There are few places where WhatsApp isn’t officially supported anymore. Your car is one of them. But the latest beta, reported by WABetaInfo, changes that. Your car, assuming it’s packing CarPlay, will now host Meta’s messenger natively. Previously, tapping WhatsApp on CarPlay called up an unhelpful Siri to compose a message.
It’s not full WhatsApp, but it’s close enough
The native CarPlay app is currently in beta and should reach users sooner rather than later. Like WhatsApp’s native support on your smartwatch, it requires the user’s smartphone to be nearby to function properly. With WhatsApp installed, tapping the icon will now go to a dedicated chat list, which serves as the home page.
Opening a chat won’t, however, show the full conversation history — and only shows the last sent message across individual chats. “This makes sense since the driver shouldn’t be reading entire conversations while on the road. When they are off the road, users can easily access the complete chat history on their smartphone.”
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Though chat history is unavailable, users can still view the profile and phone number of their contacts. Pinned contacts from your smartphone will be carried over, too. Tap a contact, and you’ll be presented with the option to send a regular message or call them (using WhatsApp’s in-call service). Call history can also be accessed.
The feature is currently available to a select few beta testers who install the latest updates of WhatsApp beta for iOS from the TestFlight app. Only those already enrolled in the programme can take advantage of WhatsApp on CarPlay. Its early release to beta testers is a good sign that it’ll be released publicly in the coming weeks.
