CarAVAssist Reviews

I'll just start my vehicle and my phone connects automatically. Well I will be doing something on my phone, weather it be looking something up on Google, on Facebook, on Google Maps or Waze, and CarAVAssist will persistently keep automatically opening itself and popping up and I keep closing CarAVAssist because I'm not trying to use it but it keeps doing it until I get to the point where it gets so annoying that I have to delete CarAVAssist just to get it to quit! Super frustrating and annoying!!!

I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a less user friendly piece of software. Brace yourself for step by step instructions that are presented on a different screen than the one you use for all the actual updating, and for all of those steps to be both plentiful and juuuuuust lacking in enough specificity so the process of updating your stereo takes at least three to four times longer.

Truly if I had known this was going to be the only way to update this deck, I would never have bought it. I still may return it for fear of ever having to update it again.

CarAVAssist is so horribly implemented - do I connect via Bluetooth? Wifi? Both? Hotspot? Yeah - it’s all the above - how about you just pick one connection method and use it. It’s so poorly done - it takes forever just to even figure out how to connect to the unit - and no, the instructions don’t work correctly - it NEVER says you have to launch CarAVAssist on the HEAD UNIT as well before you can update the firmware. I’ve updated the firmware at least three times now and every time is a nightmare re-learning experience - and once that was done it was re-learning turning on CarPlay again. I only had ONE of the connection methods turned on - Bluetooth - and yet it kept telling me connection failed even though it was clearly connected. Clicking the unit in the Bluetooth settings actually wants the iPhone connected to the head unit’s wifi network - but, of course, it never actually tells you that and implies it wants the head unit tethered to the iPhone’s hotspot - which is absolutely not the case. Here’s an indicator of the product you’re getting and the clarity of the instructions: the head unit user manual says “this unit can be used as an access point to the infrastructure mode network” - what does that even mean?!?

Let me start off by saying I love my Pioneer products and have enjoyed them for nearly 20 years.

It is hard for me to believe pioneer would release CarAVAssist as is. It’s downright embarrassing. The purpose driven functions of CarAVAssist , such as Home Screen customization and firmware updates, simply don’t work. After a careful reading of instructions and a failed attempt I continued to waste two hours of my day trying every conceivable method of connection, resets, WiFi, Bluetooth, deleting and re-downloading to get the firmware updated via CarAVAssist . It’s not happening via CarAVAssist . Settings transfers are much the same. Miraculously, at some point in my wasted hours, I managed to get a photo transferred to the background, but when I tried to change it back o different photo shortly thereafter I got more false setting transfers.

I’m just dumbfounded that Pioneer would put such care into their hardware and pair it with such a dud of an app.

Pioneer, look at the reviews everywhere for CarAVAssist.. it would be a worthwhile investment to hire a team to fix these issues and get things up to snuff. And if you’ve crunched the numbers and it isn’t worthwhile to make that investment, just do us all a favor and take CarAVAssist away - time is money, and anyone who uses CarAVAssist in its current form is just throwing their time to the wind.

Like all your other reviewerI too have had nothing but trouble with this ridiculous app. First off connecting through the hotspot is not exactly the easiest thing with the iPhone I had to do some tweaking and flip a couple toggles just to see if it work and managed to finally happen. The inner face and changing your home screen worthless. But the biggest thing that pisses me off is you have a firmware update that downloads to your app nicely but will not transfer to the head unit what good is it having it on my phone to transfer when I can’t transfer it 1.31 is a worthless firmware update because I can’t load it no one can. I’m going to try the USB but I have to go back now and actually have the dealer get my USB port hooked up I wasn’t planning on using it because I was going full wireless kind of defeats the purpose. $600 paperweight.....do better!!!!!

Not intuitive how to connect CarAVAssist to the receiver. Once connected, sending background images to the receiver would appear to have transferred successfully, but they actually wouldn't at all. Gave up trying to update the firmware on the receiver; cannot get the firmware to update through CarAVAssist even though CarAVAssist recognized that an update was available for the receiver and downloaded to CarAVAssist , cannot transfer to the receiver. Alternative to using CarAVAssist is using a USB thumb drive. However, the pioneer website does not show ANY firmware updates for my receiver. My searches resulted in wasting my time as nothing could be found.

I don’t know why Pioneer even bothered to make CarAVAssist at all. Took me hours just to get the firmware to update, not sure why, the update did nothing to fix CarAVAssist . It does not work. Period. Does not change my home screen. Does not add my sports team, so that feature is utterly worthless to me at this point. Finally got a picture to add to the homescreen, but that’s all I’ve gotten it to do so far. Just got this radio installed today & I love the receiver, but some features I cannot use because of this piece of #@&T app. Worthless, Useless. Can’t believe Pioneer would put this kind of garbage app out there and actually be proud of it. Really wish I could see my sports team updates, but no. I can’t. Frustrated & done with it.

I normally do not take time to write reviews. But this interface is so terrible and the connection is so disgusting that I had to write something to warn others. This interface seems to lose Bluetooth connectivity when you change from one screen to the next. The set up routine to try to get updates and firmware upgrades is absolute garbage. I’m actually taking this back for the third time to the installer because the Pioneer branded connection plate plates to fit inside my vehicle. keep rattling apart and falling off. It goes to show that Pioneer just does not have the quality that used to many years back.

If I could go back I wouldn’t even consider purchasing a Pioneer car stereo. I have the DMH-W4660NEX and I spend more time trying to figure out how to keep it connected to Bluetooth; Wi-Fi; USB; Hotspot; etc, etc. than I do getting to actually use it. It just never works. I spent a good part of a 30 hour drive trying to keep my music and navigation connected, which defeated the purpose of why I chose this product. Even after I get it to connect to Bluetooth when I try to use it I get errors stating that I must connect to Bluetooth. Ugh!!! I dislike everything about it. And this software. Again I have had constant problems getting connected. When I am connected to Bluetooth on the head unit and I try to connect to AVCarAssist I get errors every time stating I must connect to Bluetooth to use the software. I F&$*#*NG am connected!!! Then I have to delete and clear all network settings on my phone, head unit, and program to start over. These problems aren’t exclusive to me as I see many complaints from other users stating the same issues. All for a very hefty $750 price tag! If only a I could go back I would do things much differently! Pioneer needs to recheck this and stop selling products that are so unreliable and aggravating!

Dont bother downloading CarAVAssist. It flat out doesnt work. Ive connected my phone to the stereo every possible way. Phone to stereo via wifi, bluetooth, and usb. Stereo to hotspot. It cannot update any settings or the firmware. Pioneer is just as bad as the people off shore knock off brands for software. Its a terrible design. You essentially have a tablet that had an interface. It has wifi. I should be able to connect to the internet from the device and download the firmware directly to it. But some genius at Pioneer over engineered the entire process and it doesn’t work. They have zero ability to make software intuitive.

The “app” fails to connect to the in dash pioneer receiver, that otherwise happily talks to CarPlay over wifi. The “app” claims to connect via BT only, which requires disconnecting the CarPlay. Stupid enough so far, yet even if the phone (iPhone 13 pro) displays now positive connection to the receiver via BT, and the car recognizes the phone, the “app” still claims there is no BT connection.
I don’t know I’m what dark venues Pioneer outsourced CarAVAssist, but clearly these are the sh****st bits on my phone. The receiver itself is not too bad, yet buggy enough that I want to upgrade the firmware. Wished I knew how broken is the Pioneer support phone side, I might have looked into other brands.

CarAVAssist is great when it wants to work. However I like to use Alexa which is on the stereo, but unfortunately it freezes up after a song or two. The communication between CarAVAssist and the pioneer car radio is poor. I just want pioneer to stand behind the $1300 stereo I had installed in my truck and update the software on CarAVAssist to function as it should. I always end up just using the regular stations instead of any of the features I’m supposed to be able to. If this isn’t fixed I’m afraid that this purchase will be my last with pioneer. Very disappointed

I’m assuming Pioneer turned off “cookies” on the browser for the firmware update a couple days ago. Ever since, I have to log in to every website I visit. Used to, I would log in once and stay logged in. Whatever improvement this firmware made, it wasn’t worth it in my opinion. Wish I could have the old version back.

Latest update is big improvement. It comes with detailed, accurate firmware update instructions that reflect what is actually on my Pioneer screen. I was finally able to update firmware wirelessly! However, the sports and weather features are still a problem. When I tap either, the screen says I must first agree with the internet user agreement, but I can’t find a way to do that. CarAVAssist has no guidance for that. So, those widgets continue to waste screen space. Keep trying, Pioneer!

I found CarAVAssist not to be a necessity. I can do just about everything from the head unit directly without CarAVAssist .
The only thing I wanted CarAVAssist for is a firmware update. I could have easily used a USB stick, but I got CarAVAssist .
Figuring out WI-Fi connection is misery, but I got it to connect to my phone hotspot and then made the transfer from phone to head unit.
I give it a 3* because CarAVAssist really needs to be clear for how to connect. It isn’t easy enough for the average user.

Listen, you can set links for the browser, update firmware wirelessly, and configure settings wirelessly from CarAVAssist - which definitely beats using a flash drive. The interface isn’t the best, and it’s fairly tedious to use, but it does exactly what it is supposed to do, I’m not sure why people are expecting some state of the art intuitive app when it’s just supposed to set some settings and update firmware.

I’m grading CarAVAssist on a curve. It’s too difficult to use as a companion to a $1,000 plus wireless CarPlay enabled head unit. I don’t understand the technical limitations that require connecting iPhone to the Pioneer head unit’s wireless network to send/transfer settings, while the Pioneer head unit needs to connect to the iPhone’s wireless hotspot to update firmware. But after carefully reading the poorly worded instructions in the this app app and some trial and error, I was able to get all of CarAVAssist ’s functions to work.

This is a pretty cool app. Made my pioneer head unit function how its suppose to. You just have to have a little patience with it. And also not sure why previous review was so bad but for me you just have to follow instructions to point and once everything is connected and updated it works great. Love it...internet is kinda slow but hopefully there would be a update soon that would improve connections and speed will be much more improved. Also would love to see options that you can add more apps like Netflix for streaming...but CarAVAssist is good so far and looking forward to more options and improvements coming

My new DMH-W4660NEX was very glitchy using navigation apps through Apple CarPlay. The reason I bought the receiver was to use the large screen for navigation apps. I checked the pioneer website and determined that my firmware was out of date. Hoping that a firmware update would fix the glitchy navigation apps, I wanted to install the update. The unit was already installed in the car so it was not desirable to pull the unit out and install the update through the USB method. I read that with the this app you could install an update wirelessly through your phone. Well turns out you can but it took me an early three hours to get that done. The prompts and instructions are very unclear. I am of average tech savvy, and I found it very difficult. If they could improve theinstructions this might be a really really good app. I have to wait and see whether the update fix the navigation glitches.

I finally figured this out and hit many of the similar problems described in these reviews. I just don’t understand what all the the phone connection options are but figured it out for the iPhone finally. You use the iPhone hotspot feature. In the head unit, you will connect using the WiFi hotspot tool, and set it up to connect to your phone. Next open the this app on both devices. It should be able to connect on the phone app once you are connected to the head unit using the WiFi hotspot. Then make your changes using the phone app. Then hit the phone-to-unit transfer button on the head unit. This actually initiates the transfer from the phone app to the head unit. The transfer should occur, and you can (and maybe should) also change the screens on the head unit while this occurs. This seems to help make the transfer happen, perhaps because it’s on the screen where the images would be that you loaded on your phone. The head unit is looking for differences. Anyway, it works and I like all of the features. If they made it so all of this could be done with the head unit itself, then it would be a lot more expensive. So I have no complaints. It was a challenge to learn but it happens. Hope this helps.