CarPlay

CES 2015: Pioneer unveils new CarPlay receivers with Sirius radio, advanced Bluetooth and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 9, 2016

Shortly after Kenwood went head to head with Pioneer with its own aftermarket receivers with CarPlay integration, the company responded by announcing a second-generation Networked Entertainment eXperience (NEX) in-dash receivers with CarPlay support.

Building on the features introduced in the previous NEX series (the $1400 AVIC-8000NEX, $1200 AVIC-7000NEX, $900 AVIC-6000NEX, $750 AVIC-5000NEX and $700 AVH-4000NEX), the updated receivers offer better displays, support for Bluetooth connectivity and are Sirius XM-Ready.

CES 2015: Kenwood announces multimedia receiver with Apple CarPlay

Jake Smith ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Kenwood is the next car accessory-maker to jump on the Apple CarPlay bandwagon, announcing at CES 2015 on Tuesday its new DDX9902S receiver.

The DDX9902S will support both CarPlay for iPhone users and Android Auto for Android Phone users - a pretty common theme we've been seeing at CES 2015. It features a touchscreen, with the ability to add a rear-view camera and maneuver safely with on-screen parking guide lines, and compatibility with factory steering wheel audio controls.

CES 2015: Volkswagen finally announces CarPlay support for later this year

Jake Smith ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Volkswagen has finally announced it will rollout Apple's CarPlay software in its vehicles sometime in 2015, a year late to the party when it was noticeably absent from the list of initial CarPlay supporters. The European automaker made the announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show on Monday, saying CarPlay will be alongside its rivals.

Parrot is next to launch an aftermarket CarPlay in-dash receiver

Jake Smith ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Parrot has announced a rather slick car infotainment system at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Sunday, packing a 7-inch 720p "IPS Pro" touchscreen that supports Apple CarPlay.

CarPlay Activator rebranded as ‘Ignition’ launches for free on Cydia

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

CarPlay Activator, a tweak that we reviewed in depth a few weeks ago, is now available for download on Cydia as Ignition. The tweak, which is remarkably free of charge, is from well-respected developer Adam Bell. If you're not interested in dropping north of $500 on a CarPlay head unit with a terrible resistive touch screen, then Ignition may be the answer to your CarPlay desires.

Hyundai confirms bringing CarPlay-enabled Display Audio infotainment system to 2016 models

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 30, 2017

South Korean car maker Hyundai on Thursday confirmed that its new Display Audio in-dash system featuring a color touchscreen and CarPlay compatibility will be built into select 2016 models which will debut in late-2015 before being rolled out to the manufacturer's entire car lineup.

In addition to CarPlay, Hyundai said that Display Audio will support Google's Android Auto platform out of the box as well. The company will show off Display Audio with CarPlay and Android Auto integration at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show.

Hands-on with CarPlay Activator, a very promising standalone CarPlay tweak

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

I've had the privilege of going hands-on with Adam Bell's upcoming CarPlay Activator tweak for standalone iOS devices like the iPad and the iPhone. As we reported a few week's ago, Bell, known for his work in the jailbreak community with tweaks like Stride, posted a video of an in-progress CarPlay port for the iPad. The thoughts of such a release immediately got my wheels turning, as I'm sure it has for many others. Watch our full 9 minute video walkthrough for a deeper look into what makes this upcoming CarPlay tweak so promising.

‘CarPlay iOS’ lets you experiment with CarPlay right on your iPhone

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Eager to see how the CarPlay interface looks on your iOS device? If so, you can use a new jailbreak tweak to preview the look of the CarPlay interface right on your iPhone or iPad.

CarPlay iOS is a new jailbreak tweak, available free on the BigBoss repo, that makes the CarPlay head unit interface accessible without the need of an external display.

Work in progress tweak makes CarPlay work without an external display

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Renowned jailbreak developer Adam Bell is working on an interesting project that makes it possible to use CarPlay without the normal external display requirements. The tweak, which is currently a work in progress, will make it so that users can reap the benefits of the simplified CarPlay interface, without the need of buying an expensive CarPlay enabled head unit.

The possibilities for such a tweak are extremely interesting. For example, you could, in theory, mount an iPad in your car and use it instead of using your stock head unit. The benefits of using an iPad are multifaceted, with one of the main benefit being the better responsiveness of the iPad's capacitive touchscreen over the resistive touchscreens found in many head units.

Bell has created a video to showcase his work thus far and it looks very promising. Step inside to see the preview, and find more details about this ambitious project.

Alpine launches its first aftermarket CarPlay in-dash receiver

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 27, 2014

Alpine, which specializes in car audio and navigation systems, is an Apple-endorsed aftermarket solutions provider for CarPlay. On Monday, the company announced its first aftermarket in-dash receiver designed to work with Apple's CarPlay, the iLX-007.

The $800 accessory features a seven-inch capacitive touch screen and supports the full range of CarPlay functionality like making and receiving phone calls and messages, listening to music, navigating with Apple Maps, conversing with Siri and more.

iHeartRadio gains iOS 8 Today widget and CarPlay support

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 23, 2014

Thursday, an enhanced version 5.3 of iHeartRadio became available for download in the App Store.

The refreshed application brings out a nice Today widget allowing you to play your recent stations from the Notification Center in iOS 8. You should also appreciate its built-in support for Apple's in-car entertainment system dubbed CarPlay, so you can now listen to iHeart Radio in CarPlay-enabled vehicles.

The updated app can be grabbed for free in the App Store.

Rdio ushers in iPhone 6 and CarPlay support, interactive alerts and more in major iOS 8 update

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 30, 2018

Following a recent overhaul with new features, free streaming in more than two dozen countries and other perks, Rdio, the popular Internet service, on Thursday pushed a major iOS 8 focused update.

Following in the footsteps of rival Spotify which two weeks ago added support for CarPlay, Apple's in-car iPhone entertainment system, Rdio has now jumped on the automotive bandwagon, too.

In addition to music playback and navigating your favorites and playlists from the built-in display in CarPlay-enabled cars, Rdio 3.0.4 has a handy new control to adjust streaming quality (should prove indispensable to those concerned about cellular data usage).

Moreover, this update adds support for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus screen sizes, iOS 8's Interactive Notifications (you can play music and follow other users directly from an alert) plus other nice-to-haves mentioned after the jump.