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CarPlay

CarPlay uses the same browse + playback handler model as Android Auto. The difference is iOS setup.

1. Enable the plugin flag​

{
  "expo": {
    "plugins": [["react-native-queue-player", { "carplay": true }]]
  }
}

This adds the CarPlay audio entitlement and the CarPlay scene configuration to your iOS project. Run npx expo prebuild afterwards.

Bare React Native: there's no plugin — add the com.apple.developer.carplay-audio entitlement (and enable the CarPlay capability), plus the UIApplicationSceneManifest (phone + CarPlay scenes) to your Info.plist, by hand. See the bare-RN setup table.

2. Get Apple approval for the entitlement​

The CarPlay audio entitlement (com.apple.developer.carplay-audio) requires approval from Apple before it can be used in a distributed build. Request it for your App ID through your Apple Developer account.

3. Initialize on cold start​

CarPlay can attach its scene without your app's UI being shown, so initialize the player and register your handlers from a bootstrap module imported before your app entry — see Setup & manual configuration.

4. Provide a browse tree and resolve play requests​

Use setBrowseSnapshot, onBrowseRequest, and onPlayFromIdRequest exactly as described in the Android Auto browse-handlers section. Section icons map to SF Symbols on iOS via the SectionIcon enum.

import { getTrackPlayer, SectionIcon } from 'react-native-queue-player';

getTrackPlayer().setBrowseSnapshot({
  rootId: 'root',
  sections: [
    { id: 'recent', title: 'Recently played', icon: SectionIcon.RecentlyPlayed, items: [/* … */] },
    { id: 'playlists', title: 'Playlists', icon: SectionIcon.Playlists, items: [/* … */] },
  ],
});

Notes​

  • For a local Xcode build without automatic signing, enable the CarPlay capability once in the target's Signing & Capabilities pane. EAS Build handles this automatically.
  • Voice playback requests (Siri) are resolved through onPlayFromSearchRequest — see the Voice guide.
  • Check the current connection with isCarConnected() and handle transitions with onCarConnect / onCarDisconnect — the same connection API as Android Auto.