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CarPlay

A smarter, safer way to use your iPhone in the car

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ford-wireless-carplay

CarPlay is an iOS feature that makes using your iPhone simpler and easier while in the car.

Here’s how Apple describes CarPlay:

Available on select cars, CarPlay is a smarter, safer way to use your iPhone in the car. CarPlay takes the things you want to do with your iPhone while driving and puts them right on your car’s built-in display. You can get directions, make calls, send and receive messages, and listen to music, all in a way that allows you to stay focused on the road. Just connect your iPhone and go.

Porsche CarPlay

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Other CarPlay resources:

How to find cars with CarPlay:

Sony Electronics - XAV-AX100

Best aftermarket CarPlay options:

Rivian CEO attempts to justify why the company refuses to offer CarPlay

Rivian CarPlay

CarPlay is available on the vast majority of cars today, including on electric vehicles from the likes of Ford, Polestar, and others. One of the most notable CarPlay holdouts (alongside Tesla) is Rivian, and new comments from CEO RJ Scaringe today make it clear that the up-and-coming EV company has no plans to adopt Apple’s platform…

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CarPlay features that are actually available in iOS 16

CarPlay iOS 16

Apple showed off the next generation of CarPlay during WWDC 2022, and wow does it look stunning. The complete CarPlay takeover of the infotainment display, dash controls, and more tease us with Apple Car vibes.

While Project Titan remains an R&D project, Apple says the first cars that will work with next-gen CarPlay won’t be announced until the end of 2023. There’s a high chance that drivers will have to wait until 2024 or 2025 to get behind the wheel of next generation CarPlay.

iOS 16 does include a few updates to CarPlay, however, and these features are available to everyone with the software update.

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Tesla CarPlay concept shows off a modular UI inspired by Apple’s next-gen design

Tesla CarPlay concept modular UI

After sharing a sharp concept last year imagining what the future of CarPlay could look like in a Tesla Model 3/Y, designer John Calkins is back with another vision, this time a “modular, customizable layout.” Check out a closer look at this Tesla CarPlay UI that includes elements from the next-generation CarPlay Apple has teased.

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New iOS 16 CarPlay feature could let you pay for fuel from your car’s screen

At WWDC, much of the attention was on the fancy next-generation CarPlay Apple previewed, but those experiences won’t appear in cars for several years.

Near term, something new for CarPlay in iOS 16 is the addition of new supported app categories for “fuel and driving tasks,” according to the iOS 16 feature preview page. A report from Reuters today says that some gas station chains are already preparing to take advantage of this and allow drivers to pay for fuel through the car’s infotainment center.

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Tesla CarPlay workaround now supports browsers in each model

tesla-carplay-workaround-9to5mac

Currently, Tesla cars do not support CarPlay, but by the beginning of the year, 9to5Mac reported a nice project called Tesla Android with CarPlay. Created by developer Michał Gapiński, this workaround to enable CarPlay on Tesla cars has now been updated to version 2022.25.1 with a ton of new features. In addition, it now supports all the cars the company has.

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Volkswagen CEO questions Apple Car future as Polestar ships OTA CarPlay and promises next-gen adoption

polestar carplay

Apple’s car ambitions range from replacing your infotainment system with the iPhone to someday selling self-driving electric vehicles. Not every auto exec is convinced Apple will ever cross the finish line to shipping its own car, however. Meanwhile, more automakers are continuing to adopt Apple CarPlay even as the company teases its next grand vision for taking over your car software.

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Tesla refuses to adopt CarPlay, but there are third-party solutions (and more on the way)

apple-carplay-tesla

Tesla’s resistance to adding CarPlay is no secret, and there’s absolutely no indication it’s something the company is working on adding. Earlier this year, we covered a workaround that brought CarPlay to Tesla cars, and now it’s available for anyone to try… as long as you’re willing to jump through some major hoops.

There are also a few other third-party options. Head below for the details.

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Can you spot the CarPlay influence in Google’s upcoming Android Auto redesign?

CarPlay is Apple’s popular in-car infotainment system that brings your iPhone apps and interface to your car’s display. It’s gone through multiple different design iterations over the years, the most recent of which features a dashboard, tile-based design to give you access to quite a bit of information at once.

As our colleagues at 9to5Google have reported, Google is testing a new version of its own Android Auto in-car system, and many of the new design elements may look familiar to long-time CarPlay users.

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Alpine intros 11 and 9-inch Halo receivers with wireless CarPlay and Lossless [U: Weather-resistant Jeep models too]

Alpine Halo Receiver Wireless CarPlay and Lossless support

Alpine is out today at CES with its next-gen multimedia receivers for automobiles. The new 11 and 9-inch Halo Floating Touchscreen Receivers include support for wired and wireless CarPlay/Android Auto as well as compatibility with Lossless hi-res audio.

Update 1/6: Alpine has also announced new weather-resistant receivers for the Jeep Wrangler.

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Concept: Here’s how Apple could supercharge CarPlay with deeper integrations and more

Apple Car CarPlay

CarPlay has always been a temporary way for Apple to get its software into existing cars while they work on something far more innovative. Everyone under the sun knows that Apple is building its own car. When we will see the rumored “Project Titan” though, nobody knows. In the meantime, Apple appears to be expanding its efforts to integrate into more aspects of existing cars from other manufacturers. Bloomberg has reported on Apple’s plans to connect CarPlay with things like air conditioning, batteries, seats, and more. Here’s what we think CarPlay could look like with deeper car integration.

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Review: Bring CarPlay to any car with Intellidash Pro, no installation required

external CarPlay unit

CarPlay is becoming an essential part of using iOS. What started as something only in high-end aftermarket stereos has turned into the default for new cars. Unfortunately, my car from 2017 doesn’t have it, and I am not interested in completely ripping the factory display out—as it’s a pretty unique shape and I am concerned it will look a little out of place. However, there’s a new solution for my situation, and it’s the perfect way to add CarPlay without replacing your existing stereo system. For the past few weeks, I’ve had the Car and Driver Intellidash Pro in my car, and it’s the perfect way to use your iPhone if your vehicle doesn’t include CarPlay.

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