[Motomania]

I bought a 2019 CHR in November. I have installed Toyota Entune on my phone and my phone links to the CHR display.

But there is no functionality I can see for the Toyota Entune.

My phone sends audio (pod casts, streaming audio, etc.) and the phone itself works, all without the Toyota Entune app running.

I tried a map function and got no where with it.

My understanding is the Android Car app is not compatible or otherwise capable of being installed in the CHR display unit...

I am just wondering what the Entune app is good for as so far I have not found anything useful for it.

Am I missing something?

 

[zx10guy]

The Entune app is an app which allows the head unit to establish a data link with your smart phone. This is done to allow the apps which are in the head unit to be able to access your cellular service for data. It's also used in conjunction with the ScoutGPS app to provide navigation/GPS.

To make this work properly, you have to either have your phone connected via Bluetooth or through the USB port. Connecting through the USB port provides more functionality such as being able to display the GPS map when you launch ScoutGPS and to obtain over the air firmware updates for your head unit.

I find the Entune setup to be clunky and inconsistent. Sometimes my phone will connect/pair up properly sometimes it doesn't. I have to kill the Entune app on my phone and relaunch it when this happens.

When you refer to the Android Car app, I think you're referring to Android Auto. There's been some threads here discussing this and how inept Toyota has been in handling this situation. While the 2019 models got a "better" head unit versus the 2018 models, the omission of Android Auto and only having Car Play is unacceptable. The 2020 models do have Android Auto. But Toyota has been all over the map on whether there will be a factory software upgrade for the 2019 models to get Android Auto. Some of us even explored swapping out the 2019 head unit for the 2020 one. Toyota must be smoking crack because list price for the 2020 head unit is about $7000. No, the extra zero is not a mistake. They want $7000 for a bloody head unit.

 

[Motomania]

I appreciate the response. But I guess my question wasn't clear.

With the entune app running on my phone And my phone is plugged in to the USB port for the head unit, Yes I see that I can use the scout GPS which I hate so I disabled that I would rather look at Google maps on my phone.
I also see where a couple of times it did some sort of software update where it used my phone to update things.
But since I can't add any apps to the head unit and all the apps on the head unit are pretty much useless to me as it sits I don't know what the purpose is of entune.

And yes just like you had problems with entune doing stupid things and you having to reboot through your phone or reboot the app I've had the exact same issues.

My whole point in posting this thread is trying to figure out if there's some value to entune that I did not know about because at this point it's such an annoyance and a piece of crap that I'm planning to remove it from my phone because it serves no purpose other than to screw things up on my phone.

 

[zx10guy]

As you've said, Entune is horrible. It's Toyota's feeble attempt at trying to do their own Infotainment environment that leverages heavily on your smart phone. Instead of waking up and getting a clue, they stuck it out trying to prove that they can salvage this mess. Obviously they've failed. But it took them forever to provide Car Play support and then Android Auto a year later. You'll need Entune if you want to update the firmware on your head unit. But if you don't use any of the Entune apps, then you probably don't need to update the firmware either.

The big bone of contention is if Toyota will get a clue and provide us 2019 owners the ability to upgrade our head units to have Android Auto support.

 

[Motomania]

Ok Thanks for the feedback Good to know I'm not so incompetent that I can't figure out what I was supposed to get out of the Entune system.

 

[MichaelM]

great