Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support

Here you'll find our answers to FAQs about Aiir's mobile apps and support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. If your question isn't answered, please contact us.

Do Aiir's mobile apps integrate with Apple CarPlay?

Yes - as of September 2022, our apps support CarPlay. The app's icon appears on the CarPlay screen, you can select a station, and see now playing information.

Do Aiir's mobile apps integrate with Android Auto?

Our mobile apps do not currently integrate with Android Auto.

Do Aiir want to offer integration with Android Auto in their mobile apps?

Yes, absolutely!

Does that mean the apps don't work with Android Auto at all?

It means that you won't see your app's icon on the home screen, so you won't be able to launch the app directly from Auto.

We're unclear whether Auto will allow you to control the audio playing from the app on your phone.

Why do Aiir's apps not currently integrate with Android Auto?

Aiir's mobile apps are built using a technology framework called React Native. This framework allows us to easily maintain a single app codebase for both iOS and Android, without having to hire separate teams to write apps specifically for each platform.

The use of React Native means that we rely on using open source software built by other members of the coding community to include certain functionality in our app.

For CarPlay, we have used an existing package that has been built for React Native. Until August 2022, we were faced with significant bugs in the package which blocked our usage of it. However we were then given guidance by the package's maintainer, and have since worked around these issues.

The maintainer of the package also signaled early in 2022 that they would be adding support for Android Auto too, but as far as we're aware, there has not been any development on this to date.

We are not aware of another React Native package that offers Android Auto integration that is sufficiently well maintained.

Can you give a timescale for when Aiir's apps will integrate with Android Auto?

We cannot currently give a timescale for the integration of Android Auto, as the previously mentioned package has not yet begun work on adding this functionality.

We can appreciate this is frustrating for you, as it is for us, as we're very keen to offer this in our product.

But [another app] has Android Auto, how can Aiir's apps not have this functionality?

We hear you, trust us, we're very keen to have this functionality as soon as we feasibly can.