Launched with iOS 7 in 2014, Apple CarPlay makes it easy to navigate, play music, reply to messages, and do much more using the car’s touchscreen dashboard display. Unarguably, it offers a reliable and safe to use your iPhone apps without having to hold your iPhone or look at it while you’re driving. In this article, we’ll share some of the best Apple CarPlay apps every driver should be using. We’ve included the best navigation, music, and useful iPhone apps that support CarPlay to keep you entertained and connected behind the steering wheel.
1. Google Maps
A long road journey becomes easy with a good navigation app. By default, Apple Maps is available through CarPlay. That said, if you find Apple Maps lacklustre, Google Maps is always there to help you. Honestly speaking, I prefer Google Maps over Apple Maps, any day, and it has everything a driver may need. Real-time traffic updates, automated routing to dodge heavy traffic, offline navigation, the ability to search for locations along your route, and that mellow tone of Google Assistant directing you towards your destination. It even works with Siri commands, but not as seamlessly as Apple Maps.
Google Maps offers a simplified dashboard view of CarPlay which displays the navigation and also offers important controls like music, phone, and more on cars with a larger display. Not to forget, Google recently integrated speedometer and speed limit warnings in Google Maps for iPhone and CarPlay. The speed limit information is a useful feature that can help you avoid speeding tickets. Everything combined, Google Maps is one of the best CarPlay apps every driver should use.
2. Phone app
If we talk about one first-party app that you’ll use the most with CarPlay, it has to be the Phone app. With the seamless Phone app’s CarPlay integration, you can make and receive phone calls right from your car’s touchscreen display or controls on the steering wheel. When you open the Phone app, you can browse your contacts, view recent calls, open a dialer, or check your voicemail.
You can easily call up your favorites or people you have recently contacted. If you’re waiting for the signal, you can also scroll through your contact list or use the keypad to dial a number. For a safe experience, it’s better to ask Siri to make a phone call. All in all, if you wish to stay connected with the outside world safely, the Phone app is the best Apple CarPlay app for you.
3. Spotify
Good music can make a journey enjoyable. Unless you’re an Apple Music fan, you must be using Spotify to listen to your favorite music. Spotify is a big name in music streaming and the number 1 music app on the App Store, for all the right reasons. It offers over 100 million songs, and you can go ad-free and listen to songs offline with a subscription plan.
Thanks to the clean and intuitive interface, the Spotify app for CarPlay makes it super easy to browse your music library using playlists, liked songs, artists, or albums. Also, Siri is always at your disposal to play an album or genre from the Spotify app. Thanks to shareable playlists, you can easily share your favorite tracks with non-Apple friends. Spotify also offers audiobooks and podcasts, so you get loads of entertainment options in a single CarPlay app.
Interestingly, Amazon Music, Tidal, and of course, Apple Music supports CarPlay. So, you can easily pick the best CarPlay music app, depending on which music streaming service you like or have subscribed to.
4. Apple Podcasts
Do you prefer podcasts over music or radio? Apple Podcasts is all you need. For millions of iPhone users, Apple Podcasts is their go-to podcast app, and it works really well with CarPlay as well. It will allow you to access your favorite shows and discover new podcasts during your daily commute or long road trip.
This Apple CarPlay app features an intuitive interface with menu icons at the top, straightforward content lists, and a full-screen media page that includes large play, pause, and skip forward/back controls. You can always use Siri to “Play the Crime Junkie Podcast” or “Skip backwards one minute”.
5. WhatsApp
Apple’s own iMessage system is also compatible with CarPlay, but it’s always a great idea to have WhatsApp at your disposal. When you open the app, you get options to hear unread messages or dictate a new message. All your WhatsApp notifications will come through to the CarPlay home screen, and you’ll see the contact or group chat name at the top of the display.
Just like other CarPlay messaging apps, you can’t read your WhatsApp messages from the screen. You can tap on the display and ask Siri to read them for you and respond to them. If you don’t want your fellow passengers to hear your personal messages, you can save them for later. If you’re looking for the best messaging apps that support CarPlay, WhatsApp remains a top choice.
6. Audible
If you enjoy audiobooks, Amazon’s Audible is one of the best apps that support Apple CarPlay. Just like any other apps we’ve included in the list, Audible features an incredibly simple interface, showing a library of your downloaded books. You just have to tap on one of them and the storytelling will start exactly from where you’ve left off. The large playback controls make it easy to play, pause, or skip 30 seconds forward/backward without being distracted.
With a subscription, Audible Plus and Audible Premium Plus members get full access to the Plus Catalog which has thousands of titles, podcasts, and Originals Plus Catalog. Also, the Audible Premium Plus members can download a new book each month and keep it forever. You can play any downloaded audiobooks using CarPlay, so just make sure to download your favorites offline while you’re connected to the internet.
7. iHeart: Radio, Podcasts, Music
If you’re eyeing an all-in-one audio entertainment CarPlay app, you must check out iHeart. It offers access to a huge music library, plus thousands of live radio stations, and popular podcasts, all at one place. You can browse through local AM and FM radio stations that cover everything from news, music, sports, talk, and comedy. Also, stay up-to-date with the latest sports discussions on the NFL or NBA and stream stations like ESPN Radio and Fox Sports Radio.
The best thing about this Apple CarPlay app is its simplicity. The easy-to-navigate interface shows pages for Recents, Playlists, Radio, and Podcasts. Also, the radio stations are filtered by genre so you can quickly find and jump between your favorites. Thanks to the Recently Played section, you can switch to your most recent podcasts with a single tap.
8. Waze
Waze is one of the most popular navigation apps that relies heavily on community-sourced information to make your drive stress-free. It provides real-time directions and safety alerts to warn you of accidents, crashes, constructions, traffic jams, and potholes that may come your way. It actively changes your route to prevent those obstacles.
The app will also let you know where cops, red lights, and speed cameras are located so you can take alternate routes. The best thing about this navigation app for CarPlay is works smartly to make your ETA as low as geographically possible. If you don’t like Apple Maps or Google Maps for some reason, you must try this CarPlay app.
9. ChargePoint
If you own an electric car, you know there will be a time in your long road trip when you will have to charge your vehicle. ChargePoint connects you to the world’s largest EV charging network that has hundreds of stations and roaming partners to choose from.
This CarPlay app also provides real-time notifications and reminders about the charging status of your vehicle, including nearby stations and a charging session’s cost. You can access all of this information right from your CarPlay in-vehicle display. Putting it simply, if you’re an electric car owner, this is a must-have CarPlay app for you.
10. Weather On the Way
Today, you can find a list of the best weather apps for iOS that can give you the latest forecasts and severe weather alerts. That said, there are limited apps that allow you to track the weather on your route. One such app is Weather On the Way. As the name suggests, it’s a unique and super useful app that tells you about the weather you’ll experience on your way to the destination. The weather along your route not only affects the road conditions but also changes the way you drive. For instance, you can slow down the speed and be more careful to drive through a patch of heavy rain. Alternatively, you can change your route and pick with the best weather conditions.
With the CarPlay support, the app gives you real-time alerts as you drive. When you’ve got this Apple CarPlay app, you can always be prepared for your road trip and avoid unexpected delays. If you often plan long road trips, we highly recommend this CarPlay app.
More CarPlay Apps to Try
Apart from the above names, there are some other CarPlay apps that you might want to try.
- Rocket Homes: A useful CarPlay app that allows home-hunting while you’re on the go.
- Pocket Casts: A well-rounded podcast app.
- ETA: Another useful navigation app that shows travel time to your favorite places.
- SpotHero: A parking app that helps you find and reserve parking in major cities in North America.
- EasyPark: Another parking app that supports CarPlay to help find a parking spot across locations and works in 20 different countries.
- Blinkist: An interesting app that lets you read & listen to book summaries from top titles in 15 min.
- ESPN: A must-have CarPlay app for sports lovers to get real-time scores on all major sports, including NFL, NBA, and more.
- Overcast: A popular podcast app with plenty of features like Smart Boost and Voice Boost feature.
- YouTube Music: Another amazing music streaming app that supports CarPlay and offers a huge library of over 100 million songs.
- CNBC: One of the best news apps that offers the latest business, tech, and finance news.
Those were some of the best Apple CarPlay apps you must try in 2024. These apps can elevate your journey and help you make better use of the ever-larger touchscreen displays in modern cars. If you’re on the Android side of things, our dedicated Best Android Auto Apps guide has got you covered.
Do you know any other CarPlay app that deserves a mention? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
