Here are three of my favorite CarPlay features right now

Like many people, Apple CarPlay is a must-have feature for me. Having quick access to major iPhone apps right from your car screen is super convenient. Here are three of my favorite features of CarPlay these days.

3 CarPlay Features I Like

smart display zoom

The Ford Mustang Mach-E I drive has a large vertical center console screen. iOS 26 adds a new “Smart Display Zoom” feature that greatly improves CarPlay on this and other cars with similarly large screens.

Normal zoom (L) vs smart display zoom (R)

As we covered in detail last year, Smart Display Zoom effectively increases the density of the amount of information displayed on screen at once. For example, you’ll see more app icons on the grid. It also significantly increases the amount of detail displayed in Apple Maps, whether directly in the Maps app itself or on the CarPlay dashboard interface.

Smart Display Zoom is disabled by default in most cars. You can enable it by going to CarPlay’s Settings app. Your mileage will vary, but at least in my car, I’ve found CarPlay to be much better.

Live activities

Starting with iOS 26, your iPhone’s live activity also appears in CarPlay. This allows you to

There are a few instances where I’ve found this particularly useful. First up is Carrot Weather’s live activity. Being able to constantly monitor precipitation while driving is very important, and having Carrot Weather’s powerful live activity in CarPlay solves this problem.

Second, I love being able to follow live activity from the Apple Sports app on CarPlay. Especially since baseball season is just around the corner, it’s nice to be able to glance at the screen and see the score of the game.

Apple Music Share Play

This feature comes in handy when you’re in the car with friends and family. SharePlay support for Apple Music in CarPlay allows anyone in the car to control and participate in what’s being played, instead of just one person in the car.

There’s a SharePlay icon in the top-right corner of the Apple Music Now Playing screen. Tapping this will launch a QR code that can be scanned by other people in your car. These people will be able to control playback through Apple Music, even if they don’t have an Apple Music subscription themselves.

This is a very fun feature, but it can be a bit unstable depending on the music tastes of other people in the car.

summary

What’s your favorite CarPlay feature? Let us know in the comments.

My Favorite CarPlay Accessories

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