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Upcoming port brings CarPlay to iPhone/iPad without an external display

Carplay-on-iPad

Developer Adam Bell has published a preview of his latest project that attempts to allow CarPlay, Apple’s iOS feature usually reserved for in-car entertainment systems, to run directly on iOS devices.

Bell notes in a post that the port of CarPlay running on top of SpringBoard is “buggy at the moment,” but published the video and images above and below showing it running on an iPad and an iPhone 6. Bell confirmed the port is still in the early stages, but said it will be a free and open source project.

In addition to iPad (pictured above and in the video below), the developer posted the screenshot below showing the port running on an iPhone 6:

[tweet https://twitter.com/b3ll/status/537791401270853632]

Currently Apple’s CarPlay system is limited to a small number of new vehicles from Apple’s initial launch partners as well as through third-party installations of head units from Pioneer (our review). A project like Bell’s in theory could allow (at least Jailbreak users) to use an existing iPad or iPhone mounted on a dashboard for CarPlay.

It might not be a much cheaper solution than installing a third-party system like Pioneer’s, but most of the CarPlay systems on the market, as Bell notes, have resistive touch screens that make for a subpar touchscreen experience compared to Apple’s own iOS devices. Lots of users that already have iOS devices to spare could also get into CarPlay for the price of a dashboard mount rather than being forced to purchase and install a third-party head unit.

Bell said he plans on sharing more on the project’s progress and how exactly it works in the near future.

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Comments

  1. sonicsoundvw - 9 years ago

    This is something i thought apple would have considered before had. THAT would have been innovation heh.

  2. JasonERF (@JasonERF) - 9 years ago

    This would be fantastic. I’d much rather use an iOS device with snappy screen response times than some Pioneer display. While driving there’s no time for any response lag.

    Apple should have done this from the get go and just allowed the accessory manufacturers figure out how to fit it in our cars… Great use of an iPad Mini, imo.

    • myke2241 - 9 years ago

      the response is very fast on my Nex 7000 within carplay. i have never noticed lag. that being said i prefer Pioneers maps and nav to Apples. only time will tell if Apple cares about Carplay.

    • I went and test drove a Honda Civic Coupe this week and linked up my iPhone 6 to make sure it is everything i wanted. What the car has is what Honda calls Honda Link Next Gen which uses a lightening to HDMI and Lightening cable to mirror your phones display and then over bluetooth uses Siri Eyes Free. I tested and it worked great! The display was not laggy like my moms 2014 Honda Accord EX-L is. It is very snappy and i didn’t notice any trouble with lag. I zoomed in and out using a pinch function on maps and it was flawless. I hear that the 2014/2015 Honda Civic Coupe is suppose to be getting CarPlay in the future along with other Honda Cars and i can’t wait to get it in my soon to be car that i believe i am getting within the next couple of days. This is the only reason i am getting the 2015 Civic Coupe and not a 2015 Accord, i know it has what i want (at least mirroring capabilities) and it is guaranteed, unlike the Accord which might get it in the future but is not promised.

  3. sardonick - 9 years ago

    I’d do this if I could connect it to my Bose system somehow, but otherwise, it’s headunit time and one that’s compatible with ios and android, not just one or the other.

  4. dhakalsameer - 9 years ago

    trekking in nepal
    http://wevte.com

  5. Cal - 9 years ago

    Would be especially nice for those of us with old cars that don’t have the displays and don’t want to splurge on a new dashboard. Hook it up to our dash and aux cable, with only these essentials, to minimize the time our eyes are off the road? Yes, please!

  6. William Robinson - 9 years ago

    I guess I don’t see the advantage of putting CarPlay on your iPad or Phone. All those features are already on our phones (which are the necessary back end to CarPlay after all), Why don’t just create a springboard screen that has the same small group of apps, and then use that screen whenever the iDevice is linked to the car? All you then need is a car mount that suits your dash and vision requirements.

    • lkernan - 9 years ago

      Carplay also causes the apps to display differently. The Carplay Maps UI much better suited to operation in a car than the normal Maps UI.

    • Joel Reeves - 9 years ago

      Isn’t one of the purposes of CarPlay to allow the integration of car based systems like HVAC, backup cams, driver and passenger seat positions, with the phone, music and navigation provided by an iPhone?

  7. Anetha Mccloud - 9 years ago

    Having a hard time downloading Chromecast toolbar

  8. dkanterakis - 9 years ago

    I just downloaded this on Cydia… It works ok, but no one mentioned that it doesn’t actually work the way CarPlay does…. The point of CarPlay is to not have to make your car cellular connected (an idiotic idea, being that I already pay for my iPhones data plan and I can use the Hotspot option to share it). It’s also so that I don’t need to load all of my information into my car, or a devise in my car.

    CarPlay is a relay of the information on my iPhone (phone calls, texts, navigation, music) to a screen in my dashboard, where it is displayed in a larger format that lends itself to use on a dashboard (making it much safer to use than the smaller UI elements on your phone) and also lets me use Siri to input things rather than typing (again, much safer than typing on a small keyboard).

    They key there is that it’s “A RELAY OF THE INFORMATION ON MY iPHONE”.

    This “port” (now called Ignition on Cydia) does not do this at all. The only thing it does is replace the traditional iOS 8 UI with the new CarPlay UI. So it essentially redisplays the information that it already on your iPad (that’s right… it means music has to be already loaded onto you iPad… sucks if you have a 16GB version). It also means that you need to either have an iPad that has the cellular option or if you have a Wi-Fi only iPad, you’ll have to tether it (hotspot) your iPhone.

    That alone isn’t the end of the world (like I said earlier, I like the ability to hotspot). It also means that there is no relay of phone calls or text messages from your iPhone to your iPad, making this completely useless as a hands free calling device.

    Now, please don’t misinterpret the above as an insult to the guy who is working on this… I understand this is an intensive process. However what bothers me is that no one at any point explains how it actually works. It should have been noted that this is just a UI change of your iPads existing system.
    I’ll keep playing with this and post an update if I find anything new.

  9. Shaurab Lohani - 9 years ago

    I hope this is going to be launched in the states and some other countries but not in mine. I’d love have one of those. Thanks for such great stuff!!

    Rob
    http://www.dormnepal.com

Author

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.