2015 Suburban IO6 Upgrade Questions

Jeff Somers · October 2, 2020

New to this forum, so please excuse my ignorance if this has already been answered. I looked to see if there were answers elsewhere, but haven't found them to all of my questions. I recently purchased a 2015 Suburban LTZ and would like to add CarPlay primarily. My questions are:

1. My truck was built 3/24/15. I have seen conflicting reports that I can just replace the HMI module (upgrade from 2.0 to 2.5) vs also having to replace the box under the center console. There was some discussion that later build dates can get away with not replacing the other module. My truck does have the Text option on the MyLink screen if that helps any. Are there particular part numbers I need to retain use of the Rear seat entertainment system or do all the boxes work with it too?

2. Since new modules require programming is this something the dealer can do without a lot of hassle (i.e. I am adding a non-original part number to my truck. are they going to give me crap about it)? Also, are there aftermarket tools that I can use to do this? I don't have anything like that, but if I have to go pay the dealer $150 for them to program my box, I would consider just buying a scan tool system for future use

3. As I mentioned, my truck has the rear seat entertainment system. Are there options for adding HDMI or other inputs for this system? Not sure my family will ever use it in its current config (we do almost all streaming these days). i have seen screen mirroring solutions, but my understanding is they only allow mirroring on the dash screen and not the RSE screens. Any options there?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Edited October 2, 2020 by Jeff Somers

mikemcclain8 · October 19, 2020

Hi Jeff, welcome to the forums. I have the 2015 LTZ like you with the early build so no CarPlay. I can only speak to the last comment about screen mirroring. If you run your phone through an HDMI -> RGB converter and then to the plugs on the RES, you can watch streamed content on the back screen (and front when in park). It's a mess of wires, but it is possible. I haven't researched the addition of CarPlay thoroughly as I just use the bluetooth option and you still can't play video through CarPlay without a hack. Hope that helps a bit.