The Phone Is an Object, and One of Its Apps Casts Cars

The first thing to notice about the phone in GTA 6 is that it is a physical object in the world rather than a menu. When a character uses it, the camera moves closer to their hand. It is a small decision with an obvious consequence: you cannot check your phone without your character visibly checking their phone, in a game where being seen is now a mechanic.

The app that changes how the game is played is WAINK. Point it at a parked car and it reports what the vehicle is worth, what it costs to register, whether it is locked, whether it has an alarm and whether it carries a tracker.

That turns stealing a car into a decision rather than a reflex. Vehicles are separated into security tiers, and expensive ones are considerably harder to take: older cars open with a slim jim, luxury models need key-cloning tools, and some are simply out of reach early on because the equipment is unlocked through the story. ElRubius, describing his session at Rockstar North, adds that the lockpicking itself is a minigame played with the sticks, and that doing it properly is what stops the alarm going off.

The tracker line on that readout is not decoration either. Certain cars report their position to the police automatically, which is why the app tells you before you take it rather than after.

Two other apps have been described. Ryde Me is a rideshare service for getting across the map. Snapmatic returns as an Instagram parody, and there is a nice piece of writing attached to it: Jason and Lucia cannot post to it, because they are fugitives avoiding a digital trail. They can browse it, follow accounts and read what people are saying. They just cannot appear on it.

Worth saying plainly, because the internet is full of it: there is no confirmed way to make money from phone apps, and the specific figures circulating for in-game businesses and heist payouts are invented. The game is not out. Nobody has those numbers.