Ford Brings CarPlay to 2016 Vehicles With SYNC 3 Update

Friday May 19, 2017 6:22 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

Ford today released a SYNC 3 software update that adds CarPlay and Android Auto support to its 2016 model year vehicles.

sync 3 mustang
Ford said customers with Wi-Fi-enabled vehicles can set up their vehicle to receive the update automatically. SYNC 3 version 2.2 can also be downloaded from the Ford Owner website and installed with a USB drive, or customers can visit any Ford dealership to have the update process completed for free.

Last summer, Ford made CarPlay and Android Auto available in all of its 2017 vehicles with SYNC 3. At the time, it promised it would bring CarPlay and Android Auto to its 2016 model year vehicles by the end of the year, and while it missed that target by about five months, the update has now arrived.

In late 2015, Ford retroactively added Siri Eyes Free support to 5 million 2011-2016 model year vehicles.

CarPlay brings Maps, Phone, Messages, Music, Podcasts, and a number of third-party apps like Spotify to a vehicle's dashboard. Apple's in-car software can be controlled with Siri and a vehicle's built-in controls for convenient access to common iPhone features. It's compatible with iPhone 5 and later.

Related Roundup: CarPlay

Tags: Android Auto, Ford, Ford SYNC

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Top Rated Comments

DotCom2

123 months ago

I wonder if Toyota/Lexus IS ever going to cave?

Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)

briley1975

123 months ago

As an owner of a 2016 Ford Fusion I can easily confirm that this update is NOT available on ALL 2016 Ford models. You must have the correct Sync 3 HARDWARE already installed from the factory and not the previous Sync version (i.e. My FordTouch). The Siri Eyes Free feature (added last year maybe?) works really great on the older system, but you can NOT simply upgrade the software and magically get Carplay in your vehicle. It's completely dependent on the newer hardware (which was not yet used in ALL 2016 Ford Models). Sucks but true. Now... you can pay big $$$$ and get the new hardware online and have it installed, and then upgrade to Carplay, but again...$$$$.

Ford today released ('https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2017/05/19/ford-sync-3-software-update-apple-android-2016-vehicles.html') a SYNC 3 software update that adds CarPlay and Android Auto support to its 2016 model year vehicles.

Ford said customers with Wi-Fi-enabled vehicles can set up their vehicle to receive the update automatically. SYNC 3 version 2.2 can also be downloaded from the Ford Owner website ('http://owner.ford.com/') and installed with a USB drive, or customers can visit any Ford dealership to have the update process completed for free.

Last summer, Ford made CarPlay and Android Auto available in all of its 2017 vehicles with SYNC 3 ('https://www.macrumors.com/2016/07/25/carplay-all-2017-ford-vehicles/'). At the time, it promised it would bring CarPlay and Android Auto to its 2016 model year vehicles by the end of the year, and while it missed that target by about five months, the update has now arrived.

In late 2015, Ford retroactively added Siri Eyes Free support to 5 million 2011-2016 model year vehicles.

CarPlay brings Maps, Phone, Messages, Music, Podcasts, and a number of third-party apps like Spotify to a vehicle's dashboard. Apple's in-car software can be controlled with Siri and a vehicle's built-in controls for convenient access to common iPhone features. It's compatible with iPhone 5 and later.

Article Link: Ford Brings CarPlay to 2016 Vehicles With SYNC 3 Update ('https://www.macrumors.com/2017/05/19/ford-carplay-2016-vehicles-sync-3-update/')