Both of them bring iPhone apps to your car, but CarPlay Ultra takes it a step further.
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Apple’s CarPlay brings the iOS experience you’re familiar with, along with your apps and media, to your car’s dashboard. And although some car manufacturers have been ditching CarPlay, it’s still widely available in many vehicles.
What you might not know is that there are two versions of CarPlay: the standard one you’re likely familiar with, and CarPlay Ultra. They share the same foundation in theory, but CarPlay Ultra goes a lot further. Instead of being limited to the infotainment screen, it can control more aspects of your car. Not only that, but it’s also highly customizable. Unfortunately, Ultra isn’t widely available yet, but we’ll hopefully start seeing it in more cars soon.
The CarPlay we all know
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The well-known core version of CarPlay was introduced in 2014 with iOS 7.1. You simply connect your iPhone to your car via USB or wirelessly, and the dashboard screen shows a simplified iOS-like layout designed for the car. CarPlay makes it much easier to access the apps on your device without distractions.
Not every app works, though; available ones are mainly focused on navigation, streaming and messaging. With just a few taps or Siri requests, you can stream your Apple Music playlists or start a route in Maps. It’s much more convenient (and safer) than having to pick up your phone all the time.
But CarPlay has some limitations. Because it isn’t deeply integrated with your car’s system, you might have to exit CarPlay to change some of the car’s native features that also use the screen. Depending on your car, this could include actions like switching driving modes or even adjusting the climate control. This adds a few extra steps to common tasks, which is more dangerous while driving.
What’s so special about CarPlay Ultra?
Back in 2022, Apple teased an ambitious expansion for CarPlay: instead of being limited to a single screen, CarPlay would now be across all the screens in your car. That’s what CarPlay Ultra is all about. Beyond showing apps, it also handles key aspects of your car such as the speedometer and fuel gauge. It even lets you customize them, just like in a racing video game.
Vehicle controls such as the air conditioning and radio are also integrated with CarPlay Ultra, so you never have to leave the interface. It really feels like you’re using a car system designed entirely by Apple.
It sounds too good to be true, but there’s a catch. While CarPlay is available in more than 800 vehicle models, CarPlay Ultra is a different story. You can only find it in luxury Aston Martins right now, and only in the US and Canada. Porsche also teased support for CarPlay Ultra, but that day never came. It’s unclear exactly what happened, but perhaps car manufacturers were afraid to hand over full control to Apple. You’ll need an iPhone 12 or later to take advantage of the new CarPlay experience, and it only works wirelessly.
Apple has mentioned that CarPlay Ultra will eventually be available in more cars. But based on what we’ve seen, it seems that this expansion will take even longer to happen.