Photo: Bogdan Popa/autoevolution/joshuaseltzer
As most people know already, Apple's walled garden also includes CarPlay, as the car-optimized experience comes with plenty of restrictions that users would want removed.
As a result, CarPlay comes with very limited options in terms of customization power, so, for example, changing the wallpaper is only allowed as long as you stick with an image included in Apple's pre-loaded background pack. Otherwise, you can't set up a custom photo as a CarPlay wallpaper, and Apple doesn’t seem too interested in unlocking this capability anytime soon.
The jailbreak world often comes to the rescue as far as unlocking the full CarPlay potential is concerned, though it's also true that not everybody wants to unlock their iPhones. However, jailbroken iPhones are still pretty common nowadays, no matter what others say.
The days of jailbreaking iPhones are not over, and CarPlayHideLabels is the kind of tweak that could make more people jump ship and unlock their smartphones to access customization power that Apple isn't at all interested in.
As you can easily figure out by simply reading its name, CarPlayHideLabels does a very simple yet cool thing: it removes the icon labels from the home screen, eventually creating a much cleaner UI in the car. As you can see in the screenshot here, having just the app icons without the text labels below them makes CarPlay feel fresh – and to be honest, if you're a long-time CarPlay user, you shouldn’t have any problem distinguishing apps and choosing the right app based solely on its icon.
The tweak is completely free of charge and comes with an open-source license, so you can check out the project and contribute to future updates on GitHub.
The list of supported operating system versions is a bit unclear, as the developer claims on GitHub that their tweak works on iOS 7 to iOS 13. On the other hand, the official product page on Havoc indicates that iOS 15.7.6 is also supported, so if your iPhone is on the latest jailbreakable iOS version, you should be able to install the tweak as well. It also works on rootless versions, the developer claims.
In the meantime, Apple sticks with the same CarPlay customization options, with the upcoming iOS 17 update including just a few more wallpapers and nothing else. Apple's focus appears to be entirely on the new-generation CarPlay due later this year. With this massive update, CarPlay will get access to all screens in the car, though the main shortcoming is that it requires new hardware that would only be available in 2024 models and later.
Apple is expected to announce the upgraded CarPlay experience in September when the company also takes the wraps off this year's iPhone generation.
The jailbreak world often comes to the rescue as far as unlocking the full CarPlay potential is concerned, though it's also true that not everybody wants to unlock their iPhones. However, jailbroken iPhones are still pretty common nowadays, no matter what others say.
The days of jailbreaking iPhones are not over, and CarPlayHideLabels is the kind of tweak that could make more people jump ship and unlock their smartphones to access customization power that Apple isn't at all interested in.
As you can easily figure out by simply reading its name, CarPlayHideLabels does a very simple yet cool thing: it removes the icon labels from the home screen, eventually creating a much cleaner UI in the car. As you can see in the screenshot here, having just the app icons without the text labels below them makes CarPlay feel fresh – and to be honest, if you're a long-time CarPlay user, you shouldn’t have any problem distinguishing apps and choosing the right app based solely on its icon.
The tweak is completely free of charge and comes with an open-source license, so you can check out the project and contribute to future updates on GitHub.
The list of supported operating system versions is a bit unclear, as the developer claims on GitHub that their tweak works on iOS 7 to iOS 13. On the other hand, the official product page on Havoc indicates that iOS 15.7.6 is also supported, so if your iPhone is on the latest jailbreakable iOS version, you should be able to install the tweak as well. It also works on rootless versions, the developer claims.
In the meantime, Apple sticks with the same CarPlay customization options, with the upcoming iOS 17 update including just a few more wallpapers and nothing else. Apple's focus appears to be entirely on the new-generation CarPlay due later this year. With this massive update, CarPlay will get access to all screens in the car, though the main shortcoming is that it requires new hardware that would only be available in 2024 models and later.
Apple is expected to announce the upgraded CarPlay experience in September when the company also takes the wraps off this year's iPhone generation.
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