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Overview

iOSiPhone only. CarPlay is not available on iPad or macOS macOS. On Android Android, use Android Auto instead.

Apple CarPlay shows apps from your iPhone on your vehicle's built-in display. The Home Assistant app supports CarPlay, so you can check and control your home from the car screen without picking up your phone.

With Home Assistant in CarPlay you can:

  • Open the doors, turn on the lights, run a scene, or lock up from a shortcut list you build yourself.
  • Browse your home by area, or by the type of device you want to control.
  • Talk to Assist, the Home Assistant voice assistant, and hear the answer through your car speakers.
  • Change what the CarPlay screens show, directly from the car display.

Requirements​

  • An iPhone running iOS 16.4 or later, with the Home Assistant app installed and connected to at least one Home Assistant server.
  • A vehicle or aftermarket head unit that supports CarPlay.

Some features need a newer version of iOS:

  • iOS 26 or later: the Grid layout, and the tiles in the Areas and Control tabs.
  • iOS 26.4 or later: Assist and Assist prompts.
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CarPlay does not have its own connection to Home Assistant. Your iPhone does the work and sends the screens to the car, so your phone must be able to reach your server, either on your home network or from outside your home. If you cannot reach your home while away, see networking.

Setting up CarPlay for the first time​

  1. Connect your iPhone to your vehicle, either with a cable or wirelessly, depending on what your vehicle supports.

  2. On the CarPlay home screen, select the Home Assistant icon.

  3. The first time you open it, the Quick access tab has only an Add item button, because you decide what goes there.

    To fill it, either add items directly from the car display, or set it up on your iPhone. See Configuration.

note

CarPlay shows the entities of the servers your iPhone is signed in to. If you have not added a server to the Home Assistant app yet, the tabs stay empty. Open the app on your iPhone, sign in to your server, and try again. See Troubleshooting.

The CarPlay tabs​

CarPlay shows Home Assistant as a set of tabs along the top or side of the car display, depending on your vehicle. You choose which tabs appear and in which order.

  • Quick access: your own shortcut list. You decide which entities, Assist pipelines, and Assist prompts appear here, so the things you use while driving are one tap away. This is the tab most people rely on.
  • Areas: your home grouped by area, such as Garage or Kitchen. Select an area to see the entities in it. Areas without any entities are not shown.
  • Control: your home grouped by the type of device, such as Cover, Light, or Lock. Covers are listed first, so garage doors are quick to reach.
  • Settings: change your CarPlay setup from the car, pick which server to show, and open the troubleshooting options. See Configuration.

The very first time you open Home Assistant in CarPlay, only Quick access and Settings are shown. As soon as you save your first change, such as adding an item, Areas is added as well. Control is available but turned off, so add it if you want it. See Configuration.

On iOS 26 and later, the Areas and Control tabs show their contents as a grid of tiles.

Custom tabs​

Besides the built-in tabs, you can create your own tabs and fill them with the entities you choose. A custom tab is useful when Quick access gets long. For example, you could have a Garage tab and a Lights tab. See Folders and custom tabs.

What you can control​

The app only shows entities in CarPlay that make sense to use while driving. Entities marked as hidden in Home Assistant, and entities categorized as configuration or diagnostic, are not shown in the Areas and Control tabs, or when you add an item from the car display. Because of this, an area or a device type can appear in the list but have nothing to show when you open it.

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An entity is a single thing Home Assistant knows about, such as one light, one lock, or one garage door. A domain is the type of that thing, such as light or lock. To learn more, see entities in the Home Assistant documentation.

These domains are available in CarPlay:

  • automation
  • button
  • cover
  • fan
  • humidifier
  • input_boolean
  • input_button
  • light
  • lock
  • scene
  • script
  • switch
  • valve

The following domains are also available, and open their own control screen instead of running an action when you select them:

  • climate
  • vacuum

For what happens when you select an entity, and for the climate and vacuum control screens, see Controlling your home.

note

When you add an entity to Quick access from your iPhone, the entity picker lists all of your entities, including types that CarPlay does not support. Pick one from the list above to make sure it works in the car.

Next steps​

  • Configuration: choose your tabs, build your Quick access list, and change your setup from the car display.
  • Controlling your home: what happens when you select an entity, confirmations, and the climate and vacuum control screens.
  • Assist: use the Home Assistant voice assistant while driving.
  • Troubleshooting: fix missing entities, silent voice responses, and other problems.