A Polite Request Regarding Apple CarPlay

I was sitting in line for a car wash this morning, readying a test vehicle for photos, and since the line was long and moving slow, I started perusing Twitter on my iPhone while listening to the radio.

The same phone that was plugged into the Ford Maverick’s USB port so that I could run Apple CarPlay.

If you’ve ever tried to scroll social media, or a news app, or a game, or anything that might play a video ad or music, while also connected to CarPlay, whether wired or wirelessly, you might know where I am going with this.

Here’s what happens. You scroll through Twitter, an automated ad plays, and it cuts the radio out. Annoying.

But wait, you say, who cares? You shouldn’t be scrolling Twitter while driving, anyway! You’re right. And I don’t scroll my social media or play with my phone while the car is in motion. But there are plenty of times I am in the car, engine running, parked, waiting for something or someone.

The car-wash line. Picking someone up. Drive-thrus. I am sure we all face this situation fairly often — idling, parked, bored, and looking for a way to make killing a few minutes less tedious.

So you thumb through Twitter, trying not to be sucked into outrage-bait hot takes from people you don’t even know because apparently letting your blood pressure boil is preferable to staring out the window at the cityscape around you and taking it all in. Then the radio cuts out right as the sports yakker you’re listening to makes a great point about why your team sucks and you miss it. Bummer, dude.

I know it’s sort of an edge case, but I really wish Apple would figure out a way to fix this. Maybe a setting in CarPlay — perhaps an override so that it stays on the radio, even when an app is opened, unless the driver tells it otherwise.

Yes, it’s a first-world problem. Yes, it matters little in the long run. Still, it’s a minor annoyance I think Apple could likely easily fix.

If Apple ever does fix this, you know who to thank.

[Image: Honda/Acura]