How to use handsfree voice control in CarPlay in iOS 26

Find out how to use the Voice Control feature in CarPlay through your iPhone running iOS 26 to navigate apps, the Home Screen, and interact with your car’s screen without actually touching it.

For starters, you can already use Siri in CarPlay to play music, change tracks, adjust the volume, call someone, ask for the weather, navigate to a place in Maps, and more.

But Voice Control can do a few things that Siri can’t, like swiping left or right on the CarPlay Home Screen pages and tapping a specific button that’s visible on the car’s screen.

You can activate Voice Control in CarPlay and use it alongside Siri, getting the best of both worlds. And I really mean you should keep Siri active for your own sanity, because Voice Control works only when you speak specific fixed commands (and it may fail even at the slightest iteration). In contrast, Siri can understand voice commands even if you frame them differently and naturally.

Turn on Voice Control in CarPlay

1. Get in your car and start wired or wireless CarPlay through your iPhone running the latest version of iOS 26 or iOS 18.
2. Open CarPlay Settings.
3. Tap Accessibility.
4. Scroll down to the Physical and Motor section and turn on Voice Control. You’ll continuously see its blue icon in the CarPlay Dock/sidebar indicating that Voice Control is active and listening for voice commands.

Use Voice Control in CarPlay

After activating, you can start by saying “Go Home” to return to the CarPlay Home Screen.

After that, say these phrases or voice commands to use Voice Control in CarPlay. But remember to pause for at least half a second before speaking the next command.

Open [app name]: Opens an app.

Go Home: Returns to the Home Screen.

Go back: Returns to the previous screen (it works in apps with a back button).

Tap [item (i.e., say the button name/label)]: Taps an item on the touchscreen.

This may not work in all CarPlay screens, especially the cheaper ones. Secondly, Apple says that if there is an unlabeled item, ‘you can refer to it based on its position relative to other items. For example, if you see a row of icons with no text labels, you can try saying “Tap first” or “Tap second” to tap the first or second icon in the row, respectively.’

Single tap: Taps the touchscreen. This is helpful in apps like Maps, where certain on-screen controls are hidden automatically after a while.

Double-tap: Double-taps the touchscreen. Use it to zoom in on the map.

Double-tap [item]: Double-taps an item on the touchscreen.

Swipe left or Swipe right: Swipes between pages in CarPlay Home or CarPlay Dashboard.

Swipe up or Swipe down: Navigates up or down in a list.

Pan left, Pan right, Pan up, or Pan down: Use it to move around the map or in other supported apps.

Open Siri: Activates Siri

Stop listening: Pauses Voice Control so it doesn’t consider your spoken words as commands.

Start listening: Resumes Voice Control

Turn off Voice Control

Saying the ‘Stop listening’ command only prevents Voice Control from acting on what it hears. But it continues listening, so it can hear your ‘Start listening’ command should you choose to resume using it.

If you don’t want to use Voice Control at all, return to CarPlay Settings > Accessibility and turn off Voice Control.

Using Voice Control in Maps and Music apps

Maps and Music are the top two Apple apps used in CarPlay, and for obvious reasons.

When you want to tap something with a name or label using Voice Control, simply say “Tap [text shown as the name/label of the button].”

If a button has no name or you don’t know what to call it, use the button names in the image below. These images are screenshots from Apple.

• Maps:

• Music:

Supported Voice Control

Voice Control is available in the following languages. Note that we have only mentioned English voice commands above. To know the exact commands in other supported languages, visit Apple’s support page on this topic, click the current country name at the bottom, and select yours.

• Arabic (Saudi Arabia)
• Cantonese (China mainland)
• Cantonese (Hong Kong)
• English (Australia, Canada, India, the United Kingdom, the United States)
• French (France)
• German (Germany)
• Italian
• Japanese
• Korean
• Mandarin Chinese (China mainland and Taiwan)
• Russian
• Spanish (Mexico, Spain, and the United States)
• Turkish

Also, check out:

• How to enable and use Voice Control instead of Siri on iPhone
• 17+ tips to use your iPhone with your car

Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2026/03/10/voice-control-carplay/