iOS 14 to Offer Wallpapers in CarPlay, More Detailed Business Info in Apple Maps

Although we’re still awaiting the release of iOS 13.4, due early next week, enterprising developers continue to dig through leaked code for the next major iOS release, giving us a taste of what may be coming this fall.

Thanks to 9to5Mac, which seems to be the most prolific source of insights right now, we’ve already heard about several exciting things that Apple may have in store for iOS 14, including a new home screen, international Apple Watch faces, an overhauled multitasking system, a whole slew of new emoji characters and possibly a whole new design.

Now the latest news from 9to5Mac suggests that Apple may be looking to add a further boost to the features in both Apple Maps and CarPlay, which probably isn’t all that surprising, considering that Apple has been focusing on improvements in both of these areas in the past few major iOS releases.

Apple Maps

Last year in iOS 13, Apple Maps gained several new interface features as Apple also completed the rollout of massive overhaul that it began back in 2018 to add new and improved maps across the U.S., and eventually the rest of the world too.

However, according to new code found by 9to5Mac, it looks like Apple will be working on addressing another big weak point in Apple Maps this year, and that’s business location information, possibly even stepping ahead of Google Maps by offering tight integration with businesses to show in-store services and schedules.

For example, when looking up an Apple Store in Apple Maps, you’ll be able to see hardware repair availability for Genius Bar appointments, so customers could know when they would be able to get an appointment. Maps could also show stores that offer device trade-ins and other services, and while the initial rollout might begin only with Apple Stores, it also looks like there are plans in the works to extend it to other businesses, such as showing restaurants that have seating for couples, discounts for children, and private rooms, as well as movie theatres with IMAX sessions, and more.

This seemingly ties into earlier reports we’ve heard that Apple Maps could soon offer travel recommendations, and while that’s mostly a change on the back-end service, it seems that Apple would probably need to update the Maps app on iOS to support it.

CarPlay Wallpapers

Apple has been making some pretty great strides with its CarPlay infotainment system integration in the past few years, opening it up a couple of years ago to third-party mapping and navigation apps and slowly polishing up the user interface with a multi-panelled dashboard view, and even a light and dark mode last year and Siri support for getting directions from Google Maps and Waze and playing music from apps like Spotify.

Now it looks like CarPlay will get another coat of paint with indications that users will soon be able to define custom wallpapers on CarPlay to replace the basic black or white backgrounds. We already saw evidence that better wallpaper support is coming to iOS 14, so it seems like this would be a very logical extension of that.

9to5Mac has already offered up some screenshots of what the CarPlay wallpapers will look like. Right now, it seems that Apple is testing that feature with its own two-tone default wallpapers from iOS 13 that automatically shift between light and dark mode, and it’s unclear whether custom wallpapers will be supported, but we certainly hope so.