DIYs

Xtrons 7″ Screen + Apple CarPlay Retrofit

Owning several Audis in the past, I’ve had the RNS-E navigation unit before.

It was an adequate solution when it came out, but by 2019’s standards it is ancient and terrible.

The RNS-E II came with my 2012 model year Audi TTRS, and while it boasted some upgrades like a better screen and real-time traffic updates, it was generally the same difficult to use interface that took way too long to enter your destination for it to ever be practical.

Instead, I used my iPhone and a magnetic mount to navigate anywhere I went, and then streamed bluetooth music for entertainment.

This was an okay workaround, but squinting at my screen and dealing with the quirks of the Viseoo Bluetooth dongle got old.

One day I was bored, and had a little extra cash in my PayPal account, so I decided to roll the dice on an Xtrons 7″ Android headunit.

I figured it could stream bluetooth music so at the very least it would be a good replacement for my iPod to Bluetooth dongle that never quite worked well or consistently.

But the newer Android units also have aftermarket solutions for Apple CarPlay, and after driving a loaner Q5 for a few weeks that had CarPlay built in, I got spoiled and really loved the interface, so it was time to get creative and find a way to make it work.

Step one was locating a headunit (the face of the stereo) that was CarPlay compatible. I looked around and there were aftermarket headunits by Pioneer and the like that had CarPlay built in, but those headunits all looked very aftermarket and required a custom face plate for the Audi TT that doesn’t look very clean or OEM.

Instead, I went to Amazon and found a bunch of options by Chinese manufacturer Xtrons that ran Android operating systems. They could be found under $300 and had pretty good specs, so I went with the one that came with Android 9.0 figuring that would be a more recent model.

You can pick one up here:

Xtrons makes a unit for nearly every modern application, so if this one doesn’t work for your model/year Audi just search around as chances are they make one that looks pretty OEM for your exact car.

The nice thing about this headunit is that it retains the steering wheel controls and factory bluetooth microphone, so you don’t lose any features by trying to add new ones.

Next I needed to find a CarPlay adapter. The Xtrons unit I originally purchased never worked, so I sprung an extra $63 for the highest rated one on Amazon, which can be found here:

Last but not least, you’ll need a set of high quality radio keys. Don’t be the cheap ones, you’ll rip the skin off your fingers and then throw them out (ask me how I know). Instead, get these:

With everything I needed, I proceeded to install.

The install was pretty straightforward, as the unit came with a plug and play harness. There was some guess and check to plug all of the wires together correctly, but it didn’t take more than 30 minutes.

This YouTube video does a good job explaining the directions, and you can skip the bluetooth microphone if your car already came with bluetooth from the factory:

If you’re still stuck, this guide has more information, or you can leave me a comment with your question.

Once you’ve confirmed the radio is installed properly and working correctly, insert the CarPlay dongle and plug in an official Apple cable to the USB port. Its a small white box

You’ll need to install the app to run CarPlay first, which can be found by downloading it at: http://121.40.123.198:8080/AutoKit/AutoKit.apk

You can download it to a USB drive, or your phone, to transfer it over to Xtrons and then go to the Applications section to load a new APK file to run AutoKit.

Once the dongle is plugged in, and AutoKit is installed as an app, you should be able to plug your phone in, open the AutoKit app, and get CarPlay!

To make it work best, go to the Settings and choose compatible mode, and be sure not to connect anything else via BlueTooth initially.

If you’re getting the visual but no audio, try loading the normal “Music” app from the Android headunit and that should get audio playing, then head back to AutoKit to restore the CarPlay interface.

It took a little tinkering around at first to get things dialed in, but now it works seemlessly every time.

I simply get in my car, plug in my phone, and I have the Apple CarPlay experience, along with a much better screen, and option to load even more apps.

I plan to eventually wire up the backup camera and play with the other features of the unit, but for less than $400 all in I’m super happy with the upgrade.

The sound quality has also been great and is really not a big difference from the factory (Bose) headunit it replaced.

Some may say the Apple CarPlay interface is overrated, but I must disagree. I love that it reads your texts for you (if you choose), the Google Maps integration makes it super easy to type in a destination, and the big buttons make it easy to change entertainment sources while driving without getting distracted.

For anyone considering it, do yourself a favor and replace the (awful) Audi RNS-E unit with this cheap chinese knock-off and you’ll see just how far technology has come in such a short time.

And if you think youre fine using your phone, well having the same interface with a much larger screen is a really nice feature.

What’s crazy is that the RNS-E navigation unit was part of a $3,000 technology package on my car, and I replaced it with something that cost nearly 10% of that that works 100% better.

I don’t blame Audi for this, but the advantage of running Android is that it can be shared by millions of other devices and cars, which means it makes more sense to update it and add features much more regularly.

Got any questions on the install or features? Hit me up below.

Nick Roshon

Nick has been an Audi owner and fanatic for the last 10 years, and started Nick's Car Blog in 2009 to share DIYs and pictures of his A4. Currently he drives a 2012 Audi TT-RS, and has previously owned a B7 S4, B7 A4, and an 82 Audi Coupe (GT) LeMons race car. In his day job, Nick is a digital marketer and lives in San Diego, CA, USA.

12 Comments

  1. Good Read Nick , and thanks for the link to my guide! These units offer a lot of functionality for very little cost. Love your car and have been following it for a while , ( fellow TTRS owner here)

    Cheers
    Darren @ DriveDetailed.

  2. Hey Darren, thanks for the comment! It’s definitely a mod worth checking out, game changer for the daily commute. I checked out your blog as well, great stuff. Let me know if you’d ever like to collab 🙂

  3. Hello! Did you hook the single up to a USB port on the back of the unit or the mini usb unit on the front? Thanks!

  4. Hello! Thanks for the great guide. One bit I’m confused on is where you’re plugging in the dongle. I’ve now got my Xtrons unit installed and have the dongle…but do I need to use the mini USB on the front of the unit now? How’d u rig it up? Thanks again.
    -Robb

  5. Perfect Timing! as i was getting ready to get a unit with carplay specific.

    Also there is now a XTRONS branded dongle available on Amazon(prime)

    Ill report how it works! should be no issue.

  6. Hey Nik, great guide. There’s a lot of info talking about losing audio from the rear speakers with cars with non Bose systems. Did you run into this issue at all? (I assume all TTRS are the same spec? Non Bose right?)

  7. NIck great article. Want to put this into 2008 Audi S5 B7 (with nav). Also is there a wireless connector for apple car play ?

  8. Hi Nick! I just picked up my 2013 TTRS recently. This Bluetooth thing is absolutely killing me. Tried the tune2air and it has been the bane of my existence. Connects 15% of the time- got a replacement same issue. Thinking about swapping head units. What’s your advice not that you’ve had the Xtrons and that there are many more options out there? Seems like it’s a little harder to install one because of the Bose amp as I’ve read elsewhere. I used to tinker with car electronics but it’s been so long I’m not sure what’s the best route here. Any advice is helpful !

  9. My Xtrons unit crapped out after about 6 months oddly enough – then I sold the car and reverted back to stock and never got around to returning it. I’m not sure if I was unlucky or perhaps the quality sucks on these…other than it stopping working one day randomly I was very happy with it, but that’s a bit “BUT” so idk where that lands for you haha.

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