Pixelated Apple CarPlay screen on iPhone 17 Pro Max with Mercedes BClass W246

Thanks so much for helping us out, mate! I will try one of these two.

For now, I use a very inconvenient workaround: using the old Iphone for CarPlay (with internet data via hotspot from the new phone). I don't believe (?) that you can have two phones connected at the same time (one wired and another one only audio via Bluetooth), so this means that for any calls on the new phone you cannot use the car's audio system. One more question to confirm that I understood correctly: you need a remote for Ottocast or Getpairr only if you want to use apps outside of CarPlay; meaning that Waze from my Phone should work fine on CarPlay (as before)?

I have the same problem described here, the blurry display, with an iPhone 17 Pro, which cost me an arm and a leg. It's unacceptable that a fix hasn't appeared yet. We're already on iOS 26.1 and nothing. Shame on you, Apple.

Does the Ottocast play2video ultra work in a Mercedes Benz A200 without a touchscreen? Can anyone who has it upload photos or videos and give their impressions of how smoothly it works? Thank you very much!

Hi,

Yes I can confirm that it does, I do not have a touchscreen, unfortunately this site won’t let me upload a video. I have a 2017 B class no touchscreen (Mercedes knob). It’s a pain in the *** to set up (you’ll understand why) but once you have then it’s not a problem.

if you want to use anything other than CarPlay and update the system, you will need to buy a bundle with a Bluetooth remote. Do everything you need to do with the remote first as you can’t pair the remote and the phone at the same time.

I spent about an hour setting up due to no touchscreen but now it just boots fine and you can use the knob to start CarPlay.

Me too, sadly. Truly thinking about selling my Mercedes. As a Realtor I cannot be without a reliable screen map - it is simply unsafe for me, as I drive into unknown areas all the time. Mercedes gave me so much conflicting information about this, my head spun. No resolutions. One manager did say that Mercedes released a bulletin basically telling iphone 17 pro users to re-start their phone. That did not work. I updated my new phone and updated all the maps (waze, google and apple maps) - to no avail. This is super frustrating.

Update: after updating Mercedes infotainment which not solved the problem, Apple has installed a profile in my iPhone 17 in order to collect logs from Apple Carplay. I hope that helps them to understand the issue and hopefully come out with a fix. Fingers crossed.

I have exactly the same issue iPhone 17 pro on 2017 A Class. Wish I had read this earlier, just bought a new USB cable, disconnected, reconnected, resets, forget device, everything mentioned and it doesn’t work.

Waiting for IOS update like everyone else.

Thank you for sharing the information. Unfortunately, the workaround provided by Apple doesn't solve the problem for other car brands and even high-end motorcycles. I don't know what major change was made to the iPhone 17 Pro, but if I had known about this limitation beforehand, I would NEVER have bought the smartphone.

I have the same issue of a pixelated maps screen. Gla 250 2018 when using a IPhone 17 air. It doesn’t matter if the connection is wire or wireless the problem is the same.

IPhone 14, 12 and X all work fine, the problem only relates to the air.

Apple do I really need to use my old X to navigate…Please confirm when you will do the update to fix the issue.

I bought the GetPairr. I am completely frustrated with it since I have the joystick and not a touch screen. Trying to navigate any menu is near impossible because I can't see what is highlighted when trying to make a selection. The popup keyboard is even worse. I'm either going to put my fist through the screen or throw that adapted out my window I'm so frustrated.

Hi,

Did you buy the remote? That really helps as it’s the only way you can use the keyboard or anything that pops up on the screen (without it you can’t do updates either or connect to WiFi) if you don’t have a remote the Alcontrol app can do the same thing.

Bear in mind you cannot have your phone and remote connected at the same time so set everything up with the remote first, (including g app passwords) on startup it’s really hard to see but you can just about make out to set the time/location/language etc (you must complete this process 3 screens I think or it comes on everytime) 

Once it’s all setup and updated, unpair the remote and connect the phone. To use the remote again you have to unpair the phone (very annoying but I have brought it to their attention).

Once you finally get it set up, took me ages and like you very frustrating and had to show a lot of patience, it just starts up and CarPlay works (you have to click on the CarPlay app icon with the joystick).

It’s worth the effort!! Trust me…..the distortion drove me insane, daily!!! 

I had no idea about a remote. I will look into that app you mentioned instead.

EDIT: Looking and I'm not seeing that in the App Store. Could it be another name? Also I have looked for the remote and it's not available on Amazon.

Same thing here. Many CarPlay issues. Screen breaking up. I disconnect and reconnect - sometimes it’s fine and sometimes it’s distorted. Other issues - music sometimes resumes, Siri decides when to work and when not to work, Bluetooth devices don’t swap between phone and other Mac products like my iPhone 13 Pro Max and buds pro… text messages are read sometimes and others not. Basically my old phone was 10 times more reliable than the new one.

when you own an expensive car and an expensive phone… you kinda expect them to work - I love some aspects of the new phone, but mostly it seems full of issues. Hopefully an update comes soon. Otherwise I may have to just return this and go back a generation. Seems like those of you on 16 have had none of these issues.

Thanks for this detailed post. I have a Mercedes 2018 and have this ongoing issue.

My screen in the car is not touch screen.

It seems the workaround you have suggested might work for me too. Could you please post a link to Amazon? I want to make sure I order the right product. Thanks again

Next week is supposed to be the release of iOS 26.2. There are supposed to be a couple of CarPlay enhancements in it, but the article I read didn’t say anything about bug fixes. Apple never does either till they are out. Cross your fingers.