You Can Now Mimic Apple CarPlay In Any Vehicle With This Free App

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Apple CarPlay is the kind of iOS-friendly tool that anyone with an iPhone would be happy to have. Fortunately, the infotainment platform is available in more than 800 vehicles the world over. And now that CarPlay Ultra is here, Apple's plans for taking its vehicular software into future generations seem to be going quite well.

So, what if you're cruising around in a car that checks all the important boxes — fuel economy, comfort, drivability — minus CarPlay support, wired or wireless? One developer came up with a clever, app-based solution that requires nothing more than an iPhone or iPad, and perhaps a phone or tablet mount for your car, truck, van, etc. The app we're referring to is called Car Play Connect Sync AutoLink. Created by Ahmed Mucahid Bozkurt, Car Play Connect is a free download that requires iOS 17.6 or later. 

How it works is quite simple: You download the app to your iPhone or iPad and turn your device on its side for landscape orientation. At that point, you should find yourself looking at the Apple CarPlay dashboard, complete with infotainment apps like Apple Maps, Spotify, Find My, and more.

The Car Play Connect app supports multiple languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Russian. In addition to all the most common CarPlay features and UI elements, you'll also have the ability to choose from multiple vehicles with the Virtual Garage feature. This lets you store vehicle info and preferences for every car in the driveway. Just swipe to find the vehicle you're driving that day, and tap to select.

You'll even have access to some handy customizations, such as the ability to switch between miles and kilometers, Dark and Light modes, and dashboard backgrounds. The only extras you'll need to pay for are whatever music-streaming platforms you want to use with the Car Play Connect app.

As far as getting your iPhone or iPad up and running with the software, the process couldn't be more straightforward: Download the app, launch it, add your vehicle to the garage, tap Open Dashboard, rotate your phone or tablet to landscape, and you're good to go.

There are three Apple CarPlay accessories every driver should own, but if you plan on making Car Play Connect a staple of your daily commute, you'll also want to invest in a car mount for your iPhone or iPad — and it needs to be one that accommodates landscape orientation. The Loncaster mount is tailor-made for laying your iPhone on its side, and the eSamcore product is a solid choice for many iPad models.

The Car Play Connect app holds a 4.6 out of 5 stars ranking on the App Store, based on 99 reviews (as of November 2025). One of the featured reviews reads: "This is a great app for older cars. You get the look and feel of CarPlay with preselected apps." It also looks like Mr. Bozkurt actively responds to user feedback, which bodes well for bug fixes and future builds.

Sometimes, the best Apple CarPlay tips and tricks are a little off the beaten path, and apps like Car Play Connect Sync AutoLink are paving the way for third-party developers to claim the limelight every now and then.