Apple's use of CarPlay APIs for the HomeView is a strange compromise, is putting developers in a tough spot, and there's good reason to question how useful it will be.
You're not likely to need any of the dozens of parking apps that litter the App Store on your HomeView. And presumably you'll never need to access your car's app, but there may be some interesting use cases there, depending.
But beyond that, there is more. It's tempting to say there is a world of possible CarPlay apps that are suddenly able to run on HomeView.
Except CarPlay is a difficult thing to pull off. In an incredibly analog process right now, developers have to e-mail for the entitlement, and demonstrate that there is no safety risk for drivers. So, there's still not wide developer support.
The HomeView has none of those issues specific to moving vehicles. It's strange that Apple has chosen this route which will cut off the device at its knees in the early days.
What you can get
It's through a CarPlay app, for instance, that you will be able to listen to audiobooks on Audible, instead of solely Apple Books. It's where you'll be able to consult Google Maps instead of Apple Maps.
HomeView will tell you the temperature, but via CarPlay, Carrot Weather will be sarcastic about it. Then especially if you're outside the US, it will be useful that WhatsApp has a CarPlay edition.
There are many radio CarPlay apps, too, such as a particularly comprehensive one from the BBC called BBC Sounds. But there's also TuneIn Radio and Broadcasts.
Just going by what's already on CarPlay, you will also be able to have long-form articles read out to you via Instapaper. You should also have access to ChatGPT and Claude, if you have those apps installed on your iPhone.
There's a catch
Apple has expressly told developers that "CarPlay audio and video apps also work on Apple HomeView without requiring you to make any modifications to your app." It now even says that in multiple spots across the Apple developer website and documentation.
But as yet, Apple does not say how to use these CarPlay apps. It's reasonable to presume that it will all work the same way CarPlay does, so:
- Apps are downloaded from the App Store
- There'll be a section in iPhone Settings for turning on or off CarPlay apps
- It will be possible to rearrange installed CarPlay apps
Top: all of the native apps on the HomeView. Bottom: the significant ones that are not - image credit: Apple.
With CarPlay, rearranging apps also has to be done in Settings on the iPhone. That presents a vertical list with apps you can drag up and down, and which then moves the apps horizontally on and off the front screen in your car.
None of this can be done while driving, but although that doesn't apply with the HomeView, this part probably will.
In CarPlay's case, that's sensibly making the system safe. In HomeView's case, it's just inheriting a limitation that shouldn't apply to it.
Apps not guaranteed
Now we can understand why Apple added video playback to CarPlay in 2025. In a car, it only works when the vehicle is stationary, and if the car's systems support it.
Still it seemed an odd thing for Apple to add, making a conceivably unsafe addition with no apparent benefit. You could watch a movie in the parking lot, but it'd look dramatically better on the iPhone you're playing it from, albeit probably on a smaller screen.
Since Apple allows video in CarPlay and HomeView runs CarPlay apps, video apps from CarPlay should run on HomeView. QED.
And while Apple does not use the term CarPlay in its description of what the HomeView can do, it does list certain apps. Apple has said directly that the HomeView can include:
- Apple Music Classical
- Apple Books' audiobooks
- Apple News
- Apple TV
The first three are apps that support CarPlay. The last one, Apple TV, does not.
Then since iOS 26, CarPlay has had the option for widgets. Apple supplies some, such as various clock faces, plus apps can feature widgets showing things like calendar events, the current song on Apple Music, and so on.
There is no Apple TV widget. There is no Apple Music Classical. And there is an Apple Books one rather than solely an Apple Books audiobook widget.
So whether or not Apple is supporting CarPlay apps plus their widgets, there are some oddities. Despite Apple's insistence that developers don't have to change anything in their CarPlay apps, it isn't clear that every such one will work on the HomeView.
All that's really clear is that the HomeView isn't out yet and already people are trying to find ways to make it useful.
This is a new class of device and so judging it by another class such as the iPhone or iPad is unfair and also a bit pointless. But Apple itself has made these links to the existing CarPlay and it feels like an admission that HomeView doesn't do much.
HomeView really does need an app store of its own.