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You Won't Believe How Easy it is to Upgrade your 2018 Camry and Sienna for Apple CarPlay

I have a service appointment at my local Toyota dealership this week to add Apple CarPlay to my 2018 Toyota Camry XLE. This is really exciting news for me! Thousands of Camry and Sienna owners will be notified in the coming with the same great news.
2018 Toyota Camry

In a move to strengthen its image and branding with its multimedia entertainment features and benefits, Toyota is offering a software update to retrofit 2018 Camry and 2018 Sienna vehicles with the popular program Apple CarPlay. They will also be updating systems with Amazon Alexa compatibility as well. On a side note, Android Auto will not be included in this update, for all the Google users reading this.

Eligible Camry and Sienna owners will be notified by email starting May 15th and running through the Summer. They will be instructed to contact their local Toyota service departments to schedule their software update appointments.

Based on initial testing, installation time will run anywhere from 15 minutes to one hour. Average installation time has averaged 30 minutes so far. The length of time you will actually be waiting at your dealership for full installation depends on each individual dealership’s traditional wait times.

Toyota is recommending that dealerships perform this installation at no charge to customers, in order to improve its image as a leader in multimedia technology. However, they do caution this is determined by each dealership, and that there may be a small installation service fee charged.

I bought my 2018 Toyota Camry XLE a year ago, and I was disappointed to learn Toyota was adding Apple CarPlay for the 2019 models the following year (See 2019 Toyota RAV4 Trim Levels Explained). I even briefly considered trading mine in for the 2019 to take advantage of CarPlay. I couldn’t be more thrilled with this news that I will be rewarded for my loyalty instead of punished. I hope many others can take advantage of this exciting upgrade!

What do you think of this news? Will you be scheduling your Apple CarPlay upgrade this Summer too?

In addition to writing for Torque News, I also run a popular Toyota review and how-to YouTube channel called “Toyotajeff in Raleigh.” I encourage everyone to check it out and subscribe.

Also see: The Man Behind the One Million Mile Tacoma.

You can reach Jeff Teague on Twitter at @toyotajeff1 and tweet him tips for new stories.

Automotive News
Toyota

Comments

JonB (not verified)    May 20, 2019 - 10:18PM

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Thanks, very much, for the info, though it wasn't the answer I was hoping for. But then I guess I ought to be grateful that Toyota has at least provided the upgrade... My dealer is not charging me anything, so I'll let them do the upgrade next Tuesday.

Matt M (not verified)    May 22, 2019 - 8:14PM

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Jeff, I went to the dealership this morning and they performed the update, and CARPLAY seems to be working well, but my Entune System says it needs to download an update, but even connected to Bluetooth it does not perform any download. Also, I don’t believe Alexa was installed, as I downloaded the Alexa + Toyota app, but it cannot “discover” my vehicle. I think the download was ended prematurely, and the full download was not completed. Any thoughts, Matt

jeff weiner (not verified)    May 22, 2019 - 10:25PM

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Matt
I think I just opened Entune on my iPhone and then the car began to download Entune on the head unit
As far as Alexa, it does not work with iPhone at this time. Only works with Android. Toyota said it’s coming to iPhone in summer.
Hope this helps

JEFF WEINER (not verified)    May 23, 2019 - 10:36AM

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Matt
I had read it will be available in the summer and only android works with Alexa. Ill check it out
thanks

jeff weiner (not verified)    May 23, 2019 - 3:41PM

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Tried it out. Not sure if I would use it . Can’t have CarPlay running with Alexa. Maybe if I had Android it would be more useful

Matt M (not verified)    May 23, 2019 - 11:22PM

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Jeff, my CarPlay works great so far. As for Entune, I had to do a hard reset on the head until, re-pair my phone and delete and reinstall the app, and reboot my phone as well to get the download to work properly.

Once I completed those steps, it downloaded as normal, and the Alexa app was installed on the head unit.

With the Alexa + Toyota app on my phone, I am able to use Alexa “hands free” which is nice, but I will most probably use CarPlay more than Entune, and I am able to use Siri with it as well.

Thank you for all your information throughout this process. Hope my post can help anyone having similar issues I had with Entune.

John (not verified)    May 24, 2019 - 12:38PM

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Well, I had the CarPlay retrofit done yesterday. It worked just fine. Funny story though, they did not have a thumb drive to do it.... so I provided one..... and when i got it back, it still has all the files on it.... so if any of you need them, I actually have the two files needed to update and add CarPlay & Alexa. Pick a spot to host them and ill put them there for you guys to enjoy. I'll check back here in a few hours. Take care!

MG (not verified)    May 27, 2019 - 4:25PM

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Yeah man -- post them if you can. I contacted my dealership and their service department said they would get back to me. Since then, all I've received is daily automated spam emails from their incompetent sales team trying to sell me a new car and asking if I've made any decisions yet. I've responded multiple times too and yet nobody follows up and the spam continues to flow. If it's as simple as connecting a thumb drive and clicking some buttons, I'd rather just do it my damn self.

John Carbuccia (not verified)    April 21, 2023 - 4:53PM

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That's awesome that you got the files, is there anyway you can post them somewhere on Box or Dropbox so that I can get them? I've not been successful at finding the files needed to upgrade my 2018 Camry radio to work with CarPlay.

Dan Thompson (not verified)    May 25, 2019 - 12:06AM

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I have a 2019 Tacoma with the jbl audio upgrade. Will there be a CarPlay download for that model. I have had it on my last 2 cars and miss it badly. I don’t want to have to change the headunit.

JEFF WEINER (not verified)    May 26, 2019 - 10:19PM

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dan
You need Entune 3.0 to upgrade to Carplay. I don't think your truck has Entune 3.0. If its not Entune 3.0. , most likely never be uodated because of Head unit and usb port differences

JEFF W (not verified)    May 27, 2019 - 2:10AM

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Dan
I don't think your truck will get Carplay. It will only work on Entune 3.0 and I do not think Tacoma trucks have that system. The USB port is different on Entune 3 cars. I hope I am wrong but....

Steve (not verified)    May 29, 2019 - 9:36AM

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I just called Toyota and asked me for my VIN # and said that my 2018 Camry could not be updated to Apple CarPlay. I have a 2018 Camry SE. Can you tell me why? this bogus. so Frustrated

Theo L (not verified)    May 29, 2019 - 9:39AM

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Took my car in yesterday 5/28 at 7am and they still haven't figured it out. Saying it is having trouble accepting the software. Any idea if they are supposed to hook it up to a laptop to make it work or a USB? Hopefully they figure it out today...

JEFF WEINER (not verified)    May 29, 2019 - 11:57AM

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Very easy to do. I did it myself. Need a USB drive and plug into the port. The software and instructions are on Toyotanation.
It takes under 1 hr. If you have a 2018 Camry with either the Panasonic or Pioneer unit, its a piece of cake.

nap man (not verified)    June 29, 2019 - 2:14PM

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Please provide the URL and/or the search criteria you used to find the "software and instructions are on Toyotanation".
Is the update for Entune3 and/or Android Auto (which I need). Does anyone know which models are upgradeable?

Jeff Weiner (not verified)    June 6, 2019 - 9:31PM

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Many dealers are not charging. The software is free to them. They only have to plug into USB and wait. I did mine myself and it took 45 minutes

Blair (not verified)    June 10, 2019 - 11:09AM

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I just called my dealer in Brandon, FL about the update. I was told it would be $280 (plus tax) and it would take 2 hours. I was not happy about that and it did not schedule the service. I wonder if anyone in the central FL has found a dealer who would do it faster and much cheaper?

Hang (not verified)    June 11, 2019 - 5:16PM

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Was in the dealership this morning in Fremont, CA and they told me this is a 3G downloading and will take 2.5 hours, and they also charged me $270 for that. Left without upgrading my 2018 Camry.

Angie (not verified)    June 19, 2019 - 2:50PM

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I just called Dublin dealership and they quoted me $225+tax for install. I asked specifically if it was available for JBL system. They assured me it did. I also asked why they were charging when other dealerships appear not to. They didn’t like the question, I don’t think.

How easy is it to install?