iOS 10.3 Update: 9 Reasons to Get Excited & 3 Reasons Not To

Get Excited If You're a CarPlay User

If you're the proud owner of a car that employs Apple's CarPlay platform and you actually use CarPlay, you'll probably be excited to hear that iOS 10.3 is improving the feature and making it safer. 

Developers digging into the iOS 10.3 beta have discovered a treasure trove of CarPlay tweaks. The most exciting change is an improvement to the user interface. 

On older versions of iOS, CarPlay requires you to make multiple taps to access another application. If you've used it, you know the process. You're forced to tap Home and then make another tap to open up a new application.

In iOS 10.3, Apple's eliminated the need for a second tap. With the update on board, you'll notice three applications sitting in a dock aligned on the left side of the screen. These are static and they'll stay in view when you're inside other apps. 

Most of the time you'll see Maps, an entertainment application like Spotify or Music, and an app for communication purposes (Phone, Messages, Skype, etc).

This is the big change on board the iOS 10.3 update but there are a few smaller CarPlay features that might excite you. 

The Music app now features the Up Next function in the Now Playing screen. This allows you to easily skip around tracks in a playlist.

In addition, you can now tap an album title from the Now Playing screen so you can easily jump to the song's root album. 

CarPlay Maps in iOS 10.3 also lists the location of nearby EV charging stations. If you own an electric car, that's probably exciting.