Earlier today Apple unloaded several new beta software updates including iOS 9.3 for iPhone which adds some handy new features to CarPlay. Specifically, both the Maps and Music apps for CarPlay were updated to work more like the iPhone versions on iOS 9. Check out the details below:
The Music app on CarPlay has been rebuilt to include features from the Apple Music streaming service for the first time. Starting with iOS 9.3, the For You and New sections of Apple Music now appear through CarPlay so you can easily select playlists and albums through the streamlined interface. The Music app now highlights recently added playlists and saved music just like on the iPhone and elsewhere. You still can’t add music and playlists to your library without using Siri, but that’s fair for a stripped down version of Apple Music intended to be used while driving.
On the Apple Maps side, iOS 9’s Nearby feature introduced in September is now available through Maps in CarPlay. Nearby is useful on iPhones and iPads, but it’s especially useful as a CarPlay feature where finding directions is a common task. Shortcuts for local gas stations, restaurants, coffee shops and more are presented when you search for a new destination. You’ll also see star ratings, price levels, and distance when comparing locations.
Check out our hands-on video with CarPlay and iOS 9.3 below:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO6Sh2XAfcc&feature=youtu.be]
Bringing the real Apple Music experience to CarPlay and enhancing the Apple Maps app are very welcome improvements to CarPlay. While iOS 9.3 is still only in beta and these features weren’t available when iOS 9.0 was first released, today’s update shows that Apple still cares about CarPlay which makes me hopeful that the feature will continue to improve in the future. I’d still love to see the ability to send audio messages, not just play them back a single time, and rearranging or hiding apps would be welcome too, but overall I think the iOS 9.3 update will be an impressive one for CarPlay fans.
For more on CarPlay, check out our initial review of CarPlay and our update to what initially changed with CarPlay after one year if you want to learn more about the feature. And expect these iPhone apps to work with CarPlay.
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The Apple Music additions with For You and New are nice, but should been there since at least iOS 9.0. The nearby feature seems like the best new feature for CarPlay.
Now if Apple would just work with more manufacturers to get CarPlay in more vehicles. The list of new cars with CarPlay is extremely sort for being shown off at WWDC 2013.
Also, wireless CarPlay needs to finally hit production vehicles.
Ok – I might be a little retarted, so please bear with me. When playing a song, I can press a little heart under the song (guess it’s like a favorite button). How can I find a list with these songs (my favorites) on CarPlay? It looks like it’s the new “For you”, but then again it isn’t.
By default you can’t. What I’ve done is create a smart playlist in iTunes that automatically adds any “hearted” songs to the smart playlist.
I believe the ‘like’ button (heart) is more for the ‘for you’ page on the Music app. It collates your favourite tracks and suggests new music through this feature… I hope this helps :)
So you are telling me that those extremely basic features that have existed on all other apple products were NOT in the previous Car Play version? This is what it’s come to – fanboys celebrating the most basic features that have existed, in some cases, for a decade being simply ported to a new piece of hardware. This video might as well be the apple fanboy’s pledge of allegiance, filled with such banal remarks as “Clicking on Recently Added lets you view things you’ve recently added”. Thanks.
niceeee! i wish playlist and my music will be more to left soo i can reach it easier =) probably wont be using for you or new i only listen to downloaded music. 1 question have you try using the apple smart battery case with carplay does it work? i had problems wich microusb ones. ty =)
G’Day Sebastian, I use CarPlay with my Apple Smart Battery Case, and it works well mate.
This is the first time I’ve seen CarPlay in action, and while it seems easy enough to use, I’m not very impressed by the typography and graphics of the UI. It somehow seems rather dated and nowhere near as ‘pretty’ if you like, as the UIs on Apple’s other products.
Oh very nice… now when are they going to allow 3rd party navigation apps (specifically ones that don’t gobble data, like TomTom or Garmin)
Apple Maps doesn’t “gobble” data – my girlfriend uses it on her long commute every day and it’s not a significant consumer of data (I would give you the exact numbers but I don’t have her phone handy). If you have such a low cap that map usage threatens it, perhaps you should blame your carrier. I have 20GB and pay $55 a month, but even a tiny 3GB plan ought to make map data a moot point.
That said, I would love for them to support Waze, Google Maps, and Garmin/Navigon on the car screen!
CarPlay isn’t perfect but it does kick the crap out of everything that existed before it in cars.
I’m not sure I agree. If you use Maps for navigation 4 or 5 times a month for 1 – 2 hours of driving, it will use about 1GB a month. I know this because I compared it to my TomTom navigation app (which downloads map data as part of the app, like a hardware GPS) and while TomTom used about 15MB (traffic data) Apple Maps for the same journey’s used 998MB
So if you’re on a 3GB plan, that’s 33% of your allowance. I personally have a 5GB cap so it would be 20% of my allowance.
“Gobble” data is an emotive term, so I won’t now pretend I meant some precise criticism, but there is no technical reason not to allow 3rd party navigation apps to connect to CarPlay and it seems a lot of people would really like to use it.