5 useful Apple CarPlay features you may have missed

One of the most important features drivers look for when purchasing a new car is whether the vehicle has Apple CarPlay integration. we still waiting for the upcoming completely new designThis feature is expected to be available in select vehicles soon, but Apple continued to improve the software.

With the latest iOS 18 release, Apple has added several new features to CarPlay. In this article, I will talk about five CarPlay features that make my life easier.

Announcement Notifications support: Announcement Notifications can read your notification summaries out loud while using AirPods or CarPlay. This iOS 18 feature is especially useful right now: Apple Intelligence Available that provides an overview of your notifications.

Let people follow your journey: There are several ways to let someone track your journey using your iPhone, including CarPlay. When you start a journey in your car with Apple Maps or Google Maps, you can share your ETA at the bottom of the screen. Apple will suggest a few names from your contacts list, and you can share them using various messaging apps. This can be combined with: Check In feature on your iPhone and Apple Watch.

Set Focus Mode: You probably already know the topic Focus Mode feature It was introduced in iOS 15. What you don’t know is that you can create Driving Focus Mode. Apple already offers a pre-made mode, but I recommend customizing it. You can decide who can text you while you’re driving by going to Settings, then Focus, and tapping Driving. You can also personalize the experience by choosing a customizable iPhone Lock Screen and Apple Watch watch face. Apple will then automatically enable this Focus Mode when your iPhone is connected to CarPlay.

Image source: José Adorno for BGR

SharePlay: Apple lets you collaborate with someone else’s Apple Music queue using SharePlay. Once you start playing a song, someone else can tap the SharePlay icon, pick up their phone, scan the QR code, and add the songs to the queue. This is particularly useful so you don’t need to keep unlocking your iPhone, and even if the person doesn’t have an Apple Music subscription, they can still add songs as long as they download the Music app.

Change Wallpaper: I like that CarPlay allows me to customize the background of the screen. With every new CarPlay update, Apple adds more backgrounds. Select Wallpaper in the Settings app in CarPlay and choose the one that suits your mood. Be sure to check back after a major software update as more options may be available.