CarPlay works well enough out of the box that it’s easy to plug in your iPhone and never look at its settings again.
That’s also why you may be missing several features that make it considerably better to use every day.
Some of the most useful controls aren’t even on your car’s screen. Apple puts them on the iPhone, where you can reorganize apps, manage widgets, automate Driving Focus, and change what happens every time CarPlay connects.
Clean up your CarPlay dashboard
You can’t rearrange CarPlay apps directly from your car’s display. Instead, open Settings > General > CarPlay on your iPhone, select your vehicle, then choose Customize.
From there, you can drag apps into the order you want or remove ones you never use. Moving Maps, Music, Podcasts, or whatever you regularly open toward the top of the list keeps them closer to CarPlay’s first page and cuts down on swiping while you’re driving.
Widgets are worth setting up too. CarPlay can display information such as weather, calendar events, and clocks without requiring you to open the corresponding apps.
Smart Rotate automatically cycles through relevant widgets during the day, while Widget Suggestions can surface information you haven’t manually added.
You can also change CarPlay’s appearance from the Settings app on your car’s display. Light and dark modes can be switched manually or changed automatically, with additional controls available for wallpaper and app icon appearance.
Stop notifications from taking over your drive
Driving Focus is one of the CarPlay settings I wouldn’t leave off.
Go to Settings > Focus > Driving on your iPhone, and you can decide which people and notifications are allowed through while you’re behind the wheel.
You can also configure automatic replies so people know you’re driving instead of simply ignoring their messages.
Turning on Activate with CarPlay makes the Focus start automatically whenever your iPhone connects to the car.
That removes the need to remember to enable it before every trip, keeps unnecessary alerts from appearing on the dashboard, and still leaves navigation and other driving-related information available.
Siri can do more than start directions
Holding your steering wheel’s voice button or saying “Hey Siri” lets you handle navigation, messages, and media without reaching for the display.
CarPlay also has a separate Voice Control feature under Settings > Accessibility > Voice Control. Unlike Siri, it can remain listening for commands that control the interface itself, including opening apps and moving between screens.
The distinction is useful if you want to operate more of CarPlay without touching the display. Siri is better suited to requests such as finding a destination or playing music, while Voice Control can manipulate what’s actually on the screen.
If Siri suggestions are becoming more distracting than useful, CarPlay also provides controls for limiting how often they appear.
Automate what happens when CarPlay connects
The Shortcuts app can use CarPlay as an automation trigger, which opens up considerably more than anything available in CarPlay’s own settings.
You can have your iPhone perform an action whenever CarPlay connects or disconnects. That could mean opening a particular navigation app, starting a playlist, changing a Focus mode, or running another shortcut you normally trigger manually when you get into the car.
It’s one of CarPlay’s more useful features precisely because you can tailor it around your own routine rather than Apple’s idea of what you need while driving.
Your connection method is worth thinking about too. Wireless CarPlay is more convenient for short trips, but it continuously uses your iPhone’s battery. On longer drives, plugging in gives you CarPlay while charging the phone at the same time.
