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This CarPlay Widget Is an iPhone Feature Apple Itself Should Launch

One of the biggest new features that made their debut in iOS 14 is the support for home screen widgets, something which at some level should make the operating system feel more modern and dynamic.
CarPlay widget concept 3 photos
Photo: reddit user DisciplineWorld
CarPlay widget conceptCarPlay widget concept
It’s not a secret, however, that iOS 14 widgets come with their own limitations, as despite this goal of making the iPhone feel more alive, they only show static information and do not allow any kind of interaction. For example, a music app widget does not allow users to play and pause the playback, though it can display album artwork.

Apple itself has created widgets for some of its apps, but someone on reddit has come up with an idea that would really come in handy for drivers out there who use CarPlay when driving.

It’s a CarPlay widget that was built with Widgy, a third-party iPhone application that allows users to create their own widgets for the apps installed on the device.

The CarPlay widget that you can see here is a home screen version of the dashboard that you get in the car when connecting the iPhone to the head unit. It displays Apple Maps (or other navigation apps, like Google Maps), an Apple Music card for playback controls, and access to three of the apps you used recently.

Needless to say, this is just a concept for now, and in this form, a CarPlay widget would make little sense, especially because after all, you don’t need an app launcher that’s so small and cards that you can otherwise access separately with a dedicated widget.

But what a CarPlay widget can do is provide access to other car-related capabilities, such as vehicle information and scheduled drives. Waze is one of the apps that come with such a feature, but for the time being, support for the dashboard is not yet available.

The Google-owned company is still working on updating Waze with CarPlay support, and there’s a chance this feature would arrive as a beta by the end of the year.
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About the author: Bogdan Popa
Bogdan Popa profile photo

Bogdan keeps an eye on how technology is taking over the car world. His long-term goals are buying an 18-wheeler because he needs more space for his kid’s toys, and convincing Google and Apple that Android Auto and CarPlay deserve at least as much attention as their phones.
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