Apple CarPlay Review
CarPlay Carmakers are not essentially changing their ways, but they are giving most common infotainment option for drivers i.e. CarPlay. It is Apple’s way of concerning its iPhone Software skills to the car, along with Siri commands at the center.
Why you want CarPlay
Carplay is a simple version of ios designed for your car. By using Carplay you can send messages with iMessage, play music, get directions, stream radio (Beats1, of course), listen to podcasts, and call people—without touching your mobile.
The system heavily depends on Siri voice commands, so you can concentrate on the road, not on your mobile’s small screen.
It seems like it is on the whole ios for your car, but it is not. Due to the CarPlay is just an app, it cannot restore the entertainment system. So, when you want to do some specific tasks in the car such as adjusting temperature, listen to SiriuIsXM, view a backup camera or adjust your car’s general settings, you will come out from the Carplay and go back to the standard interface.
Which cars does CarPlay work with?
As long as you have an iPhone 5 or latest, running iOS 7.1 and above, then your phone works with CarPlay. But it is only half equation. Below we can see the cars that support Apple CarPlay.
Apple has a complete list of companionable cars, broken down with make and model. You can view the entire list here. There are total 114 car models with 24 different car makers list providing Carplay support.
Don’t get disappoint when you recognize that all the list of cars is 2016 models or latest—you can modernize an older vehicle with Carplay support by third party solutions. below we have given you some examples:
- Pioneer presents11 different aftermarket options with CarPlay support. The price ranges between $700 to $1,400.
- JBL also generates an aftermarket CarPlay unit, which trades at $399.
- Alpine and Kenwood also provides their own CarPlay-equipped systems.
If you wish to change your car’s infotainment unit with a CarPlay-ready one, immediately you can make companionable with any car.
Setting up CarPlay
Connect your iPhone to your car screen by using USB cable and you are set.
You will have to go through the quick approval process to allow your car access your phone when you plug in your phone to the car for the first time. (You should park the car, not be driven) From there you can connect your phone to the car and it goes directly into CarPlay mode.
At this point, the app CarPlay will be opened automatically, or you have to choose it from infotainment system’s menu. The main screen is a web of app icons that seems to be personalized version of your iPhone’s home screen. On the left side, you will find the time and a cell signal meter just below the stats, you will see a digitized version of the iPhone’s home button. Tap on that home button at any time to return the home screen or tap and hold to activate Siri.
Navigating the interface is done with the standard taps and swipes, but sadly, the second-nature pinch-to-zoom gesture is missing from Maps. Instead, you’ll need to tap on buttons to zoom in or out of a given map. That’s likely a design choice reflective of the car’s hardware, not CarPlay.
A search of an interface is done by the standard taps and swipes, but unhappily, the second-nature pinch-to-zoom gesture is missing from Maps. As an alternative, you should tap on buttons to Zoom in or Zoom out of a given map. That is probably a design option reflective of the car’s hardware, not CarPlay.
About Apple’s CarPlay apps…
In CarPlay all the apps are not available you will get the apps what you will see on the Screen. You can’t add, remove or rearrange the extra icons, so in this, some apps are by default Setups such as Phone, Messages, Maps, Now Playing, Podcasts and Audiobooks—is fixed.
Though there is one exception, based on the manufacturing of your car, you can see a shortcut to your car’s primary infotainment system inside CarPlay, so you can do things like changing audio modes quickly or controlling climate settings.
Return to default Apple apps you will find one thing how essential they are. You can give command voice in the CarPlay to activate the call to any person you wish to call instead of touching a dial pad on the car’s screen. And you no need to tap on contacts to view more options like Favorites, contacts, Recents, keyboard and voicemail.
The Message apps are same like Siri-driven. If you want to message any person you can send them by using voice command prompts. If you have unread messages in your inbox, Siri will ask if you want to read those unread messages out loud or compose a new message.
You will be deterred if you use the messages app like you do on your mobile. You can view the message conversation list and message threads on the iPhone, but you cannot view the message threads in CarPlay you can only view message conversations. Instead of tapping on a contact’s thread prompt Siri to once again, then it will ask you in reverse who you want to send the message. The remaining all apps are same—bare bones and Siri-driven.
Installing non-Apple apps
Non-Apple apps are what make CarPlay amazing. On an authorized CarPlay site, Apple lists some of the famous music and radio apps such as Slacker, Spotify, and NPR News when being CarPlay-companionable. But if you want to see a complete list of compatible apps, search the App Store for “CarPlay.”
Any third-party apps in CarPlay will show up on the second of the CarPlay screen repeatedly; same like on your iPhone. Just Know in few cases, before appearing the apps on your CarPlay you need to setup go finish on your phone.
Right now, only third-party music and audio apps work with CarPlay, so don’t hold your breath for Google Maps to work with CarPlay anytime soon.
The best part: Siri
You can still use Siri like you normally do when your iPhone is in CarPlay mode. You can ask for things like a weather report, sports scores — basically, any commands but Web searches. For example, you can say things like:
- Call __
- Tell me the weather.
- Play ____
- Get directions to __
- Is ___ open right now?
- Send a message to ___
Based on your car’s setup, you can prompt Siri a few different ways. For vehicles with a Bluetooth button on the steering wheel press and hold it until you hear the sound of Siri. Or, press the digital home button on the CarPlay Screen (left side).
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