2011 IS350 - Stereo upgrade

[water]

Love my car, except for the fact i cannot stream bluetooth music. I believe the 2013 updated head unit (with 3 buttons at the bottom instead of 4) streams music. 

Are there any recent verified modifications which will let me modify my current stereo to stream music or apple car play etc, or is it easy to source/install a 2013 head unit into a 2011?

[Atlantis]

This was the easiest solution I found a while back:

https://www.tp-link.com/au/home-networking/entertainment-device/ha100/

Cheap, not permanent, sound quality is decent. Still have to control music from your phone though. No biggie if you have it in a holder already.

[water]

Thanks. The laws are really tough here on touching your mobile phone while driving though, cant risk a $400 fine just from changing a song 😞

[Atlantis]

https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/safety-and-road-rules/driver-safety/mobile-phones-and-driving

As long as the phone is in a cradle, a fully licenced driver is allowed to use the phone to control music.

Edited March 7, 2020 by Atlantis

[water]

Thats interesting, i knew you were allowed to "touch" a mobile phone in a "cradle" for gps, but didnt know it also applied for music functions

[Alexusander]

The bizarre thing is they can control iPods (remember those?) via USB but not iPhones nor Android. AND of course only have Bluetooth for calls.

It's obviously just firmware that could be changed to make it integrated but that would prevent you from buying a later model Lexus...

I searched Apple for an app that would make it behave like an iPod on USB but to no avail. Haven't searched if Android can trick the USB port to mimic iPod.

Bluetooth would be so much simpler.

[water]

Your wrong there, you can definitley plug an iphone in and it will work just like an ipod, i know because thats what ive been doing for the past few years

BUT...

The newer the iphone/ios, the glitchier the experience. Eg: Back when i had an iphone 6s plugged in via usb cable, the music worked 100% fine, when i moved to an iphone xr, it started randomly disconnecting, i had to restart the iphone to get it to work correct. 

But the funny thing is, my mrs has the EXACT same iphone as me, with the exact same ios but my car doesnt recognise her phone at all. 

I can also plug a usb stick in, but it seems to have a limit in regards to how much music it can actually play. Eg if i put a few gb worth and say 600 songs, it will mostly play the same songs over and over (on random), so out of that 600, its only actually recognising 200

[Alexusander]

On 3/13/2020 at 8:04 PM, water said:

Your wrong there, you can definitley plug an iphone in and it will work just like an ipod, i know because thats what ive been doing for the past few years

BUT...

The newer the iphone/ios, the glitchier the experience. Eg: Back when i had an iphone 6s plugged in via usb cable, the music worked 100% fine, when i moved to an iphone xr, it started randomly disconnecting, i had to restart the iphone to get it to work correct. 

But the funny thing is, my mrs has the EXACT same iphone as me, with the exact same ios but my car doesnt recognise her phone at all. 

I can also plug a usb stick in, but it seems to have a limit in regards to how much music it can actually play. Eg if i put a few gb worth and say 600 songs, it will mostly play the same songs over and over (on random), so out of that 600, its only actually recognising 200

Not wrong. I've tried iPhone 4's and later, but they don't work. Weird thing is sometimes the display shows the music track title/artist for a few secs but then drops out. I can not get iPhones to play at all.

It's a pity there's no firmware upgrade available (?), particularly for Bluetooth streaming music. The hardware is there already.