The first beta of iOS 17.4 released today references eight new CarPlay apps, which were discovered by MacRumors contributors Aaron Perris and Steve Moser.
• Auto Settings: This app will let you manage paired iPhones and adjust vehicle settings.
• Car Camera: This app will display the vehicle’s rear-view camera feed.
• Charge: For electric vehicles, this app will display battery level, charging status, time remaining until the battery is fully charged, and more.
• Climate: This app will provide access to a vehicle’s climate controls within CarPlay, allowing you to adjust the temperature of the A/C or heating system, fan speed, heated seats, heated steering wheel, and more.
• Closures: This app will display if any of the vehicle’s doors are opened, and it might also display vehicle warning symbols.
• Media: This app will provide access to FM and AM radio station controls within CarPlay, along with other media options like SiriusXM. It is unclear if SiriusXM will offer satellite connectivity, or remain limited to internet streaming. Users will be able to select from a list of music genres, such as Top 40 and Rock.
• Tire Pressure: This app will display air pressure for each of the vehicle’s tires, and provide low pressure, high pressure, and flat tire warnings.
• Trips: This app will provide a variety of driving-related data, including the vehicle’s average speed, fuel efficiency or energy efficiency, the total time elapsed and distance traveled on a trip, and more.
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Wow, this would be HUGE! Any time I don’t have to bounce into Toyota’s “special needs” OS, I’m a happy camper. 🥰 Just changing the radio station 📻 is a pain and not altogether safe to do while driving; the only time you really think of it.
Not exactly clear what “Trips” will look like in the final version, but I’d love to see Apple add gas mileage (trips, the cumulative total, and at the moment) and the balance between EV driving -vs- gas-powered driving for those of us with hybrid plugins. It’s nuts how hard it is to get this to display in Toyota’s labyrinth of settings.
Manual control over all of the external cameras would be fantastic. Often wish I could turn on the front one a little sooner than it comes on automatically when parking.
I think it’s time for Apple to introduce a CarPlay app, too. The Toyota app is a great idea, just barely implemented. However, it does notify me when I forget to lock the car. It will then allow me to do so remotely as well as inform me when the battery is fully charged.
There’s still one thing that really annoys me about CarPlay that I wish Apple would change.
The 3 “primary” apps displayed vertically to the left, nearest the driver, are never the 3 primary apps I want there. We should have the ability to set those as we see fit. Phone and texting, the main 2 primary interactive things I do with CarPlay, replace each other each time you select one. That seems a strange oversight on Apple’s part that we’re unable to set the 3 we use the most there permanently.
Still, these changes are all great moves in the right direction.
Anyone know when 17.4 might be golden?
I believe these apps will only be available on new cars that are configured to support these functions. Otherwise, you will only have the standard CarPlay functions.
Gosh, I hope you’re wrong. I’m driving a 2024 Rav Prime XSE, so perhaps I’ll get lucky, and the new apps will work on it as hoped.
If Apple does not support older vehicles, I would expect 3rd parties to fill in the gap. On BMW we have Bimmertech, a 3rd party who allowed carplay to be added to vehicles not having it. I’d expect them to come up with revised firmware, or hardware box to add the new features to older cars.
GM (in my opinion) really blundered recently when they dropped CarPlay from new vehicles. BTW, my 2017 Chevy Volt is a hybrid (with 82,000 miles) and CarPlay works superbly and does pretty much all of the things MickG is wishing for except for permanently changing the preferred apps displayed upon the next startup. However, the open apps on my phone do display automatically and I can tap any of them to dominate the car display. I love the car and can’t believe that 2019 was the final production year; I would have readily bought a new one if they kept it alive. The only maintenance I’ve ever had to do were 3 engine/filter changes; flush the transmission twice; and replace the lousy Michelin tires at 60,000 miles. The replacement Sumitomo tires are cheaper; quieter; and have much better grip around corners. I was pleasantly surprised.
How about an analog clock app?
And a basic compass?