Notifications are, without a doubt, essential for the experience with Android Auto and CarPlay, and both Google and Apple have tried to further refine this feature in the latest major updates for their apps.
However, users out there expect more in terms of capabilities, and when it comes to CarPlay, someone on reddit has created a very simple proposal as to how notifications can be improved when an iPhone is connected to the head unit.
The current song notification has thus received a makeover, which not only provides users with more information but also offers additional media controls.
For example, the new notification shows not only the current song, with the name of the artist and the track displayed on the left side but also the next tune in the right part of the UI. In the center, you get three media controls to go back to the previous song, skip to the next one, or just pause and play the playback.
There are both good things and bad things about this idea.
First of all, it’s pretty clear such an approach would make sense for the music listening experience behind the wheel, especially because it displays not only the song that is currently playing but also the one coming next.
The same goes for the media controls, which would obviously come in handy and more or less address the lack of the dynamic bar available on Android Auto.
On the other hand, this revised notification could cause additional distraction behind the wheel, making drivers spend more time looking at the screen. This is obviously a big no-no, mainly because the purpose of CarPlay overall is to make everything less distracting when driving.
Of course, this is just a concept for now, but there’s no doubt Apple itself could further improve its CarPlay notifications so they better align with user expectations. If and when this is supposed to happen is something nobody knows right now, however.
The current song notification has thus received a makeover, which not only provides users with more information but also offers additional media controls.
For example, the new notification shows not only the current song, with the name of the artist and the track displayed on the left side but also the next tune in the right part of the UI. In the center, you get three media controls to go back to the previous song, skip to the next one, or just pause and play the playback.
There are both good things and bad things about this idea.
First of all, it’s pretty clear such an approach would make sense for the music listening experience behind the wheel, especially because it displays not only the song that is currently playing but also the one coming next.
The same goes for the media controls, which would obviously come in handy and more or less address the lack of the dynamic bar available on Android Auto.
On the other hand, this revised notification could cause additional distraction behind the wheel, making drivers spend more time looking at the screen. This is obviously a big no-no, mainly because the purpose of CarPlay overall is to make everything less distracting when driving.
Of course, this is just a concept for now, but there’s no doubt Apple itself could further improve its CarPlay notifications so they better align with user expectations. If and when this is supposed to happen is something nobody knows right now, however.