Apple CarPlay overrides your car’s native infotainment system and promises to put a familiar, distraction-free interface right at your fingertips. It’s also loaded with compatible third-party apps that give your car nearly the same level of functionality as your iPhone or iPad. We’ve put together a list of the best CarPlay apps available in July 2020.
Further reading
Waze
With an incredibly useful, crowdsourced mix of information — from snapshots of real-time traffic, locations of the cheapest gas stations, and updates on traffic incidents and accidents — Waze is one of the best navigation apps available. You can access it on your dashboard via CarPlay and always find the fastest route home. You can also listen to music or podcasts from within the app. If you aren’t keen on Apple Maps or Google Maps, then Waze is a solid alternative. Most recent versions make sharing your drive with friends and family easier.
TomTom Go Navigation
If you seek an alternative from Waze, have a look at TomTom Go Navigation. The ad-free app’s maps are customizable based on what you need, and you can save offline maps. Weekly app updates help you avoid traffic tie-ups with intelligent routes and alternative routes in response to construction, accidents, and other obstacles. You get a heads-up on which lanes lead to junctions and exits accompanied by moving lane guidance, speed alerts, and warnings. The app stores habitual and popular destinations and scenic areas, helps you get to locations from geotagged photos, and lets you share your ETA with people who are awaiting you.
TuneIn
TuneIn Radio has one of the largest selections of content on the planet. Download this app and get access to more than 120,000 stations. You can stream real-time audio from radio stations all around the world, and access sports, news, music, and a variety of other popular formats. A premium subscription comes with a few added perks. For example, the service, for $10 a month, provides play-by-play access to a host of sports, so you never have to miss a beat when it comes to your favorite NFL or MLB team. You also gain access to more than 130 ad-free music stations.
iHeartRadio
The iHeartRadio app is a great way to discover AM and FM radio stations from around the globe. If you want to listen to your favorite podcast or check out the latest sports scores, this app has you covered. iHeartRadio will even collect the songs you like as you listen, and create a personalized station just for you. Like most radio apps, you can also snag a premium subscription, which allows you to save and replay songs from the radio, create unlimited playlists, and skip as many tracks as you like. Currently, there are two premium options available: iHeartRadio Plus, for $6 per month, and iHeartRadio All Access, for $13 per month. Here’s how to add iHeartRadio on your car via Apple CarPlay. Recent versions let you share a live station or a song on that station with your friends and family, access recently played content in your library, and listen to podcasts at 0.5x, 1x, 1.25x, 1.5x, and 2x speeds. Siri shortcuts let you access iHeartRadio from Siri suggestions and voice commands and share via Snapchat.
Dash Radio
Over-the-air commercial radio doesn’t hold a candle to Dash Radio, a free, digital broadcasting platform that features 24/7 livestreaming with popular DJs, personalities, and curators on over 75 original ad-free stations. The app features genuine humans playing music, just like the old days when radio stations were local and catered to the listening public rather than homogenized market research — no algorithms second-guessing your tastes.
Overcast
If you like podcasts and you’re looking for an alternative to Apple’s proprietary podcast app, have a look at Overcast. This app comes with a myriad of welcome features, including voice boost and smart speed, the latter of which allows you to speed up conversations without distorting the audio. You can also search, browse, or download podcasts for offline use. The app features push notifications, too, so you’ll never miss a new episode of your favorite podcast. It’s currently chock-full of ads, though you can purchase a premium subscription for $10 a year for ad-free listening. Recent versions feature improved search and sync, shared clips up to 90 seconds long, and customized podcast downloading, deleting, and sorting.
Audible
Amazon owns Audible, so if you’re already a Prime member, you’ll have access to Audible Channels, which offers exclusive original series and features one of the largest selections of audiobooks around. All of your favorite audiobooks are here, whether you’re into psychological thrillers, medieval epics, or something else entirely. The app also lets you navigate via chapter and download individual chapters for offline use. You can even make clips of your favorite passages to share with friends and family. Updates let you use credits to add titles to your library right from the app and improved VoiceOver support. A $15 per month subscription is available for non-Prime members that lets you choose one audiobook and two Audible Originals per month.
Audiobooks.com
If you’re planning a long drive, or just like to listen to audiobooks on your way to work, then you may want to take a look at Audiobooks.com. You can download audiobooks straight to your iPhone without having to sync with your computer, or you can just choose to stream them over Wi-Fi or through your data connection. The app has a selection of featured samples that you can listen to and a huge library of over 8,000 free titles. You get your first premium audiobook for free, and then you can choose a new one every month for $15 per month. Recent updates add a podcast feature that lets you access over 700,000 podcasts and makes discovering new audiobooks easy by letting you follow authors, narrators, and book series, and receive notifications about new releases.
Free Audiobooks
If you’re a public domain aficionado, Free Audiobooks has your number. Not only does it offer classics, romances, mysteries, poetry, and other free content, it also features professionally narrated premium free content that you can search by author, title, or narrator. You can stream or download books directly to your phone for offline listening and navigate the narrative with this streamlined app.
NPR One
Here’s an app for listening to shows and podcasts from NPR and local public radio. You’ll have access to the shows that you already follow, and the app also lets you listen to any news that you missed with its Catch Up section. The more you use the NPR app, the more it will learn what you like and bring you the stories that matter most to you. From news to podcasts, NPR One has something for everyone, and it’s very easy to use. Recent versions have improved VoiceOver support with an interface that spans the edges of newer iPhone models.
MLB At Bat
If you like baseball, you’re probably already familiar with this app. MLB.com At Bat has everything you need to know about baseball. One of the standout features of the app on the iPhone is the ability to watch videos. You won’t be able to watch videos while driving, of course, but you can listen to any games available through the radio feature. You get access to stats, breaking news, schedules, and more. Subscription prices are $3 per month or $20 per year, and you need to subscribe to access the radio feature. New releases introduce MLB.TV Live Rewind, which gives you DVR-like control over your MLB.TV stream with Pause and Resume, scrub to past action, watch with delay, or go back to live anytime features. Alternate Audio lets you listen to radio announcers while watching live or archived MLB.TV streams, or remove the commentary in favor of the Park Audio option, which lets you hear the sound of live gameplay in the ballpark.
Spotify
When it comes to music, Spotify is one of the most popular streaming services with an enormous library of tracks, shared playlists, and more. If you’re not one of the 50 million subscribers who chose Apple Music, then you should check out what Spotify has to offer. When you open the app in your car, three sections allow access: your library, browse, and radio. You can listen for free with ads, or opt for Spotify Premium for ad-free listening and the ability to choose any song to listen on any platform. The premium service costs $10 per month, $5 per month for students, or $15 per month for a family package that includes you and up to five others.
Pandora
Pandora is as simple as they come. You just launch the app, choose the station, and it will start playing your music. The idea is that selections will evolve with you and your listening tastes. Because Pandora learns from your choices, it will keep playing music you enjoy without needing input from you while you drive. An app that you can just set and forget is ideal while you’re behind the wheel. If you want the ad-free experience, you can subscribe to Pandora Plus, which costs $5 per month. For even more features — like downloading songs to listen offline and higher quality audio — a Pandora Premium subscription costs $13 per month. Over 20 exclusive SiriusXM shows are now available on Pandora.
Libby
If you need some fantastic (and free) audiobooks to enjoy on your next commute, look no further than Libby. Libby connects to your local public library. In case you’ve forgotten, here’s how to download e-books using Overdrive’s Libby, but you can also take advantage of this app to check out audiobooks. The Libby app is CarPlay compatible, so you can choose any of your existing loans right from your car’s dashboard to start listening to your next great adventure. The Libby app is an excellent way to get more use out of your library card. You can sign up for one for free at your local branch if you don’t currently have one.
SiriusXM
Sirius XM is the leading provider of satellite radio with legions of faithful subscribers and award-winning content. To make their service even better, Sirius has upgraded their iOS, which now offers Apple CarPlay support for iPhone users. The app allows you to take Sirius XM with you anywhere, not just in your vehicle.
Users will need an internet connection to take advantage of this feature, but it makes your Sirius XM subscription much more portable. When bad weather or other phenomena obscure the sky, you can still listen via your cellular data connection. You can also catch your favorite XM programs in your home, office, or any vehicle with a BlueTooth connection.
Of course, Sirius put the emphasis on CarPlay support. Browsing SiriusXM on your dashboard is a breeze, using intuitive menus that can help you find exactly the broadcasts you’re looking for.
VOX
If you prefer to keep your music collection on your device, Vox is a terrific alternative to Spotify and Apple Music. You can download the VOX app to use on Mac devices and connect your stream across your iMac, laptop, and iPhone.
If you want to be able to listen to music even when you’re not connected to Wi-Fi, you can allow permission for your music collection from iTunes to stream through Vox. You also have the option of browsing and streaming music directly if you prefer. Just make sure to use the mobile download feature to save on metered internet connections.
Enable CarPlay through Vox so you can listen to any music saved as a FLAC file while you’re driving. You don’t have to use your phone to control the stream because it’s playing through your car. This app helps keep you and your passengers safe by eliminating distracted driving.
