Would you like to use your favourite apps directly on your vehicle display? App-Connect makes this possible, and is now retrofittable via upgrade for your customer's Volkswagen. With App Connect you’ll have access to real-time navigation, with up-to-date maps, music and news as your smartphone apps are transferred directly to your infotainment system. The upgrade can be activated relatively quickly, and you can easily do this during your customer's next visit.

A new national campaign will be available in Catalyst for Aftersales (CFA) from Monday 6 January 2025, to promote the retrofit of an App-Connect accessory for vehicles registered between 2016 and 2020. This campaign will be targeted at customers who are due a service event in the following month, inviting them to have App-Connect activated in their vehicle at the discounted price of £165, while their vehicle is already in the workshop.

Customers aren’t able to book this upgrade online, so they will need to be prompted to phone up and book in. Email and SMS assets will be available using brand fulfilment.

Every Retailer will receive two automatically issued units from the week commencing 13 January 2025 to have ready for customers.

Technical requirements

The customer’s smartphone should support either Apple CarPlay or Android Auto to use it. The country-specific availability of both technologies is the responsibility of Apple and Google. App Connect is only available for vehicles from model year 2016 (MY16) onwards. An infotainment system of the following type is required: Composition (Colour), Ready 2 Discover, Discover Media, Discover Pro and Discover Pro Max.

App support

App-Connect supports telephony and messenger applications, as well as music and navigation applications. Depending on the vehicle, operation is also possible via voice input.

Activation

Many models already offer App-Connect as a menu item in the infotainment system. Otherwise, pair the smartphone with the vehicle by Bluetooth or USB port connection (older vehicles may only connect via a cable). You will then be prompted to enter an activation key or code that can be purchased and used once. The customer has to create a user account in order to fully utilise App-Connect.

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