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iOS in the Car: Home button sign of things to come?

A

Apollo1111

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 20, 2012
36
7
I noticed a little detail about "iOS in the Car". For the in-car touchscreen, iOS 7 will overlay the home button along the bottom of the screen.

I wonder if this overlay along the bottom is a possible sign of things to come. Does this open the possibility for iOS UI for edge-to-edge displays of future devices? Is this part of the strategy behind the redesign of iOS 7? Thoughts?

carintegration_gallery3.jpg


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Last edited:
Gjwilly said:
I thought that that was part of the WWDC announcement.
They're bringing the UI to your car's display.
Click to expand...

I should clarify. I am specifically interested in the home button overlay along the bottom.

Right now all iOS devices have physical home buttons. There has been a steady stream of rumors for a long time that Apple might do away with the home button. I never saw those rumors as super likely, but now I wonder if Apple might one day do it by making the home button an overlay along the bottom of the edge-to-edge display of a hypothetical future iPhone or other device.

I don't see this as a super likely direction, but seeing it in the iOS in the Car interface made me think about it and wonder.
 
I think it is a sign to come, look at the in car iMessage dialog, there is a "play" button. Imagine getting this on the phone and instead there's a "reply" button that allows us to quick reply!!! Maybe I am dreaming but hopefully actionable notifications are coming soon, real soon!
 
I'm sure it will happen at some point, but first they have to figure out a different way to do a hard reset, or eliminate the need for one. I'm curios to see how they implement iOS in the car hardware-wise.
 
Apollo1111 said:
I wonder if this overlay along the bottom is a possible sign of things to come. Does this open the possibility for iOS UI for edge-to-edge displays of future devices?
Click to expand...

In my opinion, you're reading too much into it. I guess the home button overlay is there purely because of licensing problems.

Sure, car manufacturers will start building in iOS in the car compatibility in their vehicles, but I'd hazard a guess that the Apple home button comes separately. After all, what's the use of the home button in cars which don't have the iOS in the car option selected?

Much better to have an overlaid home button on cars which do not have a physical button rather than buttons that have no use at all on cars which don't have iOS in the car capability.
 
I'm looking to buy a new car - does anyone know the basis of how In The Car will be available, will it be new car models or can current ones be adapted?

Or do we even know?
 
dontpannic said:
In my opinion, you're reading too much into it. I guess the home button overlay is there purely because of licensing problems.

Sure, car manufacturers will start building in iOS in the car compatibility in their vehicles, but I'd hazard a guess that the Apple home button comes separately. After all, what's the use of the home button in cars which don't have the iOS in the car option selected?

Much better to have an overlaid home button on cars which do not have a physical button rather than buttons that have no use at all on cars which don't have iOS in the car capability.
Click to expand...

You're right, this one is a stretch.

That said, imagine if a future iPhone had an edge-to-edge display and the areas that are currently black (or white) along the top and bottom could instead be translucent panels in the software, with content able to move behind them. The home button could be in that lower overlay. And since it would be a software UI element, it could selectively go away when you want to see something full screen, giving you a huge, really full screen.

Or maybe this is how the home button concept could be implemented in a small screen interface like the possible iWatch?

I am definitely reading into this quite a bit — it is all just speculation for fun. I have a feeling iOS 7's redesign does have to do with flexibility for screen sizes for future products, this home button overlay thing might have nothing to do with that though. There are good reasons not to ditch the physical home button, but it is fun to think about how it could work and what it would make possible.
 
Actually I agree with the OP. Personally, I think iOS 7 is a step towards eventually getting rid of the physical home button. Hopefully this would result in more screen space.
 
sb22 said:
I'm looking to buy a new car - does anyone know the basis of how In The Car will be available, will it be new car models or can current ones be adapted?

Or do we even know?
Click to expand...

We do not. It's probably going to be you'll have to buy a new car that has it installed, or buy a new car that supports it, then have the dealer install it aftermarket. It would be awesome if you could buy the unit online then install it yourself, but I doubt that will happen.

----------

Also what I find curious is that on Apple's site, the software is being shown off on the Chevy My Link radio found in the Spark and Sonic, which currently support Siri Hands Free. So I wonder if Chevy could do a firmware update to the radio for the iOS in the Car UI.
 
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