Best third-party apps for Apple Carplay and Android Auto
As well as Apple and Google’s own smartphone apps, there are many third-party apps that can be used via Android Auto and Apple Carplay. Like the in-house apps, third-party ones are adapted to make them safe to use while driving, so they’re likely to have simplified user interfaces with less text and fewer icons to make them less distracting. With many, you can use Siri or Google Assistant voice control to enable operation via verbal commands rather than using a touchscreen.
Audible
You can listen to a wide range of audiobooks via the Amazon-owned Audible app. Open the app and you can choose a book from your library and listen to it with a single screen tap.
BBC Sounds
Although you can listen to your car’s radio without Android Auto or Carplay, downloading the BBC Sounds app also enables you to listen to podcasts and any programmes that you’ve downloaded to your phone.you can also browse music and podcast lists and skip backwards or forwards by 20 seconds to repeat or bypass a certain section.
Google Maps
Android Auto users automatically get access to Google Maps, but many iphone owners use it too, because it’s easy to operate and provides highly accurate live traffic information.you can also use Google Assistant voice control to access automated rerouting to help avoid jams. If you have a car with a large infotainment screen, you should be able to use it to view Google Maps information as you would with regular sat-nav.
Spotify
Smartphones support a wide range of music apps, including Amazon Music, Google Play Music, Pandora, Spotify and Tidal.the smartphone version of the Spotify music streaming site lets you browse your saved music by album, artist, playlist or song title.you can also browse new music and listen to Spotify Radio, with tracks curated according the type of music you regularly listen to.
Waze
This navigation app makes use of crowd-sourced information to inform users as swiftly as possible about accidents and traffic jams on their route so it’s easier to avoid them.the app’s map displays icons where fellow users have reported incidents.
While Apple’s imessage app can be used via Carplay, many people prefer to use Whatsapp. As with imessage, a notification appears at the top of the screen when you get a message, letting you know which contact or chat group it’s from.you can then use Siri to listen to it and reply.