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Here's When Tesla is Expected to Add Support for Apple CarPlay
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Tesla’s UI is still the most responsive in the industry. It behaves like a tablet, not a car system.
The OTA updates are on another level. They add real functionality, remove bugs, and change how the car behaves. Most brands still require a dealer visit for anything beyond minor patches.
Navigation has battery prediction, charging stops, stall availability, preconditioning, weather, elevation, speed — it all feeds into one model. It even predicts your likely destination based on habits, calendar, or time of day.T rip planning works the same way. The charging network, battery logic, and routing don’t exist as separate layers — they were designed as one system from the start. That’s why long trips feel so effortless in a Tesla.
All your settings live in your Tesla account, so if you get a loaner or a replacement vehicle, the entire setup follows you: seat, mirrors, driving profile, UI layout. No other brand comes close to that level of continuity. It even saves how high the tailgate can rise based on GPS data.
And because everything runs on the same architecture, voice control and vehicle settings feel unified. You don’t bounce between different UX philosophies or siloed menus.
Everything you describe is done by every other EV built after 2022; and navigation with charge stops has been in every electric car since forever.
(Except porting the driver profile but since most people have had zero loaners in the last 30 years…)
Maybe Tesla should get Apple to rewrite their crap tesla software, all the updates etc still don’t stop the tesla hitting the brakes when there is a shadow on the road and don’t even get me started on how they can’t get basic stuff like window wiper sensors to work correctly. Once my Tesla goes back next year I will never have another.
I recently tried 2025 BMW i4, VW ID7 - none of them come with the success rate of everything I've just mentioned in my post, none.
Glitchy UI, failed OTA updates, connection issues with phone keys.
And saying that a system from 2012 just being surpassed by a small degree in 2022 is saying something about how other car makers approach the infotaintment.
I own two Tesla's and they are the best cars I've ever had. I also want CarPlay. Not for the maps, Tesla's is better, but aside from the car controls and the maps, the entertainment portion of the system will be improved by CarPlay. The Apple Music, Messages/Text, and Podcast are subpar. It also does not support many applications I would like to use because it does not offer an App Store and it probably should not.
Everything that touches the car directly should be a first party app from Tesla for safety and security reasons. CarPlay can be completely sandboxed (its just a projection) and provide the App Store that allows people to connect to stuff like Apple Home, the full messages experience, book readers, Teams, iHeart Radio, PlugShare and other experiences people want in their cars.
The best cars in the world and the best phones in the world should work together as seamlessly as possible.
Everything that touches the car directly should be a first party app from Tesla for safety and security reasons. CarPlay can be completely sandboxed (its just a projection) and provide the App Store that allows people to connect to stuff like Apple Home, the full messages experience, book readers, Teams, iHeart Radio, PlugShare and other experiences people want in their cars.
The best cars in the world and the best phones in the world should work together as seamlessly as possible.
I know a lot of people that pass on Tesla once they hear there’s no CarPlay so this is a good idea. Current drivers realise how good Tesla’s UI is.
In a way this is surprising because it would mean people have the option of not paying for premium connectivity because if you use CarPlay then you’re just streaming your phone rather than using data from your Tesla. Hopefully Tesla will provide more features to Premium Connectivity to encourage people to keep paying for it.
In a way this is surprising because it would mean people have the option of not paying for premium connectivity because if you use CarPlay then you’re just streaming your phone rather than using data from your Tesla. Hopefully Tesla will provide more features to Premium Connectivity to encourage people to keep paying for it.
One important factor outside the US is that Tesla's voice recognition absolutely sucks for anyone who doesn't speak with a US/Canadian accent. Just hopeless.
You will not be replacing the Tesla UI with CarPlay. CarPlay will appear effectively as an app within the Tesla UI.
I can see some advantages. There are many apps that are available on CarPlay which aren't available on Tesla. Even apps that Tesla does have are sometimes not as good in some ways as the CarPlay version.
Spotify, for example, doesn't allow you to download music on Tesla, and it doesn't do much caching, so if you lose data coverage (very common in my area), you can't play anything. But the iOS/CarPlay Spotify, on the other hand, does a lot more caching and allows you to download entire playlists.
Stored in the phone? You mean downloaded music? Or is this 2003 and using iPhone as an external HDD?
Music stops when there is no cell coverage. No comment here. wow.
Never ever use messaging while driving. Not even voice to text. Never. It can wait until I get to my destination.
Ok I give it to you. Teams would have been nice. Whatsapp calls just work when you answer the phone.
NO parking apps.. Sure. Or you can also use the app after you've parked.
The problem is - the 3rd party apps that Tesla have written that use APIs for services are nowhere near the quality of the native apps for those services. Partly because their programming isn't good enough and partly because they literally can't be - the APIs are more restrictive than the real service - there's always stuff that can't or won't be available to the API.
The Apple Music app is terrible - it doesn't have gapless playback, it's sluggish, it doesn't have the new automix feature (naturally it doesn't even have gapless playback), it doesn't have offline playback, it doesn't have quality options (or auto management of them) - nor a cache. It feels like someone had vibe coded an Apple Music app hooking into the basic features of the API.
Spotify is the same - it's actually got better over the years but when I first had the car (and you got a free Spotify sub with the car - now gone!) it was awful. Whilst better now and I no longer use Spotify - the native app is still much better.
Then you've got 3rd party apps - I use Prologue for all my audiobooks. For six years I used Apple Podcasts before it appeared in the car (and I still use the Podcasts app, I’ve not even tried the Tesla one), you've got Audible and for others Overcast. I've got access to my Home on a bigger screen and the ability to run Shortcuts.
Messaging I’m not overly bothered about whilst driving but of course the implementation in the car is limited. I don't think I get anything through WhatsApp and I get iMessage and use Siri to reply. That would all be better in CarPlay.
I would likely still use Tesla navigation, more so on longer trips for the charging (I get free super charging for life!) but I often pull up Waze at the same time as it lets me know about obstacles in the road, speed cameras, police, incidents etc - it's handy to have the two.
Whilst Tesla’s UI is miles better than any other car - and the responsiveness on the screen is generally great - the infotainment side has always been lacking IMO. Even the theatre mode when you pull up - quite often it loses or forgets logins and for some reason they didn't think you should incorporate TV-like logins for YouTube etc where you'd just need to enter a pin. It's also extremely slow.
For eight years I’ve had my iPhone to the right of me connected via Bluetooth on a MagSafe charger and this is what does all the sound in the car. The Tesla interface gets used for car stuff only, occasionally the radio and navigation.
Only thing I am missing as a Rivian owner is Messages. Literally nothing else from CarPlay. When I use it in my wife’s car now, it is so antiquated compared to Rivian UX. Messages would be the only plus for me.
It' not a replacement. Really, it can't be. CarPlay Ultra could be (but the reported rumor says it won't).. I've long thought that CarPlay could work in a window basically where the map is by default. You can't cover up things like the speedometer and only something like CarPlay Ultra does that - and Tesla, understandably, doesn't want to give 'outsiders' access to THAT much of the car.
You're right that people most likely wouldn't want to replace CarPlay - but some of Tesla's apps have an absolutely HORRIBLE UI* - and the iOS UI would be INFINITELY better - and more responsive - that the native Tesla app. I've been an owner long enough to remember when Tesla toyed with the idea of a Tesla AppStore, but nothing ever came of that. This would be an effective realization of that idea.
* - and sometimes the Tesla app is worse in other ways. As an example, the SiriusXM app requires a new subscription. You can't use your existing subscription. It needs a new 'fake' Radio ID. ...even though internet streaming is included with a subscription. And that means the one non-content advantage that SiriusXM has - continuous service even when you're nowhere near a cell tower - goes away. I have a lifetime subscription and I was extremely disappointed to see this. The SirusXM UI on the iOS app is FAR superior. The same holds true for the Audible app and others. (The Apple Music UI isn't too bad)
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I actually wonder how many folks that complain about phantom braking are still using v11 stack (or are not in the US). Phantom braking isn't really a thing when using the FSD stack (AP and TACC are still V11).
Yeah the windshield wipers can be anoying.
You mentioned the two biggest "wish list" items for me: messages (done right) and Waze. Outside of the apps, the Tesla UI is way better, as you mentioned.
Owner of a 2023 Tesla. I was really skeptical about moving to a CarPlay-less UI but wanted a Tesla so I went with it.
I do miss certain things, like:
There are others but these were on top of my mind.
I do miss certain things, like:
- Target app. I loved the idea that the store associates know exactly when I'm coming and if I'm traveling, I can buy something and the app will add the Target sore as a waypoint.
- Waze app. Well, tbh, only the community added content like something on the roadway and accidents. That actually saved at least a bumper for me. Coming home from Florida around 2am in the middle of Indiana (no highway lights) I got a notification of something on the roadway, I slowed down and moved to the right most lane. Sure enough, dead deer in the far left lane. Going 70 on the freeway would not have been fun hitting that big boy... I actually like the Tesla navigation so a little more and I'd be happy.
- Messaging... Same gripe as everyone else.
- Phone calls, Just overall a clunky experience and don't get me started on the ringtone...
There are others but these were on top of my mind.
I would Never buy a Tesla especially the Stupid truck that says look at me im an idiot !
Have used CarPlay in my old 2018 Mazda CX5 and loved its interface but traded it in for my 2023 Model Y AWD. Currently have a Teslogic Dashboard and integrates nicely without interfering with Teslas screen functions. Also preordered (through kickstarter) Teslogic's Screenmate which offers a CarPlay functionality but currently keeps getting delayed.
I am not saying anything about the company. I am only talking about the car, as is, today. Specifically responding to people that say that it is “years ahead of other cars”; I don’t think that is true this extremely. The car now has little/nothing that other cars don’t (we don’t have FSD in Europe and besides, that’s not relevant to CarPlay). And some things are missing that other cars do have; like a music cache, ability to select downloaded music on the phone, and many apps that are in CarPlay. Yes, it’s good enough, but parts of it are very clunky, unstable, or lacking features.
(It’s also missing other tech, like adaptive dampers or gradual regen, but I am trying to stick to CarPlay relevance).
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They said they prefer Thing A over Thing B because of purely subjective “feel”. You accused them of lying.
That’s completely different to simply disagreeing with them.
I'd argue that for us US users the CarPlay maps options do matter for FSD usage. But would concede your other points
Yes as a Tesla driver I would never ever consider anything other than the Tesla nav. It’s very good; much better than a few years ago.
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Hmm, I think apple maps for one is far better than Tesla's maps, so pretty subjective. I am very much hoping Tesla do bring this as would make a pretty decent holiday update for a change
Given how good Tesla's own system is, I find it hard to believe anyone thinking carplay is actually better. Outside of someone being hooked to specific apps they need carplay for, Tesla's native system is by far superior. at doing all the important things you need to do in a vehicle.