what does CarPlay give you?

[f1eng]

I didn’t bother to activate CarPlay when I got my car and am not sure whether I will use it but sitting bored waiting in my car today I decided to see what it was all about.
I touched its icon, it told me I needed WiFi and blutooth active, which I have, or connected by USB.

It didn’t find my phone wirelessly so I connected by USB and it connected straight away.

It disconnected the phone from the built in hands free, as expected, and the PCM showed “Maps” and icons for maps, music and phone.

Is that it? Have I done something wrong or is there some cunningly hidden trick swiping masterstroke way of getting anything else?

If not it offers nothing of value to me over the PCM, as far as I can see.

Sorry for such a basic question, and I am not that bothered but wondered what all the fuss was about? and what I have, presumably, got wrong?

Note I used to be an early adopter of all technology for decades but have been unimpressed by most of it for the last 15 years when I went back from file based music to CDs and LPs for convenience.

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[Midlifecrisis]

I find it of limited use, but the things that I do occasionally use it for are: seeing text messages come through (it will read them out and you can dictate a reply), WhatsApp messages if you use that, other mapping apps (Apple, Google, waze), Spotify (although that is now native in the PCM). Some of this might just work with Bluetooth pairing. One other time it was very good was to navigate to my son - find my friends located him, then navigate opened up Apple Maps which I then transferred to the PCM to display the navigation. Very clever and worked well.

So it has some uses but I could probably live fine without it!

 

[f1eng]

WhatsApp messages if you use that, other mapping apps (Apple, Google, waze)

But I see no obvious way to launch any of these. The bulk of the screen was “Maps” with 3 icons to its right, for maps, phone and music.
No Whatsapp or anything else that I can see obvious access to.

 

[gramorris]

But I see no obvious way to launch any of these. The bulk of the screen was “Maps” with 3 icons to its right, for maps, phone and music.
No Whatsapp or anything else that I can see obvious access to.

sounds like you’re in the Home Screen. Bottom right should be an icon showing a 4x2 array of tiles, clicking that will take you to the app list

 

[gnop1950]

But I see no obvious way to launch any of these. The bulk of the screen was “Maps” with 3 icons to its right, for maps, phone and music.
No Whatsapp or anything else that I can see obvious access to.

See the above post, you can launch a number of apps from CarPlay. I also have an app for my garage door opener. I have two different door openers, when I approach the garage the one I'm closest to pops up in CarPlay so I can open and close those doors.

Siri also works, so say if I want to hear 60s music (I'm an older fellow). I just say "Hey Siri, play 60s music." I use CarPlay in all of my vehicles. It gives me a consistent interface for apps, music, and maps.

 

[npx]

Number one for me is portability. When i go on a trip and get in a rental car, it comes with me. Also i listen to a lot of audiobooks and podcasts, and being able to directly access those apps with their native interfaces through the Carplay interface is great.

 

[The Riddler]

The other apps i use regularly from CarPlay are RingGo and other pay for parking services, work really well. I also prefer Tidal to Spotify and the CarPlay app is much better… Waze is good to run in the background for speed cameras etc…

 

[snstevens]

I didn’t bother to activate CarPlay when I got my car and am not sure whether I will use it but sitting bored waiting in my car today I decided to see what it was all about.
I touched its icon, it told me I needed WiFi and blutooth active, which I have, or connected by USB.

It didn’t find my phone wirelessly so I connected by USB and it connected straight away.

It disconnected the phone from the built in hands free, as expected, and the PCM showed “Maps” and icons for maps, music and phone.

Is that it? Have I done something wrong or is there some cunningly hidden trick swiping masterstroke way of getting anything else?

If not it offers nothing of value to me over the PCM, as far as I can see.

Sorry for such a basic question, and I am not that bothered but wondered what all the fuss was about? and what I have, presumably, got wrong?

Note I used to be an early adopter of all technology for decades but have been unimpressed by most of it for the last 15 years when I went back from file based music to CDs and LPs for convenience.

I've spent a lot of time curating information on my iPhone including Contact information for thousands of people (name, address, email, etc.), restaurants I like, music I like to listen to, Playlists, books I've downloaded, and lot's of other information. The beauty of Apple CarPlay is that I have this information instantly available in my car, and don't have to waste any time.

I use Siri and Maps a lot, and often together. Once CarPlay is connected you have access to all of your contacts, their locations, and other information on your phone. For example, I can hold the Talk button down for 2-3 seconds (this bypasses the Porsche voice system), and when I hear the Siri "beep" I can say things like --

• "What's the quickest way to Tulio's Restaurant?" - Produces a route to a restaurant I like in downtown Seattle.
• "Share ETA with <name of person including last name>" - Once I'm on my way via Apple Maps navigation, I can share the ETA with anyone in my contacts.
• "Play 'Special Jazz Treats' Playlist" - This will use Apple Music to play one of my playlists (there are over 50 so scrolling through the list on a touch screen is really not a good option). You can do something similar with PodCasts.
• "Report Hazard" - Allows me to share a road hazard with other drivers. Can also say "Report Speed Check" for a radar location, and "Report Accident" for an accident. The crowd-sourcing of information like this results in me getting notified during a journey to my destination via Apple Maps, and has helped me avoid tickets and traffic since I am notified of these situations by other drivers.
• "Send a message to Randy Smith" - Assuming this person is in my list of contacts, Siri then responds "What do you want to say?" and I speak my message. She then repeats it and gives me the option to edit, delete or send.
• "Where is the closest Starbucks" - Yes, obvious I know, but I happen to use this as a break spot on long drives. Siri will find several locations, and give the chance to choose one, then provide directions.

Other features --

• EV Routing - You can also connect your Taycan EV to the iPhone. When you've done this Apple Maps will provide charging stop info on long drives. However, it doesn't provide pre-heating of the battery so I still use Porsche navigation on long drives (but Apple Maps for all other trips).
• Calendar Driven Routing - Just select the Calendar icon in Car Play, select an event, then click on the location for that event (assuming it has one). Normally, when I get in the car to go to an appointment, the location is already pre-selected in Apple Maps and I don't have to access the Calendar direction - I just press "Start".
• Siri Shortcuts by Porsche - Porsche is expanding its interface with Apple CarPlay and there are 32 shortcuts that will be available to use to change Taycan settings (see images below). Note While some of these aren't that helpful (e.g., changing the color of the ambient light), it is an indicator of possible deeper integration that I find exciting.
  • NOTE -- These aren't active on MyPorsche yet to my knowledge - perhaps the next update will allow for their use.

I think if you give it a try you'll find it very convenient and helpful.

 

[mikezhang31]

Since I already have all my music on Spotify I can plug my phone in and listen to music right away, and do so across all my cars, rental cars, etc. I like how to go through my various playlist in the CarPlay Spotify UI.

Also I can take work calls on Microsoft Teams in car play. And use google maps. It’s much easier to enter in addresses and look place POI than the in car nav

it’s more of a familiarity thing. I already use my phone every day, I would like to not have to learn any more UI unless I really have to

 

[Archimedes]

Tidal and texts.

In my GTI, I also use it for streaming Sxm, as the base radio doesn’t have satellite radio.

 

[WasserGKuehlt]

Wealth of info above. I’m nowhere near the power user @snstevens is (wow!) but the common theme here is “continuity”: I listen to (YT ?) music in the garage working on stuff, and that comes with me in the car via CarPlay. Nav is also better than the built-in - for shorter drives, though, if I need to charge the PCM planner can’t be beat imo.

 

[EvFamily]

You can order dominos and Dunkin’ Donuts from CarPlay, well…you can reorder a previous order technically.

 

[parkslopedope]

Beyond the obvious like access to all things on your phone in the click of a button, the user interface for google and Apple Maps, etc. is FAR superior to that of the MMI navigation, that alone is a reason to use CarPlay.

 

[snstevens]

You can order dominos and Dunkin’ Donuts from CarPlay, well…you can reorder a previous order technically.

This is implemented via Shortcuts on the iPhone, and many vendors offer to save your order as a shortcut, however, I believe they are location specific (i.e., the order goes to the store you just ordered from when you created the shortcut). You could create the same order from multiple locations, but they would have to have unique voice prompts.

 

[f1eng]

Thanks @snstevens and everybody for your help.

I am an older bloke and feel such a plonker talking to any hardware, even when nobody else is around to hear me! I have never used Siri and tried voice activation in my first car that had it in 2005 but didn't use it often enough to remember the commands (it was crude back then)

I suppose I would have to overcome this massive psycological barrier to talking to my phone before I get much/any use from CarPlay!

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