Use CarPlay with your iPhone

Find out how to set up and use CarPlay.

What is CarPlay?

CarPlay is a smarter and safer way to use iPhone in your car, enabling you to stay focused on the road. When you connect your iPhone to CarPlay, you can get turn-by-turn directions, make calls, send and receive messages, listen to music and more.

With iOS 13 and later, the CarPlay Dashboard brings a simpler view of the road ahead. The dashboard gives you a single place to keep track of Maps, audio controls and Siri Suggestions, which provide easy access to things such as your Calendar events. You can even use the dashboard to take control of your HomeKit accessories, such as door openers.

Make sure your country or region supports CarPlay and your car supports CarPlay If you’re not sure whether your car supports CarPlay, contact the vehicle manufacturer.

Set up CarPlay

Start your car, then make sure Siri is turned on.
Connect your iPhone to your car:
- If your car supports CarPlay with a USB cable, plug in your iPhone using the car’s USB port. The USB port may be labelled with a CarPlay icon or a smartphone icon. Make sure you use an Apple Lightning to USB cable.
- If your car supports CarPlay both wirelessly and with a USB cable, plug in your iPhone to the car’s USB port. You’ll receive an alert on your iPhone that will offer to connect you wirelessly during your next drives.
- If your car only supports wireless CarPlay, press and hold the voice command button on your steering wheel. Make sure your stereo is in wireless or Bluetooth mode. Then on your iPhone, go to Settings > Wi-Fi and make sure Wi-Fi is also turned on. Tap the CarPlay network, and check that Auto-Join is turned on. Then go to Settings > General > CarPlay and select your car. Check the manual that came with your car for more information.

Find out more about CarPlay and how to change the map view in CarPlay.

Find out more about the USB-C to Lightning Adapter and how to connect your iPhone with a USB-C connector to CarPlay.

Use Siri to control CarPlay

Depending on your car, there are three ways you can use Siri to control CarPlay:

Press and hold the voice command button on your steering wheel. Then ask Siri a question or to do something.
Touch and hold the CarPlay Dashboard or CarPlay Home button on your touchscreen. Then ask Siri a question or to do something.
If your vehicle supports “Hey Siri”, say “Hey Siri”. Then ask Siri a question or to do something. Go to Settings > Siri & Search and make sure Listen for “Hey Siri” is turned on.

Siri will also make suggestions in CarPlay about what you may want to do next, such as drive to your next meeting. Siri Suggestions and CarPlay work seamlessly to keep your favourite apps at your fingertips.

If you have HomeKit-enabled accessories, such as a garage door opener, you can use the Siri Suggestions that appear on the CarPlay Dashboard, or you can simply ask Siri to do things for you, such as “Open the garage door” when you’re close to your house.

Let Siri announce messages

With iOS 15 and later, Siri can announce your incoming messages in your car. When this feature is turned on, Siri will play a tone, then announce the sender’s name and read their message. If a message is long, Siri will announce the sender’s name and just say that they’ve sent you a message. You can ask Siri to read the full message.

To turn on Announce Messages from your iPhone:

Open the Settings app, then tap Notifications.
Tap Announce Notifications.
Tap CarPlay, then turn on Announce Messages. From here, you can also change when you want announcements to start.
Tap Back to manage which messages Siri reads. Tap Messages, then select either Time Sensitive and Direct Messages or All Notifications.

To turn on Announce Messages from your car’s display:

Open the Settings app in CarPlay, then select Announce Messages.
Turn on Announce Messages.
Select Announce Options to choose whether messages will be spoken aloud at the start of your drive or not.

Use your car’s built-in controls to operate CarPlay

Cars that support CarPlay should have built-in controls, such as a touchscreen, rotary knob or touchpad. To find out how to operate your CarPlay display, check the manual that came with your car. You can also use Siri to control CarPlay

Find out more about the common controls used in cars supported by CarPlay.

Arrange your CarPlay apps

While using CarPlay, the display in your car will show your available apps. To add, remove or rearrange the order of the apps on your iPhone:

Go to Settings > General, then tap CarPlay.
Select your car. Then tap Customise.
Tap the Add button or Delete button to add and remove apps. Tap and drag an app to change the order the apps appear in.

The next time you connect your iPhone to CarPlay, your apps should appear on the display in the new order. Only apps supported by CarPlay will appear on your display.

Change your CarPlay wallpaper

From your car’s display, open the Settings app in CarPlay.
Select Wallpaper.
Choose the wallpaper you want to use, then select Set.

Invite anyone in the car to play music with SharePlay

In iOS 17 and later, you and your passengers can all control the music that’s playing through SharePlay and CarPlay. The driver must have an Apple Music subscription, but everyone else only needs iOS 17 or later.

Find out more about how to host or join a SharePlay session in the car.