Waze and Spotify on your car screen: how to use them with CarPlay and Android Auto

Ask anyone why they want a new screen in their car and two answers come up above all the others: Waze and Spotify. The navigation app that warns about speed cameras and jams, and the music you already listen to without fighting with cables or with a radio station that drops out as soon as you leave town. Everything else — the camera, Bluetooth, the steering wheel buttons — is welcome, but those two apps are the ones people use every day.

The question that reaches our WhatsApp is always the same: "do Waze and Spotify show on the screen, or do I still have to look at my phone?". They show on the screen, and there are two different ways to get there. Let's look at which one applies to you.

Two ways to get Waze and Spotify on the screen

1. With CarPlay or Android Auto (the recommended route). Here the apps run on your phone and the car's screen acts as monitor and controller. Waze and Spotify are two of the best integrated apps in both systems: they appear in the menu with an interface adapted to the car, with large text and few buttons, and they respond to your voice. The big advantage is that they are always up to date, because the phone updates them.

2. Installed on the Android head unit itself. Android screens run their own system, and you can install apps on it from Google's store. It works, and it is useful when you want to use the unit without depending on your phone, but there are two conditions: the screen needs its own internet connection and the apps have to be kept up to date from the unit. We explain that in how to update your Android car radio.

In practice, the combination that works best is to use the Android screen for everything to do with the car (radio, camera, settings) and use CarPlay or Android Auto for Waze and Spotify, where the experience is smoother.

Waze on the car screen: what to expect

Waze on CarPlay and Android Auto runs full screen, with the map, the route and the community alerts: fixed and mobile speed cameras, traffic jams, roadworks, objects on the road. It is on long journeys that the difference with factory navigation really shows, because it recalculates with real traffic and not with the traffic of five years ago.

Three things are worth knowing before you fit anything:

• Waze needs data. All its value lies in real-time information, so without a connection it loses almost everything that makes it useful. If you often drive through areas with no coverage, pair it with a navigation app with downloaded maps: we cover that in offline maps on an Android car radio.
• The data comes from your phone. With CarPlay or Android Auto you do not need a separate plan for the car: the screen uses the phone's connection. If you would rather have the unit go online on its own, read whether an Android car radio needs internet.
• You can use it by voice. "Hey Google, take me to…" or your iPhone's assistant save you touching the screen while driving, which is not only easier but also what the traffic rules require: phones and screens are not to be handled at the wheel.

Spotify on the screen: music, podcasts and playlists

Spotify appears in CarPlay and Android Auto with a simplified interface: your playlists, recently played, podcasts and little else. It is deliberately designed that way, so you choose in two taps and get back to looking at the road. The steering wheel buttons control playback and volume, and voice search works well for asking for an artist or a particular playlist.

Two details that make a real difference in the car:

• Download your playlists. Spotify lets you store music on the phone. With downloaded playlists, tunnels and dead zones stop cutting the song off.
• Raise the audio quality. If the car's system sounds good, it is worth increasing the streaming quality in the app settings. And if you want a genuine step up in sound, the route is the equaliser and an amplifier: we explain it in how to improve the sound of an Android car radio.

And the rest: Google Maps, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Apple Music

The logic is the same for other navigation and audio apps. Google Maps, Apple Maps, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, podcast apps and internet radio all work in CarPlay and Android Auto if they have a compatible version, and they appear in the car's menu on their own once they are installed on the phone.

Where there is a clear limit is video: CarPlay and Android Auto do not show YouTube or Netflix while driving, for safety reasons. We go into it in can you watch YouTube or Netflix on the car screen?. For messaging the integration does exist and works by voice: we cover it in WhatsApp on the car screen.

If Waze or Spotify do not appear on the screen

It is nearly always one of these five causes, and they are fixed in a couple of minutes:

1. The app is not on the phone or is out of date. CarPlay and Android Auto only show what the phone has installed.
2. Permissions are missing. Android Auto needs location and notification permissions for navigation and alerts to work.
3. The cable. If you connect by cable, a cheap charging cable causes data faults. Use a proper data cable, short and in good condition.
4. The pairing was left half done. Deleting the device on the unit and on the phone and pairing again solves a good share of cases.
5. The screen has no internet when the apps are installed on the unit itself: with no WiFi and no shared data, they will not load.

If it still does not work after that, we have two specific guides: Android Auto not working or not connecting and CarPlay not working or not connecting.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need Spotify Premium to use it in the car?
The app shows up in CarPlay and Android Auto either way, but the free version has adverts and playback limits. To play specific playlists without interruptions, the paid version is what people normally use.

Does Waze use a lot of data?
Far less than people fear: it is a vector map with traffic information, not video. Normal daily use works out at a few hundred megabytes a month.

Can I use Waze and Spotify at the same time?
Yes. That is exactly what CarPlay and Android Auto are designed for: the map fills the screen, the music keeps playing, and there is a bar for switching apps with the voice prompts on top.

Do the steering wheel buttons work with Spotify?
Yes, as long as they are properly configured on the unit. If yours do not respond, see how to set up the steering wheel buttons.

Do I need a model-specific screen or will a universal one do?
Both work for this. The difference is in the fit and the finish; we compare them in model-specific versus universal screens.

See our screens with CarPlay and Android Auto

If there is no model-specific screen for your car, the universal screen with wireless CarPlay and Android Auto is the most direct way to bring Waze and Spotify to your dashboard; there are more options in universal models and in the full catalogue. Tell us the make, model and year and we will confirm which one fits your car.