Oliver Haslam on June 14, 2019, 9:37 pm

iOS 13 CarPlay Features: Here’s Everything That Is New

Looking for iOS 13 CarPlay features for your iPhone? Here’s everything that is new in CarPlay for iOS 13 running on iPhones.

When Apple CEO Tim Cook took to the stage during the WWDC opening keynote last week there was plenty of anticipation in the air. We got more than we bargained for, and with so much to sink our teeth into, we’re still learning just how deep the changes to iOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, and now iPadOS run. One aspect that received some love but may have flown under the radar for many is CarPlay.

Apple’s CarPlay is the way iPhones interact with car entertainment systems, projecting their display onto a car’s touch display. It’s a great way of doing away with the usually poor in-car systems we’re all stuck with. But CarPlay isn’t perfect, and Apple is improving it with iOS 13.

There isn’t a huge redesign here, but some of the pain points have been rectified and there are some visual changes that will be welcomed by most. We’re going to run through some of those changes now.

A visual redesign: It’s been due for some time, but there’s a new Home screen layout with new Settings and Calendar apps available. The shelf to the left of the display, called Dashboard view, now looks cleaner and more modern, too with ability to display navigation as well as music and other contextual information such as next Calendar event or HomeKit scene all in one place. And, just like iOS itself, there’s now a new light and dark mode option. Apps like Music have also received some graphical attention as well.
Maps is receiving some love: Again, the interface is new and Apple continues to work to improve its mapping data throughout the United States.
Siri’s smarter: There’s a new voice that makes Siri sound better, and the digital assistant can now interact with third-party apps such as navigation and music apps, too. Car makers can now also include “Hey Siri” as a wake phrase within their car’s systems, too.
Multiple apps at once: Finally, CarPlay and the iPhone it’s running on can display different apps. That’s been an irritation for years with the iPhone effectively being useless while in CarPlay mode. No more!

Apple will ship iOS 13 later this year, with developers now able to take it for a spin in beta. It’s possible that more CarPlay features will be added between now and launch day, and existing features could definitely change along the way, too.