TL;DR: My kids were going to be stir-crazy during our road trip, so I added this CarPlay and Android Auto adapter to my car so they could watch movies on the go. Check out what I thought!
Over the long weekend, my husband and I decided it would be a good time to squeeze in one last family trip before the holidays took over our entire lives. We decided to take the kids out a little early from school (sorry, Mrs. Doss!) so we could have an extra day exploring Shenandoah National Park.
Unfortunately, that drive alone is 6+ hours. Even more unfortunate? My husband and I are pretty strict with the "we are not going to enable our kids so they become iPad kids." So, how the heck do you entertain them when you don't—and can't afford—to give your children iPads?
Our friend came to the rescue by suggesting PlayAIBox. It's basically Roku for your car, and it gave us the opportunity to add Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to our display to stream stuff like Netflix, Disney+, and other apps. Since it was on sale for only $79.97 (reg. $129), we knew we had to get it before our trip.
Bluey and Sofia the First on the road
Our kids are still pretty young, so we were more than relieved to have a solution to keeping them entertained (as opposed to kicking and screaming in the car).
Setting this gadget up was pretty easy. We checked if our car was compatible, and thankfully, it fell under the list of 800+ cars PlayAIBox plays well with. Then, we connected my iPhone via Bluetooth, waited a moment, and we were ready to roll. Pro tip: the first connection takes the longest, but we only waited about 45 seconds.
We're an Apple family, so we used this adapter's CarPlay feature to mirror our iPhone screens and pull up Disney+, Netflix, and Hulu. We spent about the first half of the trip listening to Bluey's adorable British accent make the kids laugh and doing a family sing-along to Moana!
When they (finally) fell asleep, my husband and I switched over to Spotify to listen to our favorite podcast. We were even able to answer calls and messages hands-free from friends and family, use Waze and Apple Maps to reroute our trip to avoid traffic, and tell Siri to open other apps to keep the kids happy.
If you couldn't tell, we were pretty darn happy we got this entertainment rec from our friend. Keeping kids entertained without the tablets seems to be a hell of a struggle these days!
Planning to take a family road trip with youngsters? I can't recommend the PlayAIBox and its Apple CarPlay and streaming support enough, especially since it's just $79.97 (reg. $129). Just act before supplies disappear—this deal ends tomorrow, October 27, at 11:59 PM Pacific!
StackSocial prices subject to change.
