone and can't figure out how to get the new phone to connect wirelessly anymore. Wired carplay (USB) works similarly without the echo but definitely with the GPS issues

 

@Mandingo interesting that your car has SplitView and the Joyeauto unit works for you. I messaged with them about compatibility with a 2015 w222 with SplitView and was told they're not compatible. I suppose the Joyeauto box for 2014 cars might be a different unit from the 2015- cars?

 

Yeah, not sure if the systems changed from year to year but I did get a new special build from Joyeauto to flash plus the dip switches were a different configuration. But it works great.

 

What was the best installation resource you used? Thanks.

 

Is Joyeauto still the best route to go to retrofit Apple CarPlay?

 

I have the RoadTop unit and prefer it because you don't have to install an external mic!

 

Thanks for the reply. I didn’t see an option on the Road Top website for 2015 S550.

 

You are right I do not see it on their site anymore. Or available from other resellers. Regardless I am pretty sure it was just a rebranded JoyEAuto unit.

 

Still running Joyeauto in my S63 18 months later, still happy with it, would still recommend.

 

Thanks for the update. Does the Joyeauto unit need an external microphone?

Also, does the phone drive the updates to how CarPlay looks and works?

 

Yes it uses its own microphone. CarPlay itself improves with each iOS update on the phone, currently iOS16.0.

 

I've begun scouting around for a carplay box for our '14 W222 since the navigation system is showing it's age pretty badly compared to smartphone options these days (which is ironic, I remember when we first got the car almost 9 years ago and marveling how good the system was).

My primary unanswered question is how the track forward/backward works when Carplay (e.g. Apple Music, Spofity, etc)is the source; are there no other control options aside from going into the Now Playing screen and using the control knob to skip? Switching back and forth between the maps and the music screen just to change tracks (ignoring the 3-square dashboard in Carplay) seems really inconvenient. Can anyone with a unit shed light on this?

 

I have the RoadTop unit. Pretty sure it is the same as JoyEAuto.

I can go back and forth tracks with the Comand knob. As you noted, this is very inconvenient. I can also go forward (skip) tracks by pushing the middle touchpad button (with the bump on it). I use this very often.

 

Thank you for the response! When you say this:
Is this only when carplay's Now Playing screen is on the screen? Or does it work from anywhere in Carplay? E.g. You're viewing apple maps, and when you jog the dial to the right it does a "track forward".

I wouldn't be concerned about it if it weren't for the fact that the 2014 W222 there's no touchpad with a track forward nub- only the telephone keypad buttons, they replaced it with the touchpad in 2015.
And overall, I'm interpreting that there's no way to skip in any way from Comand when carplay is the source? So steering wheel controls are out of the question then.

 

And one other thing that popped into my head- do the nav/media shortcut buttons do anything in carplay? Like Nav would open apple maps, and media takes you to the now-playing. I know that in some of these carplay units, the Tel button summons siri.

 

The only shortcut buttons I have found are BACK and TEL (Siri, as you point out). The skip forward a track can be done from Now Playing, using Siri voice or using Apple Watch (if you have one) or the combined Home Screen with maps plus music controls. I use the last option the most since I like to see the map and music controls at the same time.

 

Understood! I’m very surprised by that- you’d have thought they’d have those buttons act as shortcuts within CarPlay same as other automakers do, since they clearly are able to program them.

The track control is really a bummer- but there might be a workaround by telling the phone to use Bluetooth Audio directly to Comand as the audio output instead of the default when in CarPlay. Naturally cannot test this until we have a unit. Otherwise, if we were to use it everyday this would be a deal breaker, but this is likely only going to be used when we need a navigation system.

Thanks for your answers on all this! You’ve been incredibly helpful.

 

I set up the configuration you described by re-routing audio through Bluetooth while still in CarPlay. The good news is it works - the music played and I could skip tracks forward and back using the steering wheel controls while the driver screen showed the Media menu and center screen showed maps. The bad news is that spoken driving directions no longer played through that channel while music was playing. This might have been because I still had AUX connected at the same time but there is definitely a potential issue here because I remember getting Bluetooth to play music and driving directions at the same time used to be an issue before I added CarPlay.

So if you’re ok with disabling spoken driving directions you can have steering wheel music controls and CarPlay maps at the same time. YMMV if you disconnect AUX too.

One more “low tech” angle on this - remember if you can safely see your iPhone while it is connected to CarPlay and playing music you still can have the music playback controls on the phone screen - the car screen shows maps and your iPhone is a “second screen” providing the music playback controls. Not as elegant but it works.

 

I have the Joyeauto unit in my W221. Obviously different generations but the procedure you described (viewing apple maps, and when you jog the dial to the right it does a "track forward") works in my vehicle. I like to think they would've included that functionality across their MB retrofit units.

 

I see! It’s a shame the iPhone won’t send default Navi commands through the audio output but I think that some apps- Waze, for example- you can manually pick where Navi commands get sent. One such option I used way back in 2015 was to have the commands “sent” to the host via a fake phone call. Much the same way as how Siri shows up on older Bluetooth phone systems.

But nonetheless very nice to know this is a viable option, thank you! There are instances where I do turn off spoken directions and just leave the map up, so this is not a big deal to me.

I don’t think that disconnecting the Aux would do anything to CarPlay- I don’t the module has any smarts to tell when the aux is actually connected to the car or not. Again, a real missed opportunity for them not to implement some sort of track display/control via the USB interface it ultimately uses to send audio. Perhaps in a later revision they will? Since it does seem there have been notable changes to these sorts of modules (better display quality, no external mic needed, etc) as time has gone on.

 

joeshannon095 is 100% correct, the jog right/left control works on music track forward/back when viewing maps on the W222. Problem solved.

 

That’s great! I mis-read his post initially, but I’m extremely glad to hear this works.

Would have been nice if MB had followed through with their promised official CarPlay retrofit all those years ago, but overall you guys have proven to me that this is a very good solution overall. I really appreciate your time taken to answer my questions!