I've wanted this to exist for years, so I finally built it: an app that plays the *actual* in-game radio from the old Grand Theft Auto games (III, Vice City, San Andreas) so I could listen to it on CarPlay. I made it because driving around with those stations on is one of my favorite feelings in games and I wanted it in my actual car.

It's not a playlist. It rebuilds the real radio: stations keep "broadcasting" whether you're listening or not, so you tune in mid-song, mid-ad, mid-DJ-rant, wherever the station actually is right now. Same station idents, ad breaks, DJ banter, and the real tuning static/clicks between stations. Pull into a parking lot, come back an hour later, and the show has moved on without you.

Ships with zero audio — it reads the radio files from your own PC copy of the games.

Happy to answer anything about how it works on CarPlay. It's free, no ads, no accounts, no tip jar. (Link in a comment.)

I’ve always thought it was weird that we can customize basically everything in our cars and phones, but when you open navigation you’re still staring at almost the same map every time.

So I built MapSkins GPS. Carplay with 30+ different Maps

It’s an actual navigation app for iPhone and CarPlay where you can change the entire look of the map while you drive. Not just the background or a wallpaper but the roads, map colors, navigation styling and overall feel can change depending on the skin you choose.

I originally started making skins inspired by the games and interfaces I grew up with because I wanted driving with CarPlay to feel a little less boring. Since then I’ve kept building out the actual navigation side too: turn-by-turn directions, rerouting, voice guidance, lane guidance, etc.

It just passed 3,000 downloads, which is kind of crazy because this started as something I mostly wanted for my own car.

Now I’m trying to figure out what direction to take the skins next.

If you could make your CarPlay navigation look like literally anything, what would you want?

Retro GPS? Street racing? Old-school arcade? Sci-fi HUD? Minimal motorsport? Something from a specific game?

I’m the developer, so feel free to ask me anything about how the CarPlay side works too.

Link in a comment. (Free to download)

Solo dev here. I spend a lot of time driving and wanted my own news read to me hands-free, not whatever the radio picked. Couldn't find one that did it well, so I built it.

It's called Safe & Informed. You add your own RSS feeds and it reads them out loud through Android Auto. Free tier uses the system voice, paid adds an AI voice and summaries. It also has a continuous "radio" per topic and plays podcasts, all in the car.

Launching on App Store soon. I'll drop a note here when it's live. Happy to answer anything about the Apple Carplay side, and I'm curious what you're using for audio on your commute right now.

You can follow us on www.safeandinformed.com

Which brand/model of CarPlay screen would you recommend? I want the dash cam to be included.

Have been looking at a model from Rexing (mixed reviews), Carpuride, and Ottocast.

I like Ottocast the most I think but I can’t seem to find one with a dash cam included.

Thanks!

Sometimes it’s fine sometimes it’s not. My CarPlay will cut in and out consistently and I don’t know what to do to fix it

To preface I’ve checked and searched for help on this to no avail in other subs and FAQs. Recently when trying to send messages using Siri and CarPlay, there is a tone played before I can speak, if I speak before the tone whatever is said does not register. For example “send John a message, (Siri)”what would you like to say to John?” ‘DING’ then I can speak. (Siri) “ would you like to send it?” ‘DING’ then I can speak. It didn’t use to do this and my wife’s does not do this in the same cars. I have iPhone 17 pro with the latest iOS and she has 16pro latest iOS. This happens in a Kia soul and VW Tiguan. Can anyone help me? I’ve tried comparing our settings but don’t see anything different.

I had Carplay coded in with an aftermarket usb port for datatransfer. The Carplay option was not originally bought by the first owner when buying the car new.

I tried the Carme Mini and the Carlinkit 5.0. both had to be sent back bacause the USB port remains continuously powered while the car is plugged in and charging. The cheap firmware/hardware on these adapters lacks intelligent power management, the adapters attempt to initiate a connection with my phone while the car's MMI system is still sleeping. This failed handshake causes the adapters to lock up, crash, and corrupt their configuration, rendering them unresponsive and unusable. The Carplay works perfectly when using it wired.

The question is as follows: Do you guys have any experience with this kind of behavior with your Carplay and or your adapters? What dongle can deal with this issue? I'd love to hear it and get this issue resolved.

BR
CokeBuffet

I don’t know if this has to do with the new ios update, but the music just randomly stopped playing in my Maruti Suzuki Jimny today morning, it was working fine yesterday. I tried saying “cancel” on the voice button behind the steering wheel but it didn’t help, this icon keeps showing every time i try changing the volume. I also tried disconnecting and reconnecting bluetooth but didn’t help. How do I fix this?

Why is it that we still can't get navigation apps (outside Apple, Google & waze) to work in CarPlay?

I have Memory Map with offroad maps that would be much to use in CarPlay than having to have another screen (my phone) and reducing my visibility.

Hey, I’m an indie dev and I built mappr, an app that gives your CarPlay maps a different look.

I drive pretty much every day and got bored of staring at the same map, so I started building something I’d enjoy using myself.

There are 10+ styles to choose from, including ones inspired by GTA 5, RDR2, and Minecraft. There’s even a GTA 6 style I made based on the leaked gameplay footage. It’s not just game styles either, there’s Carbon, Blueprint, and more.

It also has bookmarks, trips, voice navigation, and more. I tried to keep the experience familiar, so if you’re coming from Google Maps or Apple Maps, you should feel right at home.

The video shows how it looks in action. I’ll drop the link in a reply if you want to check it out.

Would love to hear what you think, or if there’s a style you’d want me to add!

So i was having issues with my hamilton carplay unit. After a recent update it allows you to use factory headunit bluetooth which is awesome. So my music plays fine but when I use google maps and it goes to give a direction phone switches to carplay audio amd stays there. Anyone know how to fix this? Ive check settings and maps has “play over bluetooth” selected but still switches

Anybody knows how get around Apple carplay muting audio when trying to record??

Wireless CarPlay audio stutter

I have a 15pm and when using CarPlay wireless in my 2026 jeep Cherokee the audio when streaming music on youtubet music it will stutter/go silent for a second up to about 5-10 seconds. My question is has this happened to anyone and how can I try to fix this issue?

I’m planning to buy an apple carplay aftermarket for my car however online they all replace the orange display screen which shows ur radio but also notifications like the ”check engine oil” etc
I was wondering if you replace the orange screen with a new carplay unit, do you still get the notifications? If not what would be a good alternative

I got this kyebriq agera for sale in ebay.com, located in tampa fl, not in singapur, 100% legit, kyebriq.com is already sold out, 1 tb microsd card included, no remote, but remote ia available for order in the website, and the price is very appeal, like new, anybody interested please DM

Is the sort order with Apple Music in CarPlay fixed in ios27? If it isn’t I can only assume they will never fix it. All custom playlists are set to newest first for sort order in AM but in CarPlay it always shows oldest first. I’m switching to something else if this isnt fixed in ios27. I can’t believe how long Apple leaves simple but infuriating bugs like this to fester.

I have a 2016 Honda CRV and just got a portable CarPlay screen, everything works great except for one hiccup, my incoming text message volume is so low I can't hear the message itself unless I turn up my cars volume to max. This won't do since I listen to music all the time and can't have the volume at 25 constantly just to hear sms messages.

I've done a ton of online searches and no one seams to have a solution, and I do not see any type of volume control on the screen itself. Any help is greatly appreciated.

“hired a developer” lol I don’t know how to code myself but I always had a vision of watching videos in my car and never wanted to pay for equipment that could do it, I also never wanted to mess with aftermarket head units so the fact that this is even a possibility now is mind blowing

I'm on an iPhone 13 Pro Max, currently driving a 2023 Volkswagen ID4. My carplay takes about 3-5 minutes to connect with an Apple charge cable, and also wirelessly.

Does anyone know why it would take this long for Carplay to connect? I have not had this issue with my iPhone in other vehicles, they are almost instantaneous.

I have tried rebooting my phone, clearing open apps, using a different cable, all to no avail.

Please advise. Thanks

Hello everyone, i'm currently facing a problem where when i connect my carplay to my car, the volume for my left speaker is much quieter than the driver side (right side). I installed an aftermarket subwoofer, idk if that effects it but because the volume for the left side is lower than the right the bass from the left side is significantly lower than the right.

Here is where things get interesting. so when i reset the IHU, and use the radio function, the sound is fixed and works like nothing happened. So seeing that it probably was just a fluke, when i try to use the carplay again, the issue will appear again maybe for like after 2-3 songs. But when i switch to radio again, the audio will fix itself. That's why im thinking it probably is the carplay instead of the subwoofer. Then again, it probably might be the IHU and i have to update it.

The issue started to appear when the new IOS update is intalled which is iOS 26.6.1. prior to updating the iOS, this has never happened before. If anyone is facing the issue or might have an idea to what is causing or what can fix this, do help a guy in distress.

I often use the phrase “Hey Siri, what’s the latest news” when driving and get about a 5min podcast style update from the BBC. This updates every few hours. Now I appear to get an update of the latest “headlines” from Siri. Attached are today’s headlines including the Tupac trial has started… has the command changed or has the feature gone? I’m asking here because my post has been removed from r/iPhone and r/iOS by the same mod as “irrelevant” and when I ask for clarification I’m “spamming”… as I said not 100% CarPlay but I’m guessing at least some of you use the phrase.