Favorite CarPlay Apps

[gvjim]

After writing a long post about CarPlay apps in another thread, it occurred to me that maybe this should be in a separate thread so that it can be easily found later, rather than buried in an unrelated thread that already has 493 posts! So here are my current favorite CarPlay apps.

• ABRP (A Better Route Planner) - You have to use the paid version of ABRP to get the CarPlay feature. I also have an OBD dongle that connects to ABRP for a live connection to the cars status. This is great for road trips, but I don't bother for local driving. Note that I tend to use ABRP in conjunction with Apple Maps - I think Apple Maps is better as far as navigation goes (gives lane suggestions, works with the HUD & steering wheel screen in new OTA update, etc.)
• Airshow - This is currently my favorite podcast player.
• Overcast - This used to be my favorite podcast player, I still use it occasionally.
• (Weather) on the Way - I paid for the lifetime subscription for this. It's a map app with built in weather. It will show you the projected weather on your route, and also can show live radar. The weather in California is mostly boring but this was great on a trip that encountered thunderstorms. In the summer I also use it to see how hot it's going to be on my route, I can also run it on my iPad.
• Car Scanner - This app was recently updated for CarPlay, displays information from my OBD dongle on the CarPlay screen.
• Longplay - If your iPhone has music on it, Longplay will organize it into albums for you and allows you to choose what you want to listen to from a matrix of album covers. Sometimes I use this instead of Apple Music.
• Audible - If you're an Audible subscriber, you can play audio books via CarPlay.
• Google Maps & Waze - I rarely use them, but they are available for CarPlay and I have them installed. Recently Google Maps came in handy because it knew about a brand new Tesla magic dock supercharger station, Apple Maps didn't know about it yet. In my opinion, Google Maps doesn't integrate with CarPlay as well as Apple Maps, and it currently doesn't work with the HUD or steering wheel display.
• Weatherology - Another weather app. Unique trick is that it will speak aloud the current forecast in your area, sometimes handy when driving.
• PlugShare - I use the PlugShare app and web site heavily when route planning. It's supposed to support CarPlay, but the last time I tried to use it in the car it crashed. Oh well, hopefully they'll fix that soon.
• Electrify America - This app works pretty well to check the status of nearby EA stations. You can also use this to start and monitor a charge session, but that doesn't always work for me (when it didn't I just disconnected the phone from the car and used the phone app).
• ChargePoint, Chargeway, FLO - I haven't used these in the car, but they are installed on my phone and they show up in CarPlay. So they may come in handy some day.

I'd love to add more to this list - anyone else have any suggestions?

 

[gvca]

I'm going to look into Airshow I guess because the Overcast UI overhaul has been unpleasant. So many bugs and broken features (like my CarPlay "play <X> playlist" shortcut!)

 

[brucek]

• ABRP (A Better Route Planner) - You have to use the paid version of ABRP to get the CarPlay feature. I also have an OBD dongle that connects to ABRP for a live connection to the cars status. This is great for road trips, but I don't bother for local driving. Note that I tend to use ABRP in conjunction with Apple Maps - I think Apple Maps is better as far as navigation goes (gives lane suggestions, works with the HUD & steering wheel screen in new OTA update, etc.)

Sounds like the ODB dongle would be useful overall. Can you make a recommendation for a specific one if yours works well? There are a lot of different cheap devices out there and I am sure not all work as expected.

 

[gvjim]

Here's the one I am using now:

OBDLink CX Bimmercode Bluetooth 5.1 OBD2 Adapter for BMW/Mini​

Amazon.com

I had originally purchased another one for about $30, it worked with Car Scanner but I couldn't get it to work with ABRP. The OBDLink CX works fine.

There are some warnings that an OBD port can be a security risk for a car, and also that it can cause phantom drain. The OBDLink CX claims that it solves these problems, but I went a step farther and purchased this OBD extension cord with a switch. This makes it super easy to leave the OBD port off most of the time, I only turn it on when I'm actually on a road trip. You could also reach under the dash and plug/unplug it, but I find that super awkward. This cable makes it trivial.

bbfly-A6 ODB II ODB2 Splitter Extension 16 Pin Extension Cable Adapter (with Switch)​

Amazon.com

 

[Gen-EV]

Here's the one I am using now:

OBDLink CX Bimmercode Bluetooth 5.1 OBD2 Adapter for BMW/Mini​

I had originally purchased another one for about $30, it worked with Car Scanner but I couldn't get it to work with ABRP. The OBDLink CX works fine.

Can you pull up all of your battery information Battery Max Temp., Battery Min Temp., Coolant Temp... in one screen like the Ioniq Guy does in some of his videos?

 

[gvjim]

Can you pull up all of your battery information Battery Max Temp., Battery Min Temp., Coolant Temp... in one screen like the Ioniq Guy does in some of his videos?

Yes, with the Car Scanner app. Except for Coolant Temp, that isn't reported. I think that ABRP may also report the battery temp, but I'm not sure, I haven't used it in a while.