In this review, I look at the Carple Wireless CarPlay Adapter. You can buy this wireless CarPlay dongle for $49.99 from Amazon US.
Carple might be a new name in the wireless CarPlay scene, but this Korean brand has gone all-in with its first adapter—developing the hardware, software, and PCB design completely in-house. That kind of ground-up effort usually brings innovation, or at least a more refined experience, but while the Carple Wireless CarPlay Adapter gets a lot right on the surface, it doesn’t quite deliver on everything it could have.
Unboxing & First Impressions
In its Apple Watch-style box design, you’re greeted with just the adapter itself, a folded paper manual, and a USB-A to USB-C converter—nothing more, nothing less, but a lot of effort has gone into this very well-packaged and designed adapter. The adapter measures 50 x 40 x 9 mm, so it’s relatively compact, but it still follows the older tethered cable design rather than the more modern thumb-drive format. That means if the cable or connector fails, the whole adapter becomes useless, which is a bit of a backward step when so many adapters today are going all-in on discrete, port-hugging designs.
That said, the build quality is a noticeable highlight. The aluminum edges give it a premium feel, and the chamfered sides and fingerprint-resistant tempered glass on both faces add a little bit of class. Its design is more than just eye candy too—the all-metal and glass build helps keep internal temperatures down, which is useful since there are no visible vents or cooling cut-outs on the body.
Interface & Functionality
The launch screen is definitely a step up from most adapters I’ve tested. A crisp colour graphic appears, showing you the adapter’s Bluetooth name and a way to contact their support website for more information. Tapping the screen brings you straight back to the native infotainment screen, which is a nice touch. Unfortunately, that polish doesn’t extend to the adapter’s boot time, which comes in at a fairly sluggish 15 seconds. The adapter redeems itself from its slow opening by having the quickest Bluetooth pairing tested on a wireless CarPlay adapter—about 6 seconds in my testing—but you’re still looking at around 20 seconds in total before you’re fully into wireless CarPlay from initial powering of the adapter.
Its 6th generation wireless performance once connected is largely solid. Spotify showed a 1.41-second delay from touch to audio feedback, which is pretty standard these days. Mic quality is good, with no noticeable boost or over-processing, and phone call delay audio returned after 0.36 seconds, which again puts it in the middle of the pack. Music playback is clean, and GPS passthrough for Apple Maps worked without issue in my tests. Steering wheel controls for skipping tracks also work well, but like some adapters at this price point, there’s no navigation passthrough to the instrument cluster, nor is there support for switching between multiple phones.
One thing this adapter does have up its sleeve is its Smart Band Technology. Most wireless CarPlay adapters struggle with random WiFi dropouts while driving. It’s not really their fault—Wi-Fi just isn’t designed for moving vehicles. The dropouts usually happen more in cities or busy traffic than on open roads, and that’s because your adapter’s WiFi is clashing with external networks. Both are fighting to use the same frequency bands, and they end up talking over each other. The Carple adapter monitors this frequency and adjusts it at launch to the best Wi-Fi band with little competition, which is fine when stationary but a lot different when on the move, especially through busy cities with multiple wifi networks.
Menus & Settings
Although aesthetically designed, Carple has kept the settings menu on the basic side. You’ve got audio quality options—Lossless to Lossy—along with a GPS toggle, a startup delay setting, manually adjusting the Wi-Fi channel band, and the option to update the firmware. That’s about it. There’s no fine-tuning for media sync delay or customisation beyond the essentials, which is disappointing considering this adapter was built from scratch. I’d have expected more control or advanced settings, especially given the thought put into the visuals and hardware.
My Impressions
For $49.99 from Amazon US, the Carple Wireless CarPlay Adapter lands somewhere around average. On paper, it’s an impressive debut—good build quality, a premium design, and a smoother-than-usual UI. But in practice, its older form factor, slower startup, and basic settings menu hold it back from greatness. It doesn’t feel quite current in an age of ultra-compact, plug-and-go wireless adapters.
Still, credit where it’s due—Carple’s first outing ties for third place overall in my wireless CarPlay adapter performance rankings, on par with the MMB Mini, and that’s not a bad place to start. I just wish they’d taken more of a leap rather than echoing past designs and limitations. If they take what they’ve learned here and push forward with a second-gen model, there’s real potential. But as it stands, the Carple Wireless CarPlay Adapter is a sleek, decent performer—just one that plays it a little too safe in a market that’s moving fast.
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 – Brief overview
0:55 – Unboxing
1:44 – Features, design & size
4:09 – Installation & demo
4:45 – Boot menu
5:12 – BT pairing connection
5:28 – Boot up speed test
5:44 – Performance
5:55 – Maps, GPS, cluster support
6:24 – IP Config Menu
7:10 – Music audio delay test
7:46 – Calling delay & microphone test
8:17 – GPS Navigation Delay
8:31 – My Impressions
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