Apple CarPlay Review

Apple CarPlay integrates with a vehicle’s infotainment system, providing quick access to navigation, music, messaging, phone calls, and more, without requiring you to ever look at your iPhone. We got a chance to review Apple Car Play in a 2015 Maruti Suzuki Baleno.

However using smartphone while behind the wheel is not always good and is a terrible idea. It’s distracting and unsafe for you and to other people on the road. But it’s really hard not to want to use it while driving. After all, it packs navigation, entertainment, and communication all onto one device. And as smartphone has become a nucleus of our lives and a car has a longer lifespan than phones and the software they run, the challenge is to create a smart in-car infotainment system that can stay up to date even as your car ages. Thus automobile sector is considered to be next battleground for a improved in-car experience.

CarPlay behaves like an app on top of a car’s native infotainment system. It's a system that integrates your iPhone apps with your car's infotainment systems, allowing you to control them and your device, more easily. Just plug in your iPhone into your car via USB and tap the CarPlay icon that appears on the screen in your dashboard and use the functionality of your iPhone in a familiar grid of iOS-style app icons without having to fumble around with it and take your eyes off the road. It's safer, easier and more convenient.

The app icons work exactly like you’d expect: tap the one you want to open. The lower left corner of the screen housed a home key that will take you back to the grid layout of apps or wake up Siri with a long-press.

The iPhone will charge if it’s plugged in plus it is fully functional even when CarPlay is running, so you can still use it instead of relying on the car’s digital dashboard.

What can it do for you?

The basic idea of CarPlay is that it allows you to use all your iPhone's functionality without actually physically touching it, which includes playing your music, making/receiving phone calls, reading text messages.

Controlling Car Play

There are three ways to control your car play without physically touching your iPhone.

Controlling Using Siri

You'll be able to talk to your vehicle via Siri. It includes playing music from your phone or from your favorite band. It can also be made to read out any new messages plus you can dictate your reply.

Use a touchscreen display

Some cars comes equipped with touchscreen displays into the dashboard. This is most simple method of using CarPlay and you'll be able to open and close apps using a very simple homescreen.

Use your car's physical buttons

Your car will still have physical buttons, knobs and controls and you'll still be able to use these alongside the touchscreen and Siri options. Volume controls, track skip and the like are all integrated and will work as expected in CarPlay.

It will also answer most standard queries, such as "what’s the weather" or "what’s on my calendar today." Siri's dictation is accurate and helps you send messages in one go. You will not be able to see your messages in display nor does it provide any other notifications.

No Google Maps Support

People who are not good at memorizing ways and frequently use Google maps for navigation will see CarPlay as a bummer as Google Maps is not supported. Apple Maps app is the only navigation option supported. Although Apple Maps has come a long way since its debut, but it’s still not as successful and good as Google Maps, and it’s really the one thing I wish I could change with CarPlay. Traffic information doesn’t seem to be as realistic as Google’s.

Speaking of future perspective, Apple's plan is to allow third parties to build CarPlay compatibility into their apps, making them usable through the system. You'll even be able to unlock your vehicle by talking Siri, but that's not currently possible.