Volvo Owners With iPhones, Rejoice: Apple CarPlay Now Available
By Patrick Masterson
July 29, 2022
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2022 Volvo V90 Cross Country | Cars.com photo by Christian Lantry
We’ve privately bemoaned Volvo’s lineup-wide rollout of its latest-generation multimedia system run on Android Automotive OS because it left Apple users with nowhere to turn. The luxury brand was listening, evidently: A new over-the-air software update includes the addition of Apple CarPlay to vehicles equipped with Google Built-In.
Affected vehicles may include the C40 Recharge, XC40 Recharge, and XC60 and XC60 Recharge SUVs; V90, V90 Cross Country and V90 Recharge wagons; and S90 and S90 Recharge sedans. Users need only download the new software via the in-car touchscreen. From there, iPhone users will be able to connect and access all the usual apps that CarPlay provides.
Additionally, Volvo spokesperson Russell Datz confirmed in an email to Cars.com that this latest update includes “improved compatibility” for the iPhone, which includes wireless charging. A reduced rate of false “no entry” traffic-sign alerts and “drivetrain optimization” tweaks round out the bundle of upgrades.
One caveat in Volvo’s official announcement was that the timing of this release and its subsequent OTA availability “may differ between models and powertrains.” Datz, however, clarified that this was merely said to account for a “staggered rollout that occurs over about a week with every OTA. We can confirm that at this time, all models are now eligible for this one.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated July 29, 2022, with further details from Volvo.
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Chief Copy Editor
Patrick Masterson
Patrick Masterson is Chief Copy Editor at Cars.com. He joined the automotive industry in 2016 as a lifelong car enthusiast and has achieved the rare feat of applying his journalism and media arts degrees as a writer, fact-checker, proofreader and editor his entire professional career. He lives by an in-house version of the AP stylebook and knows where semicolons can go.