CarPlay craziness

Has anyone figured out the magic combination of voodoo, witchcraft etc that you have to do to consistently get CarPlay to:

Connecting to the phone rarely fails but does at times.

Playing audio fails about 25% of the time.

I have tried toggling inputs, all kinds of stuff.

Usually 1-2 “restarts” of the infotainment system fixes the audio issues. ( holding down the right and left buttons on the steering wheel )

I know the software mostly sucks in this truck and I am at peace with that now.

I just want the damn audio to work. I am going to get in a damn wreck some day trying to listen to a podcast.

/rant over