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Configuration

iOS

You decide what Home Assistant shows in CarPlay. There are two places to do it:

  • In the car: use the Settings tab on the car display. Most settings can be changed here, so you do not have to reach for your phone.
  • On your iPhone: in the Home Assistant app, open Settings > Companion app > CarPlay. You find CarPlay under the Apple Watch & CarPlay heading. This is where the full set of options lives, including renaming items, choosing custom icons, and creating Assist prompts.

Both places write to the same configuration. If your phone is connected to the car while you change something on the phone, the car display updates right away.

Configuring from the car display​

Select the Settings tab on the car display.

The Settings tab contains:

  • Main server: pick which Home Assistant server CarPlay shows. Only relevant if you have more than one server.
  • Layout: choose how the Quick access tab, your folders, and your custom tabs are drawn, either List or Grid. Grid requires iOS 26 or later. On older versions, they are drawn as a list even if Grid is selected.
  • Tabs: choose which tabs appear on the car display.
  • Show Add and Edit buttons: show or hide the Add item and Edit buttons in Quick access and in your folders. Turn this off for a cleaner list once you are happy with your setup.
  • Assist Settings: on-device speech options for Assist.
  • Troubleshooting: options to try when something is not working. See Troubleshooting.

Changes to Main server, Layout, and Tabs are applied when you go back to the Settings list.

Choosing which tabs appear​

  1. On the car display, select Settings > Tabs.
  2. Select a tab name to turn it on or off. A check mark means the tab is shown.

The list also includes your folders, so you can show a Quick access folder as its own tab from the car. See Folders and custom tabs.

Tabs you turn on are added at the end, just before Settings.

note

The Settings tab cannot be turned off from the car, so you never lose access to these options while driving. To remove it, use your iPhone.

warning

Turning off a custom tab you created on your iPhone also deletes the items in it. To keep the items, use a Quick access folder as the tab instead.

To change the order of the tabs, or to create a new tab, use your iPhone.

Adding an item to Quick access from the car​

  1. On the car display, open the Quick access tab.
  2. Select Add item.
  3. If you have more than one server, select the server the entity belongs to.
  4. Choose what you want to add:
    • Areas: browse your entities by room, such as Garage.
    • Control: browse your entities by device type, such as Cover or Light.
    • Assist: add an Assist pipeline so you can start a voice request from Quick access. Requires iOS 26.4 or later. See Assist.
  5. Select what you want to add:
    • For Areas or Control, select the entity, then choose whether running it should ask first:
      • Require confirmation: CarPlay asks you to confirm before it runs. A good choice for a garage door or a gate.
      • Add without confirmation: one tap runs it.
    • For Assist, select the pipeline. There is nothing to confirm, so the item is added straight away.

The item appears in Quick access immediately.

note

You are not asked about confirmation for locks, climate entities, or vacuums. Locks always confirm, and climate entities and vacuums open a control screen rather than running an action. See Controlling your home.

Some item types cannot be created from the car, because they need typing. If you select Folder or Assist prompt, CarPlay tells you to create it in the Home Assistant app on your iPhone instead.

Editing or removing an item from the car​

  1. On the car display, open the Quick access tab.
  2. Select Edit.
  3. Select the item you want to change, then choose one of:
    • Delete: remove the item from the list.
    • Require confirmation: start asking for confirmation before running it.
    • Don't require confirmation: stop asking for confirmation.

Folders, Assist items, locks, climate entities, and vacuums can only be deleted from the car. Deleting a folder that is also shown as a tab removes that tab too.

For anything else, such as renaming an item or giving it a different icon, use your iPhone.

info

If you do not see the Add item and Edit buttons, the Show Add and Edit buttons setting is turned off. Turn it back on under Settings on the car display, or on your iPhone.

Configuring from your iPhone​

  1. On your iPhone, open the Home Assistant app.
  2. Go to Settings > Companion app > CarPlay.

Changes on your iPhone are saved as you make them.

Tabs​

Under the Tabs heading, select the row that lists your current tabs to manage the car display's tabs.

  • Active lists the tabs that appear in the car, in the order they appear. Drag a tab by its handle to move it. Swipe a tab to the left to remove it.
  • Inactive lists tabs that are available but not shown. Select the plus button next to a tab to add it back.
  • Select Add Tab to create your own tab. See Folders and custom tabs.
note

CarPlay limits how many tabs are displayed in the car, and the limit depends on the vehicle. Extra tabs are not shown, so keep the ones you use most at the top of the Active list.

Quick access​

The Quick access section is where you build your shortcut list.

  • Layout: choose List or Grid. The choice also applies to your folders and custom tabs. Grid fits more items on screen at once, and requires iOS 26 or later. On older versions the option is shown as unavailable. Until you choose, Grid is used while the list is empty, and List once it has items.
  • Select Add item to add something to the list. You can add:
    • Entity: a light, lock, cover, script, scene, or any other supported entity. See What you can control. You can select several entities at once. They are all added with the default settings, and you can customize them afterwards.
    • Assist: starts a voice request with a chosen Assist pipeline. Requires iOS 26.4 or later. See Assist.
    • Assist prompt: sends a request you write in advance, such as Is the garage door open?. Requires iOS 26.4 or later. See Assist.
    • Add Folder: groups items together. See Folders and custom tabs.
  • To reorder items, select Edit next to the section heading, then drag an item by its handle. Select Done when you are finished.
  • Swipe an item to the left to delete it.
  • Select an item to customize it.

Customizing an item​

Select an item in the Quick access list to change:

  • Display text: the name shown in the car. Leave it empty to use the name from Home Assistant.
  • Icon: select the icon next to the name to pick a different one.
  • Icon color: choose Default to use the same color as the Home Assistant dashboard, which changes with the entity's state. Choose Custom, then pick a Color, to always use the same color.
  • Require confirmation: ask before running the item. This has no effect on locks, which always confirm, or on climate entities and vacuums, which open a control screen.

Select Save to keep your changes.

An Assist item only has Display text and Icon color. Its icon is always the microphone and cannot be changed, and it has no Require confirmation option because starting a voice request has nothing to confirm. To use a different pipeline, delete the item and add it again. Selecting an Assist prompt opens the prompt editor instead. See Assist prompts.

Other ways to add an entity​

You can also add an entity to Quick access without opening the CarPlay settings:

  • In the Home Assistant app, open an entity's dialog and use its Add to option, then select CarPlay.
  • In the Shortcuts app, use the Add entity to action.

Add and edit buttons​

Turn off Show Add and Edit buttons to hide the Add item and Edit buttons from the car display. The setting only changes what the car shows; you can still add and edit items on your iPhone.

Assist settings​

Select Assist Settings to open the Assist options shared by the app and the car, such as on-device speech recognition. See Assist.

Troubleshooting​

Select Troubleshooting to open the CarPlay troubleshooting options, including the audio playback setting for spoken Assist responses. See Troubleshooting.

Resetting your configuration​

Select Reset configuration, then select Yes to delete your CarPlay setup and start over.

warning

This deletes your tabs, your Quick access items, your folders, and your layout choices. It cannot be undone. Your Assist settings and the TTS Playback setting are kept.

Folders and custom tabs​

A folder is a group of items. Folders keep long lists manageable, and they are the building block for your own tabs.

Creating a folder​

  1. In the Home Assistant app on your iPhone, go to Settings > Companion app > CarPlay.
  2. Select Add item > Add Folder.
  3. Enter a Folder Name, then select Add Folder.
  4. Select the new folder to add items to it. To change the folder's icon, select the gear button on the folder screen.

In the car, a folder appears in Quick access with an arrow. Select it to see what is inside. You can also add items to a folder from the car, the same way you add them to Quick access.

note

Folders cannot contain other folders.

Creating your own tab​

  1. In the Home Assistant app on your iPhone, go to Settings > Companion app > CarPlay, then select the row under Tabs.
  2. Select Add Tab.
  3. Enter a Tab Name, such as Garage, then select Add Tab.
  4. Select the new tab in the Active list to add items to it.

A custom tab holds its own items, separate from Quick access. You can also turn an existing Quick access folder into a tab: it appears in the Inactive list under Tabs, ready to be added. A folder shown as a tab uses the folder's name and icon.

warning

Removing a custom tab you created with Add Tab also deletes the items in it, whether you remove it on your iPhone or turn it off in the car. A Quick access folder shown as a tab is different: removing the tab only hides it, and the folder stays in Quick access.

Using more than one server​

If your iPhone is connected to several Home Assistant servers, the Areas and Control tabs show one server at a time. That server is your Main server.

To switch servers from the car, select Settings > Main server, then select the server you want. A check mark shows the current one.

info

The Quick access tab is not limited to the main server. Each item remembers which server it belongs to, so a shortcut keeps working even when another server is selected as the main one. When your list has items from more than one server, each item shows its server name.