Apple Upgrades CarPlay in Two Ways

The upcoming iOS 18.4 update for the iPhone includes a smaller but meaningful improvement for Apple's in-car iPhone mirroring system CarPlay.

ios 18 4 carplay
Specifically, CarPlay now shows a third row of icons, up from two rows previously. However, this change is only visible in vehicles with a larger center display. For example, a MacRumors Forums member noticed the change in a Toyota Tundra with a 14-inch screen.

In our testing, CarPlay still showed two rows of four icons in a Honda Civic with a 9-inch screen.

While this is only a minor change, CarPlay showing more icons when possible is a nice quality-of-life improvement, allowing drivers to quickly access more apps with less swiping between pages and keep their eyes on the road.

iOS 18.4 is currently in beta testing. The software update will be released to the general public in early April, according to Apple's website.

In addition, the Apple Maps electric vehicle routing feature on CarPlay gained support for the North American Charging System (NACS) charging connector standard this week. Ford recently began selling an adapter that allows its Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning vehicles to be charged by a Tesla Supercharger, and now the Apple Maps electric vehicle routing feature can plan routes that include stops at Tesla Superchargers.

ford nacs ev routing
Ford says this capability is available now on CarPlay with an iPhone running iOS 17 or later, so no new software update is required.

Related Roundup: CarPlay

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