How to Add Apple CarPlay to Your Mazda (2014-2020)

If you drive a Mazda built between 2014 and 2020, you know the frustration the centre console can cause. Limited navigation, outdated system, and a system that feels like a waste as you barely use it. 

When you add Apple CarPlay to your Mazda, that all changes. CarPlay brings a modern system to your dash, mimicking the IOS system, making it much easier to use maps, listen to music on Spotify, and actually use the heads up display without having to muck around with your phone. 

Despite what you might think, installing Apple CarPlay into your Mazda is actually relatively easy. 

We’ve already installed these kits into more than 1,000 cars and shipped over 500 of them around the world and this guide is going to walk you through exactly how it works, what’s involved in installing the system, and how you can upgrade your Mazda within 45 minutes with this new system.

In the video above, we install a complete kit into a 2018 Mazda CX-5 from start to finish. If you'd rather watch than read, it's all there.

Why bother adding Apple CarPlay at all?

The biggest reason people install CarPlay is improved navigation. More and more of us rely on our phones to get around, especially somewhere unfamiliar. Apple CarPlay puts Google Maps straight onto your factory screen, so you get live traffic, better routing, and no temptation to glance down at a handheld phone. 

A phone-use fine in Queensland is over $1,200, and CarPlay keeps your phone in your pocket where it belongs, so it’s definitely worth it to avoid a fine.

Then there's everything else. Your music and podcasts run properly through the car through Spotify. Phone calls and Siri are a button press away. It turns a dated interior into something that feels current, in a car that might be close to ten years old.

Step one: Check that you have the Mazda Connect system

Before you go further, you need to confirm your car has the Mazda Connect system, because that's what this upgrade is built for.

Mazda Connect is the system with the red interface on the main screen. The exact screen shape changes a little bit between models, but if your home menu glows red like the one in the video, you've got the right system for this kit. 

It's fitted to most Mazdas built between 2014 and 2020.

In Australia, that covers nearly the whole range: the Mazda 2, Mazda 3, Mazda 6, CX-3, CX-5, CX-8, CX-9 and the MX-5 (sold as the Miata overseas). So whatever you're driving, there's a strong chance it's covered.

Will I lose any factory features

The great thing about these kits is that you won’t lose any factory features.

A while back, Mazda released a software update that made the Mazda Connect system officially compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. 

So this kit isn't a hack or some dodgy workaround. It's a genuine, Mazda-supported upgrade, which is why everything keeps working the way it should. 

Your steering wheel buttons still control everything. Your reverse camera still pops up the moment you select reverse. If your car has a heads-up display, that stays exactly as it was.

You also keep full access to the original Mazda Connect system. After the upgrade, a small CarPlay icon simply appears in the top corner of your screen, and the Mazda button on your dash takes you straight back to the factory menus whenever you want them. 

You don’t lose any factory features, you’re just adding some great ones.

How the upgrade actually works

Upgrading your Mazda with Apple CarPlay is really simple and there’s only two parts to the job: a software update, then a quick hardware swap. 

Part one: the software update

Most Mazdas left the factory running a version of software that's too old to support Apple CarPlay. 

To check yours, go into your system settings, scroll down to "About," and open the version information. If your operating system version starts with something in the 50s or 60s, you're on the older software.

To run CarPlay, you need to be on version 70 or higher. Every one of our kits includes a USB preloaded with version 74.00.324, which is the final and most up-to-date software Mazda ever released. There won't be another version after it, so you're set for good.

One important detail: the software is region-specific. 

The file for an Australian car isn't the same as the one for Europe or North America, and using the wrong one causes problems. We ship the correct version for your region on a ready-to-go USB, so you never have to go hunting for it.

The update itself takes roughly 20 to 45 minutes depending on your region. In Australia the file is on the larger side, so expect around 45 minutes. 

Lot’s of YouTube videos make this step look terrifying but it honestly isn't. With our separate step-by-step software tutorial, it's about as hard as plugging in a USB and following along.

Part two: the hardware

Once the software is sorted, the hardware swap is straightforward. For these Mazdas, there's only one part to replace: the USB hub.

The factory USB hubs don't support CarPlay, so we swap in an upgraded hub that does. On a CX-5 it lives in the centre console. On a CX-3 or a later Mazda 3 it may sit behind the gear stick instead, but the process is the same wherever it is. 

You pop out the old hub, run a couple of new cables up to the back of the original screen, and you're done.

Running cables to the screen might sound daunting, and this is exactly where a random YouTube tutorial sends you down a rabbit hole, stripping out half the console. We don't do that. 

After a thousand installs we've worked out which pieces actually need to come out and which don't, and we've cut the job down to the bare minimum. On this CX-5, the hardware took us about 40 minutes. Follow a stranger's first attempt online and you could lose half a day.

The part most people get wrong

This next part is worth understanding before you buy any kit, from anyone.

The cheap kits floating around Amazon and AliExpress sell you a part and leave you to it. No region-correct software. No tutorial. You're on your own, trying to match a video filmed by someone doing the install for the very first time. 

That's where DIY upgrades go sideways. People get the hardware in fine, then get stuck on the software, or run the wrong regional file and end up with a system that won't play ball.

That's the real difference with what we do. Every kit comes with the correct software on a USB and a complete, professionally made video tutorial for your exact model. We didn't skip a single step. 

Plenty of our customers had never taken a panel off a car in their life and got it done with ease. Have a read through our Google reviews and you'll see first-timers saying exactly that. 

The install isn't the hard part. Having the right software and clear instructions is, and that's what we've solved.

Wired or wireless?

Our kits come with both. 

The wired version uses a cable plugged into a dedicated USB port, marked with a little phone symbol. 

The wireless version skips that entirely with your phone connecting to CarPlay the moment you get in your car.

Both options run Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, so the choice is really just whether you want to plug in or not.

What is CarPlay like once it's installed

Once you plug in (or connect wirelessly), tap to enable CarPlay, agree on the Mazda screen, allow it on your phone, and you're in the system already. The whole thing launches in seconds and you’ve now got all these benefits at your fingertips.

When the car is parked, the touchscreen works with CarPlay as you'd expect, but once you're moving, the touchscreen switches off and you use the centre jog dial instead. This is a built-in Mazda safety feature, not a quirk of the kit, so it’s unavoidable. 

When you’re moving, the jog dial is still easy to use and control everything. When in reverse, the camera still shows, the Mazda button still takes you home, and the CarPlay icon sits quietly in the corner whenever you want it.

It genuinely feels like modern tech dropped into an older car, making for a much smoother driving experience.

DIY, or let us handle it

All of our kits are made DIY, and most people fit them themselves. When you purchase from Get Car Tech, you get tutorials on exactly how to install it into your car to make your job even easier. 

But if you'd rather not muck around with the whole thing, our team at our Brisbane workshop can do the fitting for you. 

Give us a call or text for a quote and we'll sort it.

Either way, the goal is the same: CarPlay in your Mazda, done right the first time, without the stress. That's been our motto from day one: CarPlay, the easy way.