Carplay suddenly stuck on “Connecting” screen
Hey everyone,
I’m honestly running out of ideas and hoping somebody here has seen this before.
My setup:
Cayman 987.2
Sony XAV-AX100
Carlinkit U2W Plus connected via USB
iPhone connected wirelessly to the Carlinkit
I’ve been using this exact setup for almost 2 years and it worked surprisingly well. Occasionally I had small connection issues, but restarting the car always fixed it.
Now for the last 2 days, I can’t get past the “Connecting” screen anymore (see image).
Here’s what happens:
My iPhone connects to the Sony via Bluetooth
My iPhone also connects to the Carlinkit via BOTH Bluetooth and WiFi
The Apple CarPlay icon appears on the Sony screen and I can click it
Then it starts trying to connect to my iPhone
But after that it just loops forever:
it shows my iPhone
tries connecting
loading animation/light
then nothing
retries again
endless loop
Things I already tried:
Factory reset on the Sony head unit
Multiple reboots
Unplugging/replugging the Carlinkit
Disconnecting USB completely
Trying different USB cables
Turning the car off for several minutes so all power fully shuts down
Resetting the Carlinkit through the browser interface
Updating firmware
Factory resetting the Carlinkit
I also noticed:
the light on the Carlinkit is blinking green normally
so it seems like the dongle itself thinks everything is working correctly
What’s weird is:
Everything LOOKS connected correctly
Bluetooth works
WiFi works
Sony sees the iPhone
Carlinkit sees the iPhone
But the CarPlay handshake never completes.
I honestly feel completely stuck at this point. Has anyone experienced this before or found a fix?
Any help would be massively appreciated.