At the recent WWDC or the World Wide Developers’ Conference, Apple announced a host of new updates and new product lines. Amongst these, the one update concerning car owners was the new SharePlay feature on Apple CarPlay.
What is SharePlay?
Currently, Apple CarPlay allows one device to be connected to a compatible head unit and allows an interface that is more comfortable to use on the go. It also restricts certain features like typing incase the car / vehicle is moving.
Now, Apple has realized that there might be other occupants in the car who might be interested to play songs from their playlist. Hence, the new SharePlay feature. According to the presentation, this will enable other iPhone users to join, create and add songs to a shared playlist on CarPlay. This will play via the car’s music system.
Further, SharePlay is expected to be seamless and users will be notified of this as soon as they start their journey. Hence, it would no longer be necessary to pass the one phone connected to the head unit to add song choices of others.
SharePlay will also allow users to play, pause and skip music. They would also be able to rewind and re-order songs as well.
Compatibility of devices with SharePlay
As of now, Apple has demonstrated this only on the default Music app. However, it is possible that this feature will be released to other 3rd party apps as well.
Further, Apple has not yet released the timeline for this app or the compatible device lists.
Apple CarPlay : More Details
Apple CarPlay allows the car’s infotainment system / head unit to act as a display and controls the connected iPhone using the existing buttons in the car. Here, the software is run on the phone while the CarPlay feature uses only the display and hardware interface of the vehicle’s system.
Also Read – Maruti Suzuki adds wireless Apple CarPlay & Android Auto to Baleno.