Jim Rossman: Take some time to learn about your car’s technology

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I helped a friend with some computer issues a few weeks ago and he mentioned his iPhone had stopped working with his car audio system for hands-free calls, so we went out to take a look.

As I was searching through his car’s Bluetooth settings, I came across an icon I recognized called Phone Projection. I asked my friend if he’d ever used CarPlay, and he wasn’t sure what I meant.

He bought the car used, and he’d owned it for almost four years. Nobody had gone over his car stereo setup or options, and he’d never owned a car with a screen before.

I set up his iPhone and car to use CarPlay and gave him a demonstration of how it works.

To do this, you have to enable CarPlay in the phone’s settings. Follow the onscreen instructions to pair the phone and the car.

We were talking about CarPlay and which apps he could use in the car. He was happy to see the navigation options of Apple Maps and Google Maps. I also help him set up Spotify.

He had some questions about why there were so many apps on his screen, and I showed him the app options for CarPlay. We moved the apps around so the ones he actually used were on the first page. We also went through and turned off the apps he doesn’t use.

He wanted to know why some apps were available in CarPlay and some were not.

Apple decided certain categories of apps are eligible for a CarPlay version. These categories include navigation, music, messaging and even some conferencing apps like Zoom and Microsoft Teams. You can also find news apps, podcasts, apps for EV charging, parking and food ordering. I also showed him my favorite CarPlay app, which is a weather app called MyRadar. I’m a weather nerd and having live weather radar on my car’s screen is great.

I suppose today’s takeaway is to make sure you take the time to learn about the technology in your car and in your home. My friend was delighted to learn he had CarPlay and what it could do for him. He was also not pleased that the dealership he purchased the car from did not explain all his car’s options. He should have been a CarPlay pro by now.