Google Maps and Waze Coming to CarPlay in iOS 12
Beginning this fall with iOS 12, Apple will allow navigation apps to work with CarPlay, including both Google Maps and Waze.
The change was announced at WWDC, and — for consumers — could be one of the most immediately useful announcements made during the entire keynote.
Since CarPlay was first introduced a few years ago, Apple has prevented all navigation apps not named Apple Maps from working with CarPlay. This means that anyone who wanted to use an alternative app like Google Maps, Waze, or TomTom was forced to use a phone mount instead of the otherwise very useful CarPlay.
Apple didn't actually say when (or even if) Google Maps and Waze would be available with CarPlay, but MacRumors has reached out to Google and will update if we hear back.
Popular Stories
Last year, Apple launched CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. Nearly a year later, CarPlay Ultra is still limited to Aston Martin's latest luxury vehicles, but that should change fairly soon.
In May 2025, Apple said many other vehicle brands planned to offer CarPlay Ultra, including Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis.
CarPlay Ultra...
On the latest episode of The Verge's Decoder podcast, Rivian's software chief Wassym Bensaid explained why the EV maker still refuses to offer Apple CarPlay.
In short, Bensaid said Rivian does not want CarPlay to fully take over the software experience.
"The challenge with screen mirroring solutions is that they take over every single pixel in the car," he said.
Instead, Rivian prefers ...
Back at WWDC 2025, Apple revealed that it was planning to allow CarPlay users to watch video via AirPlay in their vehicles while they are not driving, but we did not hear many specific details about this functionality until now.
In a WWDC 2026 video aimed at developers, Apple said the CarPlay video feature is available in new vehicles that support it. When playing a video in an iPhone app...
