3 CarPlay features you need to enable (before departure)

Are you on the road a lot? Then CarPlay is extremely useful for using your iPhone safely. You must enable these CarPlay functions before departure!

Use CarPlay

Do you have a car and do you want to use your iPhone on the road? Then CarPlay is a handy way to operate Maps, Spotify or Apple Music without your iPhone. Apple has developed the operating system specifically for your car’s screen, which allows you to use applications from your iPhone without taking out your phone. To do this, you must enable a number of CarPlay functions before you leave. This is them!

1. Siri

To use CarPlay you must enable Siri on your iPhone. This way you can operate the operating system via voice commands, so you can keep both hands on the wheel. Would you rather not use Siri? You can also operate CarPlay via your car’s screen, but you must also have Siri enabled. Without Siri you cannot use any CarPlay functions. This is how you enable Apple’s voice assistant:

With these settings, Siri is enabled so you can use the iPhone for CarPlay. Do you want Siri to respond to your voice commands in the car? Then it is advisable to also enable ‘Hey, Siri’ in the settings. With this function, Apple’s voice assistant recognizes your voice. This way you prevent Siri from responding when you don’t want it to. All CarPlay functions can of course also be used without voice commands.

2. Focus ‘Driving’

Do you want to avoid getting distracted while driving? Then we recommend that you set a special focus for CarPlay. Apple has introduced the ‘Driving’ focus for this purpose. With the focus, notifications are silenced, unless you set the notifications from certain contacts (or apps) to be allowed through. This is how you set the focus:

• Open your iPhone’s settings;
• Choose ‘Focus’;
• Tap the plus sign (+) at the top right;
• Select ‘Driving’;
• Go to ‘Adjust focus’;
• Finally, set the focus to your own preference.

Under ‘Turn on automatically’ you can set the focus to turn on automatically as soon as you are connected to CarPlay. This means you no longer have to set the focus manually. When your iPhone switches to CarPlay in the car, the ‘Driving’ focus is immediately enabled. Notifications are silenced unless you have selected certain contacts whose notifications will come through.

Do you want to receive notifications from navigation apps such as Flitsmeister? Then you have to create a new focus yourself, because Apple does not allow this in the ‘Driving’ focus. You can also call this self-made focus ‘Driving’ and indicate under ‘Apps’ which applications you want to receive notifications from. The only disadvantage is that you cannot set automatic activation of CarPlay here. That’s only possible if you choose Apple’s own ‘Driving’ focus.

3. Customize CarPlay

Have you enabled Siri and Driving focus? Then you are almost ready to leave. When your iPhone is connected to CarPlay, the home screen will automatically appear on the display in the car. Here you see the apps and background as Apple has set. Would you prefer a different layout? You can then adjust the order of the applications and the background in the CarPlay settings.

You can find this function in the settings of your iPhone under ‘General > CarPlay’. Select the car whose CarPlay menu you want to customize and tap ‘Customise’. Here it is possible to add, remove or move apps. Drag the applications you often use to the top so you can quickly open them. It is not possible to adjust the order of the apps via the car’s CarPlay menu.

What you can adjust there is the background of CarPlay. To do this, open ‘Settings > Wallpaper’. Here you can choose from different wallpapers that Apple has selected in advance. This way you can choose a background that matches the interior of your car. Unfortunately it is not possible to add your own photo as a background.

More about CarPlay

With these features, using CarPlay on the road is no longer a problem. Also useful: it is possible to report incidents via Maps and Google Maps. Consider a traffic accident or a speed trap. Other road users will then receive a notification of the incident, making CarPlay even more accurate. The same applies the other way around: you see notifications that other users have indicated.

With CarPlay 2.0, many more features are coming to the operating system. With the second generation of CarPlay it is possible to control almost all settings of the car. You can adjust the air conditioning, radio and heating via CarPlay. That is not yet possible, you have to use the car’s buttons for that. It is not yet known when CarPlay 2.0 will be available. Do you use CarPlay regularly, but are you still dependent on a charging cable? Then read here how to use CarPlay wirelessly!