For the vast majority of people, CarPlay is a must-have. Apples in-car experience provides a vastly superior infotainment experience than most options from carmakers. Theres quick access to your favorite apps, integration with Siri, seamless connectivity, and more.Here are some of my favorite tips and tricks for making sure youre getting the most out of your CarPlay experienceCustomize your CarPlay apps and Home Screen A lot of your favorite apps are probably available on CarPlay, but that doesnt mean you want all of them on your CarPlay Home Screen. Thankfully, its easy to adjust those options.Open the Settings app on your iPhoneTap General Tap CarPlay Tap your cars name and choose Customize Here, youll see a full list of all the CarPlay apps on your phone. You can simply tap on the red minus sign to hide apps from appearing on CarPlay. You can also rearrange your CarPlay Home Screen while on this page of the Settings app. Simply drag the apps into your desired order using the three lines on the right side of the app icons. CarPlay wallpapersWhile you cant use any photo as your CarPlay wallpaper, Apple does offer a selection of pre-installed options. Open the Settings app on CarPlay itselfSelect Wallpaper Choose your desired wallpaper and tap Set Apple adds new wallpaper options to CarPlay from time to time, but theres still only a limited number of choices available.Wireless or wired? CarPlay works both wired and wirelessly, depending on your cars make and model. Wired CarPlay generally provides a faster and more reliable experience. While using wireless CarPlay, you might experience some latency when doing things like changing songs and accessing Siri. Heres my strategy:I use wireless CarPlay for quick trips around town when Im getting in and out of the car multiple times of the car as I run errands. I use wired CarPlay for longer road trips where Im in the car for extended periods of time. Again, your mileage may vary depending on your car. There are, however, ways to bring wireless CarPlay to any car. My personal recommendation is the CarlinKit 5.0 adapter, which converts your cars wired CarPlay implementation to a wireless experience for under $60. Dark modeCarPlay is available in light mode and dark mode interfaces. In the Settings app via CarPlay, you can choose between three options: LightDark Automatic I use the automatic setting, which switches between light and dark modes based on time of day and other exterior lighting factors. Driving Focus mode One of the most important benefits of CarPlay is that it enhances in-car safety by discouraging you from picking up your phone. First, theres the Driving Focus mode. This blocks incoming notifications, messages, and calls so your focus remains on the road. You can customize the Driving Focus mode via the Settings app on your iPhone. You can choose to allow notifications from specific contacts and enable an automatic reply feature that tells people who text you that youre driving. You can also choose to enable Driving Focus when connected to CarPlay automatically. Announce MessagesAnnounce Messages is a popular iPhone feature that works with Siri to read your messages aloud. Then, you can choose to reply to that message using your voice. The feature works with Apples Messages app as well as third-party apps like WhatsApp. Go to Settings > Siri & Search > Announce Notifications on your iPhoneTurn on Announce Notifications and select supported appsIn CarPlay, make sure Announce Messages with Siri is enabled in the CarPlay Settings appIf youre like me, you prefer to have control of the music while youre driving. However, if want other people in your car to be able to contribute songs to the queue, CarPlay has you covered. Youll see a SharePlay icon in the upper-right corner on the Apple Music Now Playing screen. By tapping on this icon, youll be prompted to generate a QR code that others can scan. Once they scan this QR code, a pop-up will appear, informing you that someone is interested in joining your SharePlay session.Once that person joins, the other people can contribute songs to the queue, see whats currently playing, and rearrange the queue even if they dont have Apple Music. Wrap up Are you a CarPlay user? If so, what are some of your favorite tips and tricks? Let us know down in the comments. The elephant in the room, of course, is Apples highly-anticipated next-generation CarPlay platform. Unfortunately, there are very few details available on when that will actually materialize. If youre an electric vehicle owner, charge up your car at home with rooftop solar panels. 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