CarPlay retrofit 2019 Corolla 1.8 excel

[Jasper1602]

I just had CarPlay retrofitted to my 2019 Corolla Hybrid Excel. The car went into the workshop about 11:30 am and wasn't ready until 16:50. The service manager said it was because it needed the head unit to be upgraded before they could install CarPlay. My question is; does this seem right? Or was he just fobbing me off because they had a lot of work on that day?

Opinions or experience of similar installs welcome

regards

[FROSTYBALLS]

The head units of early versions of the Corolla and Rav4 weren't Apple Carplay/Android Auto compatible.

Toyota didn't make available retrofit upgrades until approx November 2020, which bought these earlier MM17 units up to the later MM19 standard, which had Carplay/Auto as standard.

So yes, the service manager was correct in saying your unit needed to have the upgrade installed before Carplay/Auto could be installed.

[Jasper1602]

Thanks