Not everyone is happy with GM’s decision to phase out the Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone connectivity features from GM EVs. A study from June 2024 revealed that one-third of car buyers insist on having these features in their next car, and 88 percent of you said in our poll that excluding these features is a dealbreaker.
As the aftermarket often does, it identified a need in the marketplace and fulfilled that need. Last November, White Automotive introduced an upgrade kit that brought Android Auto and Apple CarPlay to GM EVs. The upgrade kit provided OEM-style integration of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with all the functions and conveniences smartphone users normally expect from these systems.
However, the product has been discontinued. It’s unclear why it’s no longer available, but the webpage where it’s normally for sale says, “This product has been discontinued.”
“We have made the difficult decision to discontinue this product,” White Automotive’s website says. “Rather than removing it from our website entirely, we wanted to leave this notice so customers are aware of its discontinuation. This was not a decision we made lightly, but due to a variety of factors, continuing to offer this product is no longer viable in the long term.”
The discontinuation may be related to the fact that White Automotive only offered the upgrade kit through GM dealership installation. Its installation was complex enough that it couldn’t be bought and installed in your garage. White Automotive required a dealership that was “up to the task of not only meticulously upgrading your EV, but also one that will continue to provide stellar service after the fact.”
For the current 2025 model year, the only GM EVs with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are the Cadillac Lyriq, GMC Hummer EV, Chevy Silverado EV (but only the base WT trim), and the Chevy BrightDrop commercial van. Notably, it’s not available at all on the GMC Sierra EV since it has no work truck equivalent to the Chevy Silverado EV WT.
The options for GM EVs with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are shrinking, so we recommend acting quickly if you want one with these handy features.
Comments
This was only for sale for 2 days on their website, was had very strict rules that threatened to ‘ban your vin number’ if you didn’t follow their rules.
You either sent in your radio module or bought a VNCI MDI2 tool and had them remotely assist you in unlocking AA and Carplay.
To me it sounded like they were trying to avoid anyone from GM from buying their service and reverse engineering what WAMs did.
I dont understand why GM wont allow CarPlay on the EVs. I wouldnt buy an EV but i have used the new systems and they are still trash and not as good and simple as CarPlay.
The official reasons from GM: they want to control the driving experience (Supercruise specifically) and don’t want Apple / Google to steal customer and GM’s proprietary data.
Ultimately, it really comes down to money.
GM has a bunch of services it wants to sell you. It spent a lot of money on its new Google-based infotainment system coupled with its EV architecture and sees that companies like Tesla and Rivian have done the same thing and have been successful.
Personally, I don’t think the same rules apply to legacy autos like GM considering they already offered it for almost a decade and then took it away.
I think GM will eventually cave and offer both services that customers can access via over-the-air update.
The new Google Automative based software in my Sierra EV is actually way better than Android Auto ever was. Not only is it more stable and more personalized but also way better integrated with the car.
I love Apple CarPlay. I use very often and in fact never use the Navigation system embedded in the sound system of my 2024 XT6 or 2023 CT5. I hope it’s still available when I order my next new Cadillac, in 2026.
The gm navigation is garbage. Car Play is so much better. Glad I don’t need a new chevy.
The “GM navigation” in this case is actually Google Maps which is arguably the best navigation system there is.
There are many things that Apple CarPlay does better than the native Google system that is being discussed here. Navigation isn’t one of them.
that’s what I told myself when I overlooked my “never buying another car without CarPlay” rule to take advantage of the sick pricing on Equinox EVs. Having lived with the system for 6 months, I do not agree with you at all. This is not Google Maps like on your phone. It’s a similar experience, but it’s so much clunkier to use in the car. It doesn’t understand your commands too often. It doesn’t start navigating without you tapping for it to do so (you can tell it “Navigate to X” instead of “Get directions to X” and that should do it, but it doesn’t always work). It’s now started asking me randomly if I want to use Waze or Google Maps and whether that’s a One Time or Always decision. But it doesn’t seem to follow any logic about when it decides to ask me again if I really meant that, or remember what I already told it.
And don’t get me started on how bad the texting is with the system. It’s actually super distracting and frustrating when CarPlay or Android Auto would have been perfect.
Again, this isn’t like using an Android phone connected to your car. The software just isn’t good enough.
It’s inconsistent. It’s slow. It glitches out plenty. It’s honestly ruining the ownership experience for no reason. The very few times I need to navigate with charging, I can use the in-built stuff. The rest of the time, I want to use my phone, and I can’t. And it’s not about money because all connected services are free for 8 years. And it’s not about SuperCruise because the nav has nothing to do with that, and they have SC on the Lyric, and it works just fine despite having CP and AA. And same on all the Honda Ultium vehicles that have SC. The ZDX and Prologue have AA and CP, and you can get their rebadged SuperCruise on both. And they don’t ban AA and CP on their ICE cars, many of which also have SuperCruise and other subscription services.
I genuinely love my Equinox otherwise, but my overall experience is too frustrating because of this, and I won’t break my rule again. I just keep hoping GM reverses position here.
I’m not surprised this was pulled. I can’t imagine a dealer would want to do this work for fear of GM taking action against them. Also, whenever the software gets updated, I’d imagine there could be issues with this breaking or the update breaking because of it, bricking your car. Doesn’t seem like anyone would want that liability. That’s why I never looked into having it installed when it was available despite really wanting it.
Very similar reason (plus all the required subscriptions) why I chose not to get the Optiq I was really, really close to signing papers for. Great driving car (even though they hold back on the acceleration potential), but I guess they shouldn’t have let me sit in it and play for so long after the 5th test drive.
Good to know, I had no idea there was such a difference in the voice command/comprehension.
You can take your Equinox EV to a dealership and ask them to perform a comprehensive Ultium Update (bulletin #24-NA-143), they’ll update every module on the vehicle that requires it, including the radio. This might address your issue.
I’m interested in your perspective on Apple Maps vs. Google Maps. I’ve been using both in my Ford and have found Google Maps to be significantly superior, particularly in terms of route planning and point-of-interest accuracy. What specific advantages have you found with Apple Maps
Maps from play store are same with what I have in my phone. BUT!!!! My equinox EV has no cell service when I drove out from my home for a while (10-15 mins) which I may choose wrong route because no live traffic. If use apple carpaly won’t have problem.
Yes! I forgot about that issue, too! That’s happened to me like 10% of the time. The best is when it has a good signal but tells you there’s a connection issue. I’m like, “No you don’t!”
Maps automatically caches maps used in navigation, so the trip won’t be interrupted. However, it won’t reroute or update traffic information without a cell connection.
My Buick Enclave is my last GM product. Too bad because we really enjoy the Enclave. GM is just not the only game in town and we will be playing in someone else’s ballpark when we trade.
Ok…we’ll alert the media.
Sometime along the way, Apple was demanding a bunch of data/access to specific vehicle data from the manufacturer in order to include Carplay. A considerable amount of that data wasn’t necessarily required for Carplay as we currently know it. However, Apple could use it to further its own purposes, it wasn’t long ago it was considering building its own vehicles. Having a whole mess of vehicle data that it wouldn’t otherwise be able to get is at worst intellectual property theft, or using your own popularity to gain an advantage over what could be your future competitor. It struck me as real shady.
So instead of giving the “data/access to specific vehicle data” to Apple, they want to give it to Google? Google is much more likely to collect data and use it for their own purposes because it’s their on-gong business model. At least Apple put some of their reputation on the line because of a perceived/marketed privacy advantage. Google is all about the sale of personal information.
There are a few quality videos on YT that show how to workaround not having ACP or AA. For iPhone users, it’s mostly using Siri for voice commands after you sync your phone via Bluetooth. That way you can send and receive text mgs as well as phone calls. Text msgs won’t display on screen but they don’t with CarPlay now for safety reasons. Between that and the native apps downloadable from the Google Play store, pretty much all the functionality remains, if you know the workarounds. The exception is AppleMusic, which is not available as an app, but most people use Spotify if they stream music.
Overall, it’s a worthwhile trade-off for the better integration with the vehicles telematics than is possible with a CarPlay.
“The discontinuation may be related to the fact that White Automotive only offered the upgrade kit through GM dealership installation.”
True enough. And by doing that they assured that gm had a say on whether their dealers could offer the product. According The Drive, there was only one gm dealer that initially signed up to offer it (Lafontaine in metro Detroit) and GM told them to drop it pronto. End of story.
We’ve been shopping a Silverado EV, and the lack of CarPlay is a problem for me. I’m often driving for several hours at a time, and being able to easily play and respond to texts by voice is a valuable feature. TBH, that’s the most important function of CarPlay for us.
I’ve been driving GM trucks for decades now. I had a 4 year period where I bought an F150 and I won’t say it was a bad truck, but I did go back to my GMC Sierra and swore I was never going to deviate again. All that is changed. Android auto is right up there with heated seats. Non-Negotiable. I won’t drive a truck without it.