How to turn off car play

• Apple CarPlay lets you sync your iPhone with compatible vehicles either via a wireless connection or using a cable.
• To turn off CarPlay go to Settings > General > CarPlay > tap the vehicle you want to forget and then tap Forget This Car > Forget.
• You can also disable CarPlay in Screen Time settings so it doesn't turn on for any connected vehicle.

This article addresses two ways to turn off Apple CarPlay in iOS 14, iOS 13, and iOS 12, either using a Settings option or through Content Restrictions.

You may want to turn off Apple CarPlay for a variety of reasons, including that maybe you just don't want to use CarPlay. No matter the reason, you can turn CarPlay off from the Settings.

When you turn it off using these instructions, you can easily re-enable it by re-connecting CarPlay to your phone.

1. Go to Settings > General and then tap CarPlay.

2. On the CarPlay screen, tap the name of the vehicle you want to forget under the My Car options. If you connect to multiple vehicles, you may have more than one car listed here, and if you want to turn CarPlay off on all of them, you'll need to repeat the steps for each vehicle.

   Once you choose to forget a vehicle in your CarPlay app, you'll have to go through the process of re-adding it to access it again in the future.

3. Tap Forget This Car.

4. Then in the confirmation message that appears, tap Forget again to confirm that you no longer want to use CarPlay with this vehicle. Once you tap Forget the vehicle will be removed from Apple CarPlay.

If you don't use CarPlay or you find it frustrating that it starts up every time you connect your phone to your car, you can completely disable it. Surprisingly, however, you'll have to go through Screen Time to do it.

If you do choose to turn off CarPlay using this method, you'll be completely disabling the feature, so until you go back through these instructions and re-enable CarPlay, you won't be able to use it.

1. Open your iPhone's Settings and then tap Screen Time.

2. On the Screen Time settings page, scroll down and tap Content & Privacy Restrictions.

3. In Content & Privacy Restrictions, if you haven't already enabled Content & Privacy Restrictions, toggle it on (the button turns green).

4. Once your apps are showing as editable, then find and tap Allowed Apps.

5. On the Allowed Apps screen, toggle off CarPlay. This blocks it from being accessed at all, both wirelessly and when your phone is connected to a cable. To use CarPlay in the future, you'll have to toggle this option back on, first.

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Apple’s CarPlay is a great alternative to the slow and laggy built-in software running on your vehicle’s infotainment system. Despite this, whether you’re plugging your phone into someone else’s car or a rental, you sometimes don’t want CarPlay to start automatically. Here’s how to disable the feature.

Disable CarPlay From Your iPhone

To easiest way to ensure that CarPlay never automatically starts is by completely disabling the application from your iPhone. To do this, start by jumping into the “Settings” app on your smartphone.

Next, select the “Screen Time” option.

Scroll down and tap into the “Content & Privacy Restrictions” menu.

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You will likely find most of the items here grayed out and disabled. Before proceeding, toggle on “Content & Privacy Restrictions.” After, select “Allowed Apps.”

Finally, toggle “CarPlay” off.

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CarPlay will immediately stop running if your iPhone is plugged into your infotainment unit and will stop launching in the future.

From our testing, if your iPhone is plugged into your car when you turn the setting back on, you’ll need to unplug and plug your lightning cable back in to restart CarPlay.

RELATED: What Is Apple CarPlay, and Is It Better Than Just Using a Phone in Your Car?

Disable CarPlay From Your Vehicle

Alternatively, you can completely disable CarPlay from launching your vehicle’s head unit. Although every car, SUV, truck, van, etc. is different, you can usually find the option to disable connected-devices somewhere in the device’s settings. Check your vehicle’s owner’s manual if you can’t find the option.

RELATED: All Vehicles Compatible with Apple CarPlay as of Feb. 2022

Whether you're driving a rental car or just prefer your car's on-screen navigation, there may come a time when you need to turn off CarPlay. While there's no on/off switch for CarPlay in iOS, it's still very easy to disable CarPlay on your iPhone. This wikiHow guide will teach you several ways to prevent CarPlay from connecting to a vehicle, plus some handy tricks for removing apps and disabling distracting notifications in CarPlay.

1. 1

   Open your iPhone's Settings . If you don't want CarPlay to start at all, you can use Screen Time to restrict it. Start by opening your iPhone's Settings.

   • This option is useful if you're frequently in cars that aren't your own (such as rental cars) and don't want your iPhone to try to connect to those vehicles.

2. 2

   Tap Screen Time. This is the purple and white hourglass icon in the second group of settings.

3. 3

   Turn on Screen Time if it's not enabled. If you already see your daily average screen time on this screen, you can skip this step. Otherwise, tap Turn On Screen Time to activate Screen Time now.

   • When setting up Screen Time for the first time, you'll need to review the welcome screen and then select This is My iPhone.[1] X Research source Go to source

4. 4

   Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. This is the red and white "banned" icon in your Screen Time settings.

   • If the switch at the top of the Content & Privacy Restrictions screen is set to off (gray or white), tap it to turn it on (green).

5. 5

   Tap Allowed Apps. You'll see this option in the first group of settings. A list of all permitted apps will appear.

6. 6

   Tap the "CarPlay" switch to restrict CarPlay . If the CarPlay switch is off (gray), CarPlay is disabled. While disabled, CarPlay will not connect to any devices.

   • If you want to use CarPlay again in the future, you can do one of three things: Toggle this switch back on, disable Content & Privacy Restrictions, or disable Screen Time altogether.

1. 1

   Open your iPhone's Settings . If you just want to disable CarPlay for a particular car, you can "forget" the car in your iPhone's Settings.

   • This option is useful if you'd rather use your car's built-in infotainment system, or someone else in the car is trying to connect to CarPlay.

2. 2

   Tap General. It's in the third group of settings.

3. 3

   Tap CarPlay. You'll see this in the second group of settings.[2] X Research source Go to source

4. 4

   Tap your car's name. Now you'll see the option to remove this car from CarPlay.

5. 5

   Tap Forget This Car. A confirmation message will appear.

6. 6

   Tap Forget to confirm. This car is now removed from CarPlay.

1. 1

   Open your iPhone's Settings . If you don't want to disable CarPlay completely but would prefer certain apps not be available during use, you can disable individual apps in CarPlay. Start by opening your iPhone's Settings.

2. 2

   Tap General. It's in the third group of settings.

3. 3

   Tap CarPlay. You'll see this in the second group of settings.

4. 4

   Tap the vehicle you want to forget. Another group of options will appear.

5. 5

   Tap Customize. It's near the top of the screen.

6. 6

   Tap the red minus sign next to an app. Apps you can remove from CarPlay all have red-and-white minus signs (-) to the left of their names.

   • Some apps, such as Settings and Messages, cannot be removed from CarPlay. But you can disable notifications for these apps in CarPlay so they won't bug you while you're driving.

7. 7

   Tap Remove to confirm. This app will no longer appear in CarPlay.

   • You can always add the app back by returning to this screen and tapping the green + next to its name.

1. 1

   Open your iPhone's Settings . If you like the features of CarPlay but don't want to be bothered by notifications while you drive, you can activate Driving Focus upon connecting to CarPlay. Start by opening the Settings app.

   • If you'd rather just not see notifications for some apps in CarPlay, you can disable CarPlay notifications by app. First, connect your iPhone to CarPlay, go to Settings > Notifications on your iPhone, select an app, and then tap the "Show in CarPlay" switch to turn notifications off.

2. 2

   Tap Focus. This is the purple-and-white moon icon in the second group of settings.

3. 3

   Tap Driving. If you see this option here, tap it. This displays your Driving Focus settings.

   • If you don't see this option, tap + and select Driving to add it now. Then, tap Next, choose whether to allow certain contacts to call you while you're driving (or tap Allow none), and follow the on-screen instructions until you're at a settings screen that says "Driving" at the top.

4. 4

   Tap While Driving. You'll see this toward the bottom of the Driving settings.

5. 5

   Toggle the "Activate with CarPlay" switch to On . Tapping this switch ensures that Driving Focus activates as soon as you connect your iPhone to CarPlay.

   • If you want, you can tap the back button and choose other options for Driving Focus, including the option to allow certain notifications.

Written by:

wikiHow Technology Writer

This article was written by Nicole Levine, MFA. Nicole Levine is a Technology Writer and Editor for wikiHow. She has more than 20 years of experience creating technical documentation and leading support teams at major web hosting and software companies. Nicole also holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Portland State University and teaches composition, fiction-writing, and zine-making at various institutions. This article has been viewed 1,330 times.

Co-authors: 3

Updated: June 15, 2022

Views: 1,330

Categories: Smartphones

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