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How to use your iPhone to find where you parked your car (without Bluetooth accessories or CarPlay)

Despite being a relatively small update to iOS 10, one of the most reported new features was the ability to have your device remember where you parked your car so when you try and find it in a big car park or on a nearby street later, it’ll be easy to track down.

Many users keen to find out how might find themselves disappointed to find most articles would point to the need for a Bluetooth car system or Apple’s own CarPlay platform. Though many newer cars come with Bluetooth compatibility, it’s actually possible to achieve the same functionality without any kind of Bluetooth assistance at all.

The solution comes through a free app called Tuture [Download] from a French developer called VRDCI which launched the app in 2015, before Apple decided to bake similar functionality into its Maps app.

So, how does it work?

  1. Open the app
  2. Confirm your email address, car make and model
  3. Leave it!

It’s that simple. Now, when you drive, the app is able to ascertain your type of travel, then when you leave the car it records its location. Of course, using GPS in this way reduces battery life, but it is intended to only use this while you’re in the vehicle. Of course, many drivers have in-car charging facilities.

The app itself has two tabs, one which shows your parking history, and the other shows a map of the car’s last location, and your current location, helping you to find your vehicle. The app works in the background, which means if you kill the app using the App Switcher (double-tapping the home button, then swiping up) or it runs out of power and you have to turn it back on, then it will stop working. However, the app will send you a notification if this happens so you can open it again.

The app lists the history of where you last parked your car

The app lists the history of where you last parked your car

It’s a simple and well-designed app which has gained plenty of strong reviews on the App Store – currently holding a four-star rating. In fact, it seems like it only loses the star for charging $9.99 for ad removal. However, the app is still completely free to use with ads.

A map shows the location of your car as well as your current location

A map shows the location of your car as well as your current location

Additionally, if you got on well with Tuture, the developer has just released two more apps in the same vein, this time integrating further with Maps thanks to Siri’s integration with third-party apps in iOS 10. These are Park! [Download] which gives you hands-free guidance to the nearest place to park, and Fuel! [Download] which gives you the same hands-free directions to where you can fill up.

Again, both these apps are free, and you access them by commanding Siri to open them. For example, when driving you’ll say “Hey Siri, open Park! app” and once open users can choose an option from a list of nearest parking areas.

These apps haven’t been around long enough to gain enough of a rating, plus they’ll likely need a bit of input from a passenger to confirm options, but it’s good to see developers making use of the new Siri functionality. Take a look and see what you think.

Read more: The six best iPhone car apps to test-drive today