How to Set Up Apple CarPlay
You can now use apps from your iPhone and access them from your car’s dashboard display. You do this via the Apple CarPlay system. However, you cannot run just any apps on your CarPlay. Only applications that allow you to make or receive calls messages, navigate Maps, or listen to music are supported by CarPlay. This is mainly to avoid situations that might potentially distract the driver. Despite this, CarPlay is a trendy feature of a car. Also, it is very useful when it comes to entertainment and navigation for your travels. So we’re going to discuss how to set up Apple CarPlay on your car.
What is Apple CarPlay?
CarPlay is an Apple system that allows you to connect your iPhone to your vehicle’s dashboard display unit. With iPhone 5 or a newer model, you will be able to use CarPlay. However, you might be wondering, how does Apple CarPlay work? You see, you won’t find CarPlay on just any car. At the same time, CarPlay is not supported in every country globally. So you’d have to learn whether your country or region supports CarPlay and if your car model has CarPlay.
How to set up Apple CarPlay – USB, Bluetooth, or both
There are two main ways to connect your iPhone with your car. And it depends on which method is supported by your vehicle. For some cars, you’d need to connect using the USB port. For others, you could connect wirelessly, and some cars support both USB and wireless modes. In the following section, we’ll see how to set up Apple CarPlay on your car using USB, Bluetooth, or both.
Step-by-step process on how to set up Apple CarPlay on your car with a USB cable:
- First, start your car and turn on Siri.
- Then connect your Apple Lightning to USB cable from your iPhone to your vehicle’s USB port.
- If you’re connecting to CarPlay with your iPhone for the first time, a prompt will appear.
- Tap “Allow” to grant permission to CarPlay to use your iPhone while locked.
- Next, use your CarPlay on your display to access your iPhone.
Step-by-step guide on how to connect Apple CarPlay with your car wirelessly:
- First, start your vehicle and activate Siri.
- Then press and hold on to the voice command button on your steering wheel.
- Make sure that the radio or stereo of your car is in Bluetooth or wireless mode. Do the same for your iPhone also.
- Next, use your iPhone, then open Settings > General > CarPlay.
- After that, choose your car from that list.
- Now use your CarPlay to access your iPhone.
Step-by-step process on how to set up Apple CarPlay when your car supports both USB and wireless mode:
- First, start your car and enable Siri for CarPlay.
- If you’re connecting your iPhone for the first time, you have to connect via a USB cable.
- A prompt on your iPhone will appear that will offer to connect to your CarPlay wirelessly on your next attempt.
- After that, you can easily connect your iPhone with Apple CarPlay with the USB port or Bluetooth.
Related information with respect to Apple CarPlay
Here we’ve shared some additional details that will be very helpful for you to know after you’ve set up your CarPlay.
How to use Siri to control Apple CarPlay
After connecting your iPhone to your car, you can use Siri to handle CarPlay. Based on your vehicle’s model, there are two ways how to activate Siri on your car. The CarPlay Home button from the display screen and the voice command button from your steering wheel. You’d have to touch and hold the voice command button to activate Siri.
What are some Apple CarPlay voice commands for Siri
You can issue commands using Siri to control CarPlay. It is very easy and doesn’t require you to physically use your iPhone to do certain tasks. For example, if you want to call someone, then say, “Hey Siri, call <contact name>” or say “Hey Siri, FaceTime <contact name>” to FaceTime, that person. To find out about the weather, say, “Hey Siri, what’s the weather for today?”. You can also say tomorrow instead of today if you want to know the following day’s weather.
Related: How to Watch Netflix on Apple CarPlay
How to let Siri announce messages in your car from your iPhone
A brand new feature for Siri is that it announces incoming messages on your car from your iPhone. It is only available if your iPhone supports iOS 15. What it does is that first, it plays a tone that you’ve received a message, mentions the sender’s name, and then reads the message. For a long message, Siri only announces the name of the sender. However, you can then ask Siri to read the entire message for you.
How to add apps to Apple CarPlay
Once you’ve set up Apple CarPlay, you can decide to either add or remove apps. In addition, you can also rearrange the order of the apps. For this, visit the Settings app on your iPhone. Then select General > CarPlay > choose your car > Customize. After that, tap on the green Plus + button to add new apps and the red minus – button to remove apps. In addition, you can drag an app to change its order.
Wrapping Up
We’ve shared methods on how to set up Apple CarPlay and how to control it with Siri, and some additional information. Hopefully, you’ve found our comprehensive guide very helpful.
