I finally got YouTube playing in CarPlay thanks to an obscure app developed in China

Published Oct 7, 2026, 8:30 AM EDT Patrick O'Rourke is XDA's News Editor and Entertainment Segment Lead. Previously, he was Pocket-lint's Editor-in-Chief, the Editor-in-Chief of Canadian tech publication MobileSyrup, and earlier in his career, he worked as the technology editor at the Financial Post and Postmedia. He's based in Toronto. Over the past 15 years, he's written thousands of articles. Patrick has also interviewed dozens of tech industry executives and covered GDC, E3, Gamescom, WWDC, Apple keynotes, Samsung Unpacked events and more. Patrick has a BA in journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University. While I'm a big fan of Android Auto, I also appreciate CarPlay's simplicity. There's some truth to the "it just works" angle with Apple's in-car infotainment platform, though it definitely lacks the customization Android Auto offers. One key feature is also still missing, despite Apple changing its App Store rules to allow it: video apps, particularly YouTube. Sure, you can use third-party dongles to get features like this up and running, but as far as I know, APTV is the first app to allow the functionality on a standard wired or wireless CarPlay system. APTV works surprisingly well with YouTube There are a few things to consider, though Getting APTV running in CarPlay is surprisingly simple. First, search for APTV in the App Store and install the app on your iPhone. Next, connect your phone to your car via CarPlay (everything I've found useful in APTV is done through the CarPlay version of the app). Now, go to Quick and Browser in the APTV CarPlay app. You'll see apps you probably recognize, like YouTube and Netflix, alongside China-based video and social media platforms like Bilibili, iQIYI, and Xiaohongshu. Next, tap on the app you want to use. In my case, that's YouTube. You'll then have the option to sign in to your Google account if you want to. While there are obvious privacy concerns (see below), I took one for the team and logged in. The process was a bit janky and froze a few times, but once I was in, APTV gave me access to what seems like a YouTube UI that's very similar to the iPad version of the video app. My subscriptions are there, and so is my watch history — that's all I really need to catch up on a quick video while waiting to pick up my partner at the train. It's pretty much the full version of YouTube, giving APTV a clear advantage over roundabout Android Auto sideloaded solutions like Xtream Player and Screen2Auto. More importantly, APTV seems to run very consistently. After the initial trouble signing in to my account, everything worked perfectly, with no crashes. Other APTV features like video casting don't appear to be compatible with my car, though. APTV also supports Netflix. I haven't tried the app yet, but I don't see why it wouldn't work (I'm hoping to experiment with it later this week). At this point, you probably have a few data concerns. First, this app is clearly based in China and was developed by Suzhou Xiying Guangnian Technology. However, it's labeled as "Data Not Collected" in the App Store, but of course, privacy disclosures like this come from developers, and Apple doesn't verify them. There's also the concern of signing in to whatever video platform you want to watch in your vehicle through APTV's built-in browser. I can 100% understand why some people might not be comfortable with that. All that said, do I think this app is stealing my data? Not really. Still, it's something to consider if you try APTV. With APTV, videos won't play when your vehicle is in motion. You should never watch videos while driving. It's not only illegal in most places, but it's also wildly unsafe and endangers you and those around you. More apps that play videos directly through CarPlay should still be coming It's unlikely we'll see many vehicles support videos playing over AirPlay Apple first announced video streaming support over AirPlay with CarPlay alongside iOS 26, and then, with iOS 27, the tech giant confirmed at WWDC 26 that CarPlay apps can now browse and play videos. AirPlay apps never arrived because manufacturers needed to enable them, and as of October 2026, we still don't have apps like YouTube or Netflix in CarPlay. Since an app that lets you browse and play videos in CarPlay isn't a feature a car manufacturer needs to enable, we'll likely see at least some popular video apps make their way to Apple's in-car platform eventually. Google also has similar plans with Android Auto, though, unlike CarPlay, nothing has appeared yet (there are sideloaded workarounds, though). So why is APTV the first app out of the gate? I really don't know, but if I had to bet, its developer likely moved quickly to get iOS 27's native video compatibility working in its app. In the coming months, we'll likely see other apps make similar moves. Until then, though, APTV seems to be the easiest and most reliable way to watch YouTube through CarPlay. APTV