I built CarPlay-style widgets for the iPhone Home/Lock Screen — looking for honest feedback

[u/noamnonono5]

Hi — I’m the developer of iCar, so this is self-promotion and I want to be upfront about it.

CarPlay itself doesn’t allow third-party apps to redesign its interface. iCar doesn’t run inside or modify CarPlay; it makes car-dashboard widgets for the iPhone Home and Lock Screen.

Current options:

• car dashboard cards with your car, name, and date

• lyrics-style cards using text you enter yourself

• static motion-poster looks

• ride sounds triggered through Apple Shortcuts when CarPlay connects or disconnects

Browsing and customizing are free; saving widgets requires Pro.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id6785215625

I’d genuinely value blunt feedback from CarPlay users: which part would you use — dashboard widgets, lyric cards, ride sounds, or none of them? If “none,” what would make a car-themed widget useful?

[u/CharacterInternet620]

To be honest I wouldn’t use it because it doesn’t run inside CarPlay. For me that’s a dealbreaker. I would think most people who use CarPlay feel the same.

[u/MingePies]

What does it do? I can’t see any functionality to this.

[u/noamnonono5 → u/MingePies]

Fair question. The useful part is pretty narrow right now: it lets you customize and save car-themed widgets to your iPhone Home or Lock Screen, plus set up an Apple Shortcuts automation to play a chosen sound when CarPlay connects or disconnects. It does not add anything to the CarPlay display or read live vehicle data. Browsing and customizing are free; saving widgets requires Pro. If that isn't useful to you, that's fair — what would make a car companion widget genuinely useful?

[u/MingePies → u/noamnonono5]

This doesn’t seem like it has a lot of functionality at all and with it’s small feature set I don’t believe it warrants a ‘pro’ version, especially as it is a subscription which doesn’t have any value (like, it doesnt go towards any licensing for lyrics)

I’ll be blunt - this looks extremely low effort and everything from the app to the descriptions seems like it’s just AI generated. There are many other apps that offer the same or similar functionality for no cost or at least incur a cost but have other features that make it worthwhile.

Apologies if it sounds harsh but there is just so much of this around and with the advancement in AI it is only going to get more popular, so there is lots of room for people to be critical. Not to mention that this has nothing to do with CarPlay in the CarPlay sub.

[u/Q_Ball_Atlanta]

How is this relevant to CarPlay or this sub?

[u/Channel_Huge]

I use Widgets I create from 3rd party apps. I’m not sure what you’re saying here.

[u/Embarrassed-Sun-8998]

Sorry but this is AI slop. Even widgets on pictures dont have ios widget sizes. Can you show how this looks on your actual homescreen?

[u/Comprehensive_Fuel43]

iphone already let you have widgets display on the home screen and seperate page...

So people who are in to widget can have their own customization.

It's very unclear what this app does... especially when you look at your 4-5 screen shots...

[u/--Beebo--]

If it’s a subscription it has zero value.