You’ve probably never heard of these 5 CarPlay apps, but they’re super useful

Apple CarPlay is thoroughly integrated into the auto landscape at this point. It’s not only widespread, but frequently expected, unless a car relies on Android Automotive or some proprietary OS like Tesla’s. I know I’d be upset if I bought a new Kia or Hyundai and the most I could do with my iPhone is use Bluetooth audio.

I suspect a lot of people are still using the CarPlay apps baked into their iPhone, though, such as Apple Maps and Apple Podcasts. Or if not, they might only use popular third-party apps that happen to have support, like NPR, Spotify, and Google Maps. There are actually a number of apps worth tracking down specifically for their CarPlay features — the ones below are the tip of the iceberg.

1 PlugShare

Recargo

While Apple and Google are getting better at supporting EVs, and there’s always your car’s built-in navigation as a fallback, PlugShare can be invaluable. It’s platform-agnostic and heavily community-driven — users can submit reviews and photos, and even add new charging stations as they appear, potentially making it more accurate. You can also bookmark your favorite stations, and plan entire trips ahead of time with charging in mind.

On your iPhone, options let you filter for networks, connector types, and charging speeds — so if you need DC fast charging, but want to avoid Tesla in favor of ChargePoint or Electrify America, you can do that. Once you’re connected to CarPlay, you can navigate to nearby stations or bookmarks, or launch a planned trip. You can also switch between vehicles on the fly, say if you normally drive an Ioniq, but you’re currently in your wife’s Leaf.

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2 Weather on the Way

Find out what you’ll really be dealing with

Piotr Knapczyk

Apple’s default Weather app is actually pretty excellent on iPhones, thanks to the incorporation of Dark Sky data, but you can’t trigger it in CarPlay without talking to Siri. Even then, you’ll only get generic forecasts for individual locations, which isn’t always helpful when you’re on a long roadtrip. I’ve certainly been rained on mid-trip when the forecasts for my start and endpoints suggested nothing of the sort.

As its name suggests, Weather on the Way lets you know what to expect at every point of a roadtrip, based on your route and departure time. To access CarPlay features, including satellite radar, you do need to pay for a monthly, yearly, or lifetime Pro subscription. That gets you other Pro benefits, however, such as extra condition data, alternate routes, and the ability to schedule trips up to seven days in advance.

3 Overcast

More control over your personal radio station

If you haven’t already heard of Overcast, you might wonder why you’d use that app versus Apple Podcasts. The answer is playlists — whereas Apple’s app seems to play podcasts in whatever order it feels like, Overcast lets you organize playlists with filters, priorities, and custom orders — so if you always want to hear Up First before Know Your Enemy or Voicemail Dump Truck, you can do that. It’s helpful for us creatures of habit.

Two additional features include Voice Boost and Smart Speed. The first normalizes volume, while the second trims down silences, speeding up podcasts without making anyone sound like a chipmunk. You’ll still want to be careful about enabling it, of course — sometimes silence is intentional for dramatic effect.

Overcast

Overcast is a podcast player.Overcast is a podcast player with unique features for the iPhone and other Apple devices. The Smart Speed features helps you get through podcasts faster without distorting audio.

4 SpotHero

Reserve your parking before you get there

SpotHero

One of the perennial problems of urban living — especially in a big city like Austin or Toronto — is that if you’re headed downtown, you often have to find and pay for parking to do anything, which can be costly and stressful even when you know the area. SpotHero makes it possible to find and book parking spots in advance across more than 300 cities in North America.

The app shines in CarPlay, since you can do more than just navigate to a reservation you’ve already booked — you can make new reservations, too. The only requirements are that you’ve already logged into SpotHero on your phone, assigned a default payment card, and filled in your phone number and vehicle details. You may also want to enable precise location data if you haven’t already done so, since you’ll need that to search for nearby parking spaces as you drive.

5 VLC

For drivers with custom music collections

VLC

Many iPhone owners simply listen to streaming services, or else sync music from their computer using the Apple Music app. But some people want both offline libraries and the ability to use whatever file format they choose — you can’t add FLAC or OGG files to Apple Music without converting them first. That’s a problem if you want lossless audio, but shop at third-party storefronts like Bandcamp. VLC is a free and very popular media player known for supporting every format under the sun.

The CarPlay interface lets you browse music by artist, album, or genre, and listen to playlists, if you’ve created any. The only real catch — apart from your having to download the music in the first place — is sync. The process is slightly more complicated than if you were using Apple Music, but you’ll get instructions on your iPhone and the VideoLAN website.

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