The Verge’s favorite gadgets for your car

Cars have become a bastion of electronics, but that doesn’t mean we can’t add a few of our own. Some people want to have emergency gear ready just in case, while others have older cars that need help making them compatible with the latest electronic gadgets.

Introducing some of the gadgets used by our staff The Barge Used to upgrade various vehicles.

bluetooth aux receiver for car

I’m one of those boring people who have little interest in cars other than as a way to get from point A to point B. buy a new one. My current car is his 2007 Honda Civic. It’s still working great despite all the dents and dings it’s gotten over the years (mostly from NYC street parking). The problem is that it lacks all the features that current cars offer. Electronic locks, built-in touchscreens, anything digital.

So if you want to listen to Google Maps directions, podcasts, or music, you need to use a car holder to fix your phone on your dashboard and connect it to your audio system via your car’s audio jack. However, my recently purchased Pixel 6 doesn’t have a headphone jack (thanks, Google) and my car doesn’t have Bluetooth, so I had to connect in a different way.

So I bought this receiver. This receiver plugs into your car’s audio jack and connects to your phone via Bluetooth. It’s a simple gadget of an unknown brand, but when you press the button to start his Bluetooth signal, it connects instantly and you can hear all your phone’s audio through your car’s speakers. It also holds a charge for quite some time. I haven’t scientifically measured how long a charge lasts, but it’s been a while since I last turned on the receiver, and it still hasn’t run out. — Barbara Krasnoff, Reviews Editor

3-in-1 retractable USB cable

I spent years trying to find the perfect USB cable to support both iPhones and Android phones for in-car charging. (If your partner or spouse uses a different phone operating system than you, it probably has something to do with it.) There are plenty of cables with adapters that convert micro USB connections to Lightning or USB-C, After a few months of use, it always breaks down. Regular use.

But dear readers, I found a solution. It’s this retractable USB cable that has all three of her connections (Lightning, USB-C, and Micro USB) on the plug end. No adapter needed. It’s sturdy and clicks right into the phone you need, so you don’t have to deal with cumbersome adapters that are sure to fail. It also supports data connections for both CarPlay and Android Auto.

Plus, the retractable design keeps your cables tidy. No more dealing with awkward, overly long USB cables that are awkwardly draped across the center console. Just unplug the cable, plug in the phone, retract the cable and push the phone into the ledge near the USB port. If you’re on a short trip and your phone isn’t plugged in, the cable stays retracted and out of the way. You might think this feature would require a thin, thin cable that would break after a few uses, but it doesn’t. The cables here are thick and flat and unlikely to break anytime soon. I’ve had one of these retractable cables for nearly a year in both cars I own and they are just as good as the day I got them Works. — Dan Seifert, Associate Editor

My mom bought me a breaker bar after my car broke down in college and a stranger emerged from the darkness with a shotgun and declared that he would protect me until the tow truck arrived. The idea was absolutely to have something akin to a butt on my car in case I find myself in a similar situation, but even better, it has a lot more torque to remove a tire nut. When rotating or changing tires, ratchet guns are often used to loosen and tighten nuts. A breaker bar definitely helps. It can also be used for other odd emergencies, according to at least one parent of hers. — Alex Kranz, Editor-in-Chief

The biggest upgrade I’ve made to my car is adding a radio that supports CarPlay. This allows you to get directions and control your music from a screen built into the dashboard (and ignore his terrible UI that came with the car). My particular unit is the Sony XAV-AX100. This seems to have been deprecated. However, Crutchfield, the site I use to buy car audio products, has a lot of other options because of its incredibly useful compatibility checker.

It took me a few days to install the Sony in my Outback (thanks to the stupid way Subaru is connecting the AC controls, I’ll die angry) and I was able to do it for comparatively There are lots of shops around that are cheap. If you decide to install a new head unit in your car, I recommend checking out our guide to see if you’re about to tackle it yourself. Or you can have Android Auto in your vehicle. Not having to mess around with mounts or chargers is well worth the investment for me, so when I got my new car I immediately started looking at replacing the radio as well. — Mitchell Clark, news writer

Whether you’re in the car for a short or long time, it’s nice to have a charger that can charge your gadgets quickly. For that, you’ll need a car charger with a USB-C PD port, like this Samsung model (although sites like Amazon aren’t short on other options).

It features a USB-C PD port to quickly charge your devices with an incredible power of up to 45W when you need it. The one I use in my car can quickly charge my Pixel 6 or charge my Nintendo Switch while providing navigation via Google Maps. This device can recharge (or prevent the battery from free-falling while in use) even when my his MacBook Pro is asleep. It also has a USB-A port that supports an additional 15W charging for a total of 60W from this particular model. — Cameron Faulkner, critic

Perhaps one day Apple will realize that artificially limiting the reach of the MagSafe charging ecosystem wasn’t the wisest idea, and put your phone on a magic minimalist disk that charges fast. will be able to Until then, a standard Qi charger is your best bet. The bulky but practical iOttie Easy One Touch Qi charges with a satisfying spring snap. Pushing the phone into the waiting jaws pushes the button down and these jaws close tightly on either side of the device. When you want to remove it, grab the slab and pinch and release the pair of levers with your fingers and thumbs. It’s wide enough to fit just about anything on the market, except for the Samsung Z Fold when it’s open, which I’ve used for years with Android and Apple phones, including his new MagSafe handset. I was. — Sean Hollister, Senior Report Editor

Thanks to rising emissions standards, it’s very common to find turbochargers in almost all new cars (at least those that still have internal combustion engines). Sure, there is no substitute for displacement, but the great thing about turbos is that they can be easily changed to increase engine power or improve fuel economy. A turbocharger reuses exhaust gases to compress the air entering the engine, allowing for more power. (This is a bit complicated, but I’ll spare you the details.)

But what does this have to do with car gadgets? My favorite gadget is the Raspberry Pi running custom software from Pro Tuning Freaks. This allows him to adjust his ECU (Engine Control Unit) in the car from his iPhone. You can adjust everything from the amount of boost pressure your turbo builds to adjusting engine timing where possible. 93 octane fuel not found. Combined with a special OBD-II-to-ethernet cable and tune file, the Raspberry Pi can literally add 50-60 horsepower at the click of a button. If you’re not into cars, this will ask you, why? If so, well, I think it’s definitely worth it.

A few explanations: A tune is software that your car reads and alters things like engine timing, throttle response, boost pressure, and more. The Raspberry Pi is basically a dongle that allows your iPhone (or Android device) to wirelessly communicate directly with your car. You’ll need to buy the songs, but a Raspberry Pi isn’t absolutely necessary. You can install tunes by connecting your laptop directly to your car.

Pro Tuning Freaks sells the hardware kit for $149 (when it becomes available — it was out of stock due to a microchip shortage when this was written). do it yourself. No coding required. It basically drops the bootmod3 firmware. Save it to a microSD, plug it into your Pi, and you’re good to go. You can access your “songs” by logging in using the bootmod3 app on your iPhone or Android.

Pro Tuning Freaks sells “ready-made maps,” or first-hand tested tunes, starting at around $500. Some tunes require no additional changes, while others require hardware changes to increase airflow (upgraded exhaust, cooling, etc.). Engine tuning is not a new concept (there are hundreds of other companies doing excellent tuning of various engines), but the fact that he can access vital vehicle information and change his ECU from the palm of his hand certainly does. A welcome change to Aftermarket car community. — Phil Esposito, Supervising Producer, Tech

Accutire digital tire pressure gauge

I live in a state known for unmaintained potholes, so I have had my fair share of tire related issues. Jimmy Hoffs There’s nothing quite like the feeling of sinking when you accidentally hit a hole big enough for three people to fit in and the tire pressure monitoring system starts beeping as the car begins to tilt to one side. After numerous punctures and bent and cracked wheels, I became a hawk for maintaining tire pressure in my car. I bought one of my tools, a digital air pressure gauge. This His Accutire Gauge is very simple and reads tire pressure instantly in 10 minutes he’s down to 1 PSI. Combined with an inflator that works from your car’s auxiliary power outlet, you can easily refill your tires. This is generally safe, and if you’re lucky, it may help your wheels and tires survive the next pothole. — Antonio G. Di Benedetto, Commerce Writer

Update: May 4, 2022 at 11:50 AM ET: Updated to specify that it is the bootmod3 firmware that is dropped on the microSD and popped on the Raspberry Pi.