The Reason Why Apple CarPlay Is Actually Worse For Your Phone

Connecting an iPhone to your Apple CarPlay system is a great way to keep your driving experience hands-free. While CarPlay is a great companion tool, its convenience comes with downsides when you use it extensively.

When you connect an iPhone to CarPlay, especially to a wireless system, it can overheat and lose battery life faster. If this happens often, it may lead to detrimental long-term effects, such as a reduction of your battery lifespan. This happens because the iPhone spends more power to maintain wireless communications while mirroring its content, which demands a lot from your system. This connection uses a lot of your device's processing power, leading the battery charge to drain quickly.

That battery consumption can worsen if you account for regular app use when CarPlay is connected, as you likely still want to listen to music, podcasts, and more while driving. Eventually, your device may run out of battery and overheat during those long drives. Too much of this wears down any phone, even if the device is brand-new, and may force you to buy a new smartphone sooner.

When your battery constantly drains quickly due to Apple CarPlay, you have to charge it often. But there is a limited number of charging and discharging cycles your device can handle before it starts losing charging capacity. While iPhones generally have good batteries, especially the newer models and the Pro Max versions, it's always best to avoid constantly stressing the battery more than necessary. We already rely on smartphones to get us through the day, so the secret to prolonging your iPhone's lifespan is to not let the battery drain too often.

Your phone will eventually heat up the more you use it, as a consequence of its power consumption, even while it's charging. That's because electrical energy is being partly converted into heat, and also because your device's processor is in use. While Apple CarPlay connects to your iPhone, you'll notice that the phone eventually gets warm, and many reasons contribute to this. For one, the use of more processing power — a primary cause of battery drain — also heats your device. As the iPhone needs to remain connected wirelessly, app background data is continually refreshed, and the connection must be maintained, which can heat the phone.

As CarPlay mirrors your iPhone screen on your car's infotainment system, it requires constant use of its GPU, CPU, and GPS if you have location services on, which leads to further heat buildup. This might compel users to switch to a wired connection or adjust settings to extend the iPhone's battery life. But letting your phone continuously overheat will damage the battery, reduce its lifespan, and even damage the display. Sometimes the device will throttle in performance, leading to software malfunctions.