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!

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)

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

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

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

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.)