Tanner Marlar is a career-long journalist covering the automotive techincal industry. From the best and worst infotainment systems to ground-breaking innovations in the automotive space, Tanner has all the information you need. In his spare time, Tanner runs his own photography business, capturing motorsport memories at tracks across the country.
I'm in my car a lot. I put around 35k miles on my daily driver each year, bouncing between racetracks, hunting trips, and plenty more as an extreme sports videographer and photographer. On many of those miles, my phone signal drifts in and out, and if you've ever been in an area with no service and had to use Apple CarPlay, you know that once those bars drop, it's about as useful as a dull knife or a paper hammer.
So what did I do? I had to get smart and find a few Apple CarPlay workarounds that let the system still work, even if my phone didn't. See, Apple CarPlay relies on your phone's signal for things like navigation, music streaming, messaging, and all the other great features it usually provides. Losing a phone signal doesn't necessarily mean CarPlay will stop working altogether, but a few features may disappear if your phone doesn't have a stable connection. Here are four simple fixes you can use to keep your navigation, entertainment, and communication options running smoothly if you're ever driving through the same rural places I do on a regular basis.
Download your maps before the road disappears
The best time to prepare for a dead zone is before you hit one
A few times a year, I hit the road down to the Texas coast to video and document a few fishing trips for clients. On that drive, a sign says, "no fuel for 120 miles." If there's no fuel for that long, you can almost guarantee that there's no phone signal for that long, either. So how do you fix a 120-mile navigation drop? You download your directions before you ever leave the house.
The steps are fairly simple. Just open Maps → tap the profile picture or initials → select offline maps, then add a new map → pick the area you expect to travel through, and download. Downloaded maps can still provide expected arrival times and turn-by-turn navigation without a Wi-Fi or cellular connection. However, they can't monitor traffic conditions, but if you go through an area that re-establishes your connection, you'll get a refresh. Also, make sure you download the entire relevant region, and if it looks like you might drift in and out of one, download both.
Download your music before streaming goes silent
Static isn't a good road trip playlist
Streaming music and podcasts also requires a cellular or Wi-Fi connection, and can also be fixed with a simple download. However, there are a few things to consider. You might ask, "Tanner, why don't I just listen to the radio?" Because, believe it or not, there are still some areas of the good ol' U.S. of A. that don't even get radio signal. At times like these, why not download your favorite album or, better yet, one of your favorite audiobooks?
Those downloads are typically managed within your streaming app of choice and vary by platform, so check there for the appropriate processes. That said, it's a good idea to check the download status and make sure the file works before hitting the road. You don't want to reach those desolate stretches and find out that, actually, your phone automatically deleted those files because you hadn't opened them yet.
Don't assume Siri and messaging will work normally
Your digital co-pilot has some blind spots
I might be one of the world's biggest proponents of using voice commands on the road. However, at times like these, they don't always work. Some voice command functions, like messaging, navigation, and other communication features, rely on you having a phone signal. That means that even if you have maps downloaded, simply telling Siri to find a location within those maps may not work as intended.
So what's the solution? You need to keep your important addresses on hand, written down, at all times. For instance, I meet my client groups at the same piers in each city that I work out of. But instead of relying on Siri and voice commands to get me there through my downloaded maps, I always punch in the place's actual address, because it doesn't require Siri to search through whatever weak or nonexistent phone signal I have.
Run a dead-zone drill before you leave
A little prep beats a lot of roadside frustration
Want to know the best way to prepare for the open road? Run what's known as a dead-zone drill before you leave the house. Download a map and some audio, then temporarily disable cellular data to see which pictures remain available. Then you can test offline navigation through CarPlay's interface, rather than relying solely on whatever Maps program you're using. Turning off cell data isn't quite the same as losing a signal, but it's as close as you can get to getting a good practice run in.
Obviously, this kind of prep can't replicate real-life emergency situations or guarantee coverage everywhere, but if you feel more comfortable in those situations, you'll be more readily able to work around it if the time comes, and be less frustrated when that signal inevitably drops and your CarPlay program becomes as useful to your driving experience as Microsoft Paint.