Apple’s iOS 18 brings a range of impressive features like a new Passwords app, a revamped Control Center, a personalized Home screen experience, and more. Apple didn’t talk much about CarPlay at its launch event, but iOS 18 also brings several useful additions to Apple’s in-car interface. This includes new wallpapers, Siri improvements, accessibility enhancements, and more. These new additions and changes will surely improve your infotainment experience behind the wheel. Read on to know about all the new CarPlay features in iOS 18.
1. Color filters
Apple always prioritizes accessibility features on its devices. Now, the latest version of iOS 18 expands the accessibility features on CarPlay with new offerings. One of them is the color filters that will tint the entire CarPlay user interface based on the color you choose. This will help users who are visually impaired or have some level of color blindness. You can choose between a red/green, green/red, and blue/yellow filter. There is also a grayscale option for a monochrome look. Each filter lets you choose between low, medium, and high intensity levels so you can enjoy a more personalized CarPlay interface.
In addition to color filters, iOS 18 brings another vision-based accessibility option that lets you bold text across the entire CarPlay UI. This is a very useful addition that makes it easier to read text when you’re on the go.
2. Voice command
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iOS 18 brings a new CarPlay feature for people with motor or physical disabilities. The voice control feature gives you the freedom to control all CarPlay settings just by speaking, even without having to invoke Siri. Once enabled, you can simply navigate CarPlay by saying commands like Open Maps, Go to Home, Open Spotify, Tap Play, Tap Pause, and saying Tap or Tap next to any other visible button on the screen. It works quite well and also on low volume music.
3. Sound recognition
People with hearing loss will surely appreciate this new CarPlay feature in iOS 18. The new Sound Recognition feature in iOS 18 will help drivers or passengers who are deaf or hard of hearing receive notifications for driving-related sounds, such as sirens and car horns. When enabled, your iPhone’s microphone will detect sirens or car horns honking around you and display alerts on your CarPlay interface.
4. Siri Improvements
Siri is getting a major overhaul with Apple Intelligence, but the digital assistant is also getting some minor changes for CarPlay. The home screen and dashboard screen haven’t received any notable updates, but you’ll see an all-new on-screen UI when you ask Siri for the weather or sports scores. Essentially, you’ll see richer Siri pop-ups in the middle of the screen that display more graphics than before. For example, when you check the European champion’s score, Siri will show you each team’s logo, their current score, and their position in the game.
Additionally, now that Siri supports multiple languages, you can interact with her in multiple languages. This is especially useful when you switch between languages to exchange messages.
5. Updated Settings app interface
One of the biggest changes coming to CarPlay with iOS 18 is a revamped Settings app. It now has a new Siri and Suggestions icon, heavily inspired by the upcoming Apple Intelligence app featuring a vibrant, colorful logo.
Additionally, for vehicles that don’t support wireless CarPlay, a new Siri Answer option in Settings helps improve Siri audio quality. It routes audio through the media source for a better sound experience.
Image courtesy of Apple
The Messages app for CarPlay also gets an updated interface. When you receive a message, you’ll see the contact’s profile picture next to their name. Additionally, when you launch the Messages app while using CarPlay, you’ll see the profile pictures of all the contacts you’ve messaged with. If a contact doesn’t have a picture assigned to them, you’ll see their initials or generic avatar. The addition of contact pictures makes the Messages app in CarPlay more graphical, rather than text-heavy, making it easier to identify conversations.
7. New CarPlay wallpapers
As it does every year, Apple has added new CarPlay wallpapers with iOS 18. You’ll see a total of four designs, available in light and dark versions. These new CarPlay wallpapers complement the stock iOS 18 wallpapers and come in blue, purple, yellow, and gray.
8. Silent mode settings
In the Settings app, you now have a Quiet Mode option that allows you to automatically turn on/off Quiet Mode on your iPhone when it’s connected to CarPlay. This provides a quick way to turn off system sounds and other alerts from your iPhone apps when you’re using CarPlay.
9. Record video with audio playback
The new iOS 18 fixes one of the most annoying issues that automatically stops audio playback when you switch to video mode in the Camera app. Undoubtedly, this was a nuisance when you were using CarPlay. Thankfully, that is now a thing of the past. Apple’s iOS 18 adds a feature in the Camera app settings so that you can choose whether you want the audio playback to pause or continue when you start recording in video mode. This is one of the best CarPlay features in iOS 18 for users who love to shoot videos on their iPhone when CarPlay audio playback is active. You can check out our dedicated guide on how to enable audio playback while recording videos on an iPhone.
10. Next-generation CarPlay
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While iOS 18 brings some new features to CarPlay, people are curious to know where the next generation of CarPlay is coming from. Apple announced it a few years ago, but we haven’t seen any visible adoption yet. The first models with next-gen CarPlay are expected to arrive by the end of 2024, but they will be exclusive to luxury cars and a few mainstream models.
The next generation of CarPlay is expected to provide new alerts, such as when the electric vehicle has finished charging. In addition, vehicle functions, such as temperature and radio controls, will be controlled directly from CarPlay. Personalized options will be offered so that the user can get the most out of their car and their iPhone.
That’s all the new CarPlay features in iOS 18. Apple will release the final version of iOS 18 in a few weeks, along with the new iPhone series. As of now, these CarPlay updates are in beta testing. If you want to try these CarPlay features right now, you can install the iOS 18 public beta on your iPhone.
