CarPlay For A Day

“CarPlay is Apple’s platform for using iOS devices in cars, allowing drivers and passengers to connect their iPhones and iPads to the entertainment system of the vehicle. By doing this, the car is able to use a wide variety of the iPhone’s features, including managing calls and messages, using Apple Maps for navigation, and playing music.” —Apple Insider

On a recent trip to Ohio, I rented a Chevrolet Cruze. I was pleasantly surprised by the fit and finish and overall driving experience of the little Chevy. But what caught me off guard was the factory equipped Apple CarPlay system. CarPlay is by far the best integrated mobile automotive interface I’ve experienced. It is way easier to use than the existing archiac and ill-conceived audio/telephone/navigation systems found in most modern automobiles. Operating your iPhone in a vehicle equipped with CarPlay is an effortless experience—even in a low-cost rental car!

Driving the Chevy Cruze was my first experience with Apple’s CarPlay. It made me contemplate why the Mercedes S-Class does not replace its existing complicated and clunky interface with the intuitive and easy CarPlay. After performing some research for this post, it appears that several Mercedes models adopted CarPlay in 2016 and it is now standard on most models.

The CarPlay system puts your iPhone on the dashboard. It has a touch screen that makes it a cinch to toggle back and forth between applications. Text messages come up on the screen as you drive. Your iPhone map replaces the existing clunky GPS in your car and politely barks directions through the speakers while lowering the volume of the radio. Making a call is as easy as scrolling through your address book and pushing the desired name or number. Finding music to play from your iPhone is a breeze. CarPlay can accept commands from Siri, but I did not test that feature. What I liked most was the simplicity of using Audible to listen to books on tape. Like the first time I used an iPad, I will never forget when CarPlay instantly connected my life to a rental car in Ohio. In the parking lot of the Hertz rental center in Columbus the little Chevy Cruze instantly became my mobile office.

Searching around the web yielded some criticisms of Car Play. Some argue that the product does not support enough apps. For a basic user like myself, maps, address books, music, and audible are more than enough. Beyond limited app support, it’s pretty hard to criticize Car Play when its compared to the alternatives. CarPlay brings Apple’s smooth and friendly interface to the traditional and archaic world of in-dash navigation/audio/telephone systems.

Mac Rumors Summary of Car Play:

CarPlay, at its core, is Apple’s way of bringing iOS to in-car infotainment systems and dashboards. It’s designed to display information from the iPhone on a car’s built-in infotainment unit, giving drivers a safe way to make phone calls, send text messages, listen to music, and access Maps — all of the things a driver might want to do with an iPhone while driving a car.

When connected to an in-dash system via the iPhone’s Lightning port or wirelessly in some cars, CarPlay gives the user in-car access to information stored on the iPhone, like contacts for phone calls and messages, music playlists in apps, previous Maps searches, calendar events, and more. Because CarPlay pulls its information from the iPhone, there’s virtually no setup involved.

Many automobile manufacturers have been building CarPlay support into cars since 2015, but there’s also a way to get CarPlay in existing vehicles — many aftermarket in-dash systems from companies like Sony, Pioneer, Kenwood, and Alpine are compatible with CarPlay and are readily available at reasonable prices. More than 400 vehicles manufactured from 2016 on include CarPlay, and additional manufacturers are coming out with CarPlay support all the time.

CarPlay is designed to be hands-free, introducing as little driver distraction as possible, and for that reason, it is voice-based and reliant on Apple’s personal assistant Siri. Siri is used to perform a range of actions in the car, like placing phone calls, getting directions, sending and reading text messages, playing music, accessing apps, and more.

There are physical controls in the form of buttons and knobs that can activate Siri for CarPlay purposes, but these controls vary from vehicle to vehicle. Systems with touch screens are able to accommodate touch-based input as well, and special adapters can enhance in-car integration of aftermarket CarPlay solutions.

iOS already offers a consistent Apple experience across tablets and smartphones, but with CarPlay, that’s also extended to the car in an easy-to-use format that people are already familiar with. Because CarPlay is a rather ambitious effort requiring the cooperation of automobile makers and third-party hardware companies, it was initially slow to get off the ground, but as of 2016, a whole range of CarPlay-enabled vehicles are available and CarPlay support is growing more and more common. Consumers are increasingly interested in CarPlay as a feature for new cars, and increased competition is spurring additional manufacturers to adopt the feature.

We’ve done several reviews of different CarPlay-enabled vehicles, all of which can be found below. CarPlay is the same across various cars, but every manufacturer has a unique implementation due to the differences between infotainment systems.

The CarPlay interface is designed to be immediately familiar to anyone who has used iOS on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Connecting an iPhone to CarPlay through a Lightning cable brings up an iOS-style interface on the in-car display that offers a home screen complete with apps like Maps, Phone, Messages, Music, Podcasts, and several third-party offerings.

Apps are accessed via touch screen, through Siri, or through various in-car controls that might be located on the steering wheel or other location depending on the car manufacturer. On aftermarket offerings from companies like Pioneer and Alpine, physical controls are limited to buttons on the in-dash system unless special adapters are installed.

Though apps can be launched through touch-based controls, actions like sending a text message, making a phone call, or changing a music track are largely conducted through Siri. There is no on-screen keyboard, for example, so text messages are transcribed by voice much as they are when using dictation to send messages on an iPhone. More information on the included CarPlay apps and what they do can be found below.

APPLE CARPLAY APPS

Maps: Powered by the Apple Maps app on the iPhone, Maps within CarPlay lets users get detailed turn-by-turn directions to help them navigate. The CarPlay interface clearly displays the route, driving instructions, traffic conditions, and visual cues for upcoming turns. Estimated time of arrival is also included, along with an estimate of driving time and distance until the destination is reached.

Maps draws in location information from apps like Messages, Calendar, and Mail, and it also includes previous searches made on iOS. For example, if a user has a specific location for an upcoming meeting stored in the Calendar app, Maps will pull that info into the CarPlay interface. Maps also allows for voice commands through Siri, so it’s possible to ask Siri to find a gas station, a museum, or a specific address. In iOS 10, Maps gained traffic alerts and alternate routes to save time in traffic-heavy areas.

As of iOS 12, CarPlay works with third-party Maps apps like Google Maps and Waze, giving CarPlay users an alternative to Apple Maps. Many mapping apps are adopting CarPlay support following the update.

Phone: With the Phone app, it’s possible to ask Siri to dial calls, return missed calls, and listen to voice mail. The CarPlay Phone app also has a keypad so numbers can be punched in on the touchscreen, but for the most part, calls will be initiated by asking Siri to dial an existing contact.

A user might say, “Call mom,” for example, to place a phone call over the car’s speaker system. In-car controls are also used alongside the touchscreen for functions like muting calls or initiating conference calls.

Messages: As with phone calls, sending a message is reliant on Siri. Messages are dictated aloud to the voice assistant, with Siri confirming the content of the message to ensure accuracy before sending. When a response is received, Siri will ask if the user wants it read aloud and will then give the option to send another text message, with the entire interaction being voice-based to prevent users from looking at their iPhones while driving. Sample commands within the Messages app include “Read message from Kelly,” or “Send message to mom,” followed by the message content.

Audiobooks: As of iOS 8.4, the Audiobooks app is part of the iBooks app and lets users listen to audiobooks in their vehicles.

Apple Music: The CarPlay Music app allows customers to access content that has been downloaded from iTunes, the Apple Music streaming service, and the free Beats 1 radio station. Like other CarPlay apps, the Music app’s interface is immediately recognizable, with access to Artists, Songs, and Playlists. With Siri, it’s possible for Apple Music subscribers to play a specific songs or artists on-demand with commands like “Siri, play Beyonce.”

Podcasts: With the Podcasts app, CarPlay users can listen to their downloaded podcasts. The CarPlay interface is similar to the interface on iOS devices and should be immediately familiar to those who frequently use the Podcasts app.

THIRD-PARTY CARPLAY APPS

Apple also lets third-party developers create dedicated apps for CarPlay. Available apps are audio-focused and non-visual, in order to avoid introducing distractions into the car, with the content being played through the car’s speakers.

Third-party apps will only show up on the CarPlay display if the app is installed on the iPhone. So, for example, if a user regularly listens to Spotify on the iPhone and has the Spotify app installed, Spotify will also be available via the CarPlay interface.

Because of the audio-focused restriction, there are a limited number of apps that are compatible with CarPlay.

As of late 2016, CarPlay is available in hundreds of cars, with manufacturers like Cadillac, Chevrolet, Fiat-Chrysler, Ford (all 2016 and 2017 models), GMC, Honda, Kia, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Volvo, Nissan, BMW, Hyundai, Porsche, and Volkswagen offering CarPlay-equipped vehicles that are available now. Even semi trucks are gaining CarPlay support, with Volvo introducing its first CarPlay-equipped VNL series trucks, and Honda has introduced the first motorcycle with CarPlay support.

Apple has created an official master list of all the CarPlay vehicles available in the United States and other countries. For those in search of a CarPlay-equipped vehicle, Apple’s list is the best way to determine the options that are available. It is updated on a regular basis to add new models, but may not include new CarPlay vehicles as soon as they are announced. For that reason, the CarPlay Timeline at the bottom of this roundup is also a good resource for finding news on CarPlay vehicles as soon as they’re announced.

Apple’s list includes more than 400 new 2016, 2017, and 2018 models from more than 20 vehicle manufacturers, and additional automobile manufacturers are adding support on a regular basis.

NEW AND FUTURE CARPLAY PARTNERS

Mazda

CarPlay will be available in Mazda vehicles starting in September 2018. Mazda customers who own the 2018 Mazda 6, with the exception of the Sport base model, will be able to visit a Mazda dealership to have CarPlay installed at no cost. As of November 2018, CarPlay is preinstalled in new 2018 Mazda6 vehicles.

Mazda in August debuted the 2019 CX-9, which is also equipped with CarPlay. CarPlay comes factory installed on Touring, Touring Premium, Grand Touring, and Signature Trims as part of the Mazda Connect infotainment system. CarPlay is standard in the 2019 Mazda3, with the exception of the base model.

CarPlay is also available as a dealer-installed upgrade in the U.S. in select 2014 and newer Mazda vehicles with a Mazda Connect infotainment system. The upgrade is priced at $199 plus the cost of labor. Eligible customers can schedule an appointment with a Mazda dealership to have the upgrade service completed.

Toyota

Toyota was a longtime CarPlay holdout, but the company in 2018 announced plans to bring CarPlay support in the 2019 Avalon and the 2019 Corolla Hatchback, both of which we were able to check out in person. The Corolla Hatchback and the Avalon will be Toyota’s first vehicles with CarPlay, but Toyota will expand CarPlay compatibility to other vehicles in 2019 and beyond, such as the 2019 Sienna and 2019 Camry. CarPlay will be available in Toyota and Lexus vehicles equipped with the Entune 3.0 and Enform 2.0 systems, and in the 2020 Toyota Corolla Hybrid.

The 2019 Lexus ES, available in September, will be the first Lexus vehicle to support CarPlay. CarPlay will also be made available in the Lexus 2019 UX Crossover, coming in December. Pre-2019 Toyota and Lexus vehicles will not support CarPlay.

Land Rover and Jaguar

Jaguar and Land Rover will offer CarPlay support in new and existing vehicles in the United States in the near future. Starting with the 2019 model year, all Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles that feature the InControl Touch Pro or Touch Pro Duo infotainment system will be available with a CarPlay option that is priced starting at $280.

Existing Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles with one of the aforementioned infotainment systems will be able to get CarPlay functionality through a retroactive update.

CARPLAY CONTROVERSIES

Starting in 2019, BMW will offer CarPlay as a subscription-based service, requiring BMW owners to pay $80 per year to access CarPlay after one year of free service following the purchase of a BMW. Currently, BMW charges a $300 fee for customers to upgrade to CarPlay.

BMW says that depending on the feedback from customers, it may not make the change to the subscription plan, but currently, the company believes the subscription-based pricing system will offer BMW owners more flexibility.

AFTERMARKET SYSTEMS

Alpine, Kenwood, Pioneer, JVC, JBL, and Sony all sell various aftermarket CarPlay systems for installation in vehicles that do not come standard with the feature. The aftermarket systems generally retail for between $400 and $1,400 depending on the model, and can usually be retrofitted into older vehicles for relatively minimal costs.

CarPlay History

CarPlay is compatible with the iPhone 5, the iPhone 5c, the iPhone 5s, the iPhone 6, the iPhone 6 Plus, the iPhone 6s, the iPhone 6s Plus, the iPhone 7, the iPhone 7 Plus, the iPhone 8, the iPhone 8 Plus, the iPhone X, the iPhone XS and XS Max, and the iPhone XR. It is not compatible with earlier iPhones or with the iPad and iPod touch.

Available Countries

CarPlay is available in more than 35 countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, UK, and USA. Not all features are available in all countries, however.