Some automakers don’t like Apple CarPlay. They hate the idea of surrendering control of the in-car experience (and its data) to outside parties. Since its launch in 2014, however, CarPlay has become so important to iPhone owners that even Tesla appears poised to add it — despite the EV maker being the poster child for the value of a custom car OS. Honestly, I can hardly imagine driving without CarPlay anymore, at least not without some way of accessing Apple Podcasts and Google Maps.
If you’re new to CarPlay, or preparing for a long roadtrip, you may be wondering about a major question: will it work offline? There are, after all, long stretches of road with weak or non-existent cellular coverage, even in the US. The answer is mostly positive, but if you’re planning that drive from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine, you may need to take certain precautions.
Does Apple CarPlay work offline?
What you can and can’t count on
Broadly speaking, yes. If you’ve already set up CarPlay before, there should be nothing stopping you from connecting to your car. That includes wireless connections in the vehicles that support them. While those do depend on Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, that’s for direct, entirely local data transmission between your iPhone and your dashboard. Indeed you may not even need an internet connection for that initial setup, although I’d recommend being online anyway for reasons that will become pretty clear.
All of your CarPlay-compatible apps will appear on your homescreen too, as long as you’ve previously downloaded them and haven’t excluded anything using Settings -> General -> CarPlay in iOS. When you tap on an icon on your dashboard, it should open and display some level of content.
“Some level” is the operative term, however. A few apps, like Apple Podcasts, may function as if nothing has changed, since they’re built to run offline most of the time anyway. This applies to other apps that support offline media as well, such as VLC, or Apple Music if you’ve previously synced playlists.
A navigation app like Apple Maps or Google Maps will probably show your car in a blank void unless you’ve got a cached map. Most of the time, navigation apps stream data on the fly.
Anything that relies primarily on internet data may still open, but display an error message, empty content, or outdated info. The most serious example of this is a navigation app like Apple Maps or Google Maps, which will probably show your car in a blank void unless you’ve got a cached map. Most of the time, navigation apps stream data on the fly, since it would be impractical to store maps for an entire state, province, or country on your iPhone, and those would need to be updated periodically anyway.
Naturally, you should expect similar issues with communications apps like Messages or WhatsApp, and anything sourcing real-time weather data. Even booking and calendar apps may fail to alert you if data wasn’t synced before you lost your connection.
Speaking of which, some other aspects of CarPlay will be affected as well, such as widgets. You might still be able to see things like a clock or cached calendar events, but most widgets will break, most notably Apple Home and Live Activities. Your iPhone needs to talk to your Home Hub for smart home control, and there’s no point providing an outdated ETA for your flight or groceries.
What may surprise some of you is that Siri will continue to work. A few basic commands can run entirely offline. You should, for instance, be able to set a timer or alarm, or play music or podcasts you’ve already downloaded. Anything more complex is liable to fail, since Siri requires cloud processing to understand most requests. You certainly won’t be able to talk to ChatGPT or Google Gemini.
How to get CarPlay ready for going offline
Time to think (well) ahead
Unfortunately, there’s no way to prep for downtime using CarPlay itself, at least not in most apps. The interface is intentionally minimalist to reduce distractions, so it’s not surprising that only the most basic app controls are presented on your dash. Every step that follows has to be performed from your iPhone while you’re still online.
Your top priority should be caching any and all maps you need in your navigation app of choice, be it Apple Maps, Google Maps, or something else. You’ll want to check out the official or Pocket-lint guides for instructions, but the gist is that you’ll be asked to define a specific area before starting a download, as in the screenshots above. Be careful here — while it might be tempting to select the widest coverage possible, bigger maps take up more space, sometimes reaching into the gigabytes. Pay attention to the indicated file size before you pull the trigger. In many cases, all you need is a map large enough to cover expected deadzones. Once you reach civilization, normal map streaming should resume.
Note that Waze doesn’t have an offline mode, per se. The closest you can get is plotting a route while you’re still online, then hoping the app can cache enough temporary data before you lose reception. For that reason, you should always switch to another app for cross-country expeditions.
Your top priority should be caching any and all maps you need in your navigation app of choice, be it Apple Maps, Google Maps, or something else.
Thankfully, once you’ve got the right maps downloaded, most searches and directions should work as normal. I say “most” because you will encounter a few gaps, such as a lack of traffic and hazard data, and of course the ability to locate anything outside your downloaded areas. You’ll have to cross your fingers that you don’t run into an unexpected problem that forces you to take a long detour.
If a soundtrack is important to you, CarPlay-compatible apps like Spotify, Tidal, Apple Music, and YouTube Music let you cache one or more playlists offline…assuming you’re a paid subscriber. There may be some workarounds you can use, though. Spotify Free listeners can still cache podcasts, and Apple Music lets you sync music you’ve ripped/downloaded on your own using your Mac or Windows PC. Otherwise, you’ll probably be listening to dedicated audiobook and podcast apps, such as Audible, Apple Podcasts, or Overcast. Make sure you refresh those apps before you head out the door, or else you might lose your place in a book, or miss the latest episode of your favorite show.
With all of this done, I’d still recommend being prepared for the worst. In a place remote enough to lose cell signals, it’s vital to have a paper map and emergency supplies as backup, and be relatively conservative with your gas or battery estimates. You might be tempted to push your EV’s battery to the limit to save time, but you won’t save time at all if an unplanned detour leaves you stranded at 0%. I once tried something similar driving from San Antonio to Austin — by the time our car rolled into our neighborhood, it was limping along on its last few miles.
