CarPlay, Android Auto and HomeView: your radio and podcast app, in the car and the living room

The home screen opens on "Continue listening": the last episode played, at the exact spot where the listener stopped, whether they started it on their phone or in the car. It also lists the live streams currently "On air". Tabs then separate your live streams, your podcasts and the listener's Library.

An episode started over breakfast finishes on the drive to work, without missing a beat.

During your live stream, the screen shows the current track, with its artist and cover art.

The player uses each section's settings: skip back and skip forward buttons, playback speed, favorites. You set them once in your back office, and they apply in the car too.

Subscriber-only content follows the same rules as in the app. A subscriber signed in on their phone listens to it in the car.

Favorites and episodes downloaded in the app are waiting in the car's Library tab. A listener who saved three episodes the night before finds them ready to play, even where the signal drops, since they're already on the phone.

If an episode catches their ear on the road, a tap on the heart adds it to their favorites, so they can find it later in the app on their phone.

On Android Auto, listeners search for a live stream, a podcast or an episode by voice or with the keyboard. They can also ask the voice assistant to start your live stream in your app. For your episodes to show up in the results, your app needs a Search section. You can also turn search off in your back office.

Add the extension for free from the Extensions menu, then choose the live streams and podcasts shown in the car.

For each section, you add an image, used in the car's lists and player. On Android Auto, you also pick an accent color, used for the Now Playing button, to carry your app's visual identity.

An "Availability" block tells you where you stand. For CarPlay, it shows whether Apple's entitlement is in your iOS provisioning profile. For Android Auto, it reminds you of the step to take in the Google Play Console.

Launched today, Apple HomeView pairs a 7-inch display with a speaker base. Apple designed it for music and podcasts, video, calls and smart home control. For a radio station or a podcast, that's a new place to be heard at home: the kitchen, the living room, the home office.

For an audio app to show up on HomeView, it needs to be CarPlay compatible. The extension makes yours compatible, so it's built to show up there with your live radio and podcasts, with no separate app to build.