iOS 18.4 Includes a Small But Useful Change for CarPlay

Sunday February 23, 2025 2:23 pm PST by Joe Rossignol

The first beta of iOS 18.4 is now available, and it includes a small but useful change for CarPlay.

ios 18 4 carplay
As we noted in our list of iOS 18.4 features, CarPlay now shows a third row of icons, up from two rows previously. However, this change is only visible in vehicles with a larger center display. For example, a MacRumors Forums member noticed the change in a Toyota Tundra, which can be equipped with up to a 14-inch screen.

In our testing, CarPlay still showed two rows of four icons in a Honda Civic with a 9-inch screen.

While this is only a minor change, CarPlay showing more icons when possible is a nice quality-of-life improvement for Apple's phone mirroring system, allowing drivers to quickly access more apps with less swiping between pages.

Following beta testing, iOS 18.4 is expected to be released to the public in early April.

Related Roundup: CarPlay

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Top Rated Comments

WarmWinterHat

22 months ago

That's cool, but I can't find enough useful CarPlay apps to fill up one screen.

Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)

ignatius345

22 months ago

So much wasted space on the current carplay layout with the large icons and huge gaps between the icons...

It's spaced out for a reason. You're reaching out a fair distance with one hand in a vehicle that may or may not be bouncing around, and often only looking at it for a second or two. All that points to a design with less information density and more visual and physical separation between UI elements.

Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Kobayagi

22 months ago

Why is this not something that is customizable by the user?

All these cars have different screen sizes and orientations. Why not let users add more columns and/or rows and change their size too? So if you just want a few big ones that are easier to press or more if that's your thing...

It's crazy how little customization Apple allows on things that could actually make it more user friendly and more importantly: safe, since you're using the screen while driving.

Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)

tomdar2

22 months ago

Find My should be on Car Play. How it isn’t is baffling.

Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)

imac9556

22 months ago

What do the arrows in the upper left corner do?

In my Lexus/Toyota it makes the screen smaller by a little so the car toolbar will always be visible even if CarPlay is up. (see example)

Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)

SkippyThorson

22 months ago

Why would you need that? Your phone is literally right there in the car with you, and if you need to track down your AirPods or whatever, you can easily pick it up when you're stopped and do just that. There are already waaayyy too many people pulling boneheaded distracted driving crap without Apple putting toys on the big shiny screen on the dashboard.

Here's a primary example:
With a couple of taps, you're in Find My, select your out of town relative, request directions.
Boom, you're on the highway to Grandmother's house.

Here's another:
Where does my AirTag for my wallet say it is?
Oh crap, that little shop we hit after the restaurant.
Tap, directions back to my wallet without an address.

Just because something doesn't work for you, doesn't mean it doesn't work for someone else.
The point of CarPlay is to leave the phone down in the console or in your pocket.
If you can pick up your phone for all of those features, what is CarPlay's purpose at all then; by your logic?

Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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iOS 18.4 Includes a Small But Useful Change for CarPlay

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