CarPlay Dashboard vs Home screen: where the widgets are

Updated 30 September 2026

CarPlay has two main screens, and the one with widgets is the one most people never swipe to. Two minutes to sort it out for good.

Home screen

The grid of app icons — Maps, Music, Phone, Messages and everything else. This is what most cars open on first connection. Widgets are never shown here.

Dashboard

A split view: the map on one side, and on the other a column of cards — Now Playing, calendar, and since iOS 26 the widget stacks. This is where your custom widgets appear.

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How to switch between them

Swipe left or right anywhere on the screen.
Or tap the icon at the bottom of the sidebar: the small grid opens the Home screen, the map-with-cards icon opens the Dashboard.
Some cars also have a physical Home or Menu button that toggles the two.

Make the Dashboard the default

CarPlay reopens whatever screen you left. Leave the Dashboard open before you switch off the car, and it will be there next time. Some car models reset to the Home screen on every start — that's a head-unit setting, not iOS.

Where things are on the Dashboard

Map: Apple Maps, Google Maps or Waze — whichever you used last.
Now Playing: the current song, with playback controls.
Widget stacks: one to three stacks depending on the screen; swipe up or down on a stack to cycle its widgets.
Smart Rotate and Widget Suggestions (in the iPhone's CarPlay widget settings) let iOS pick the widget to show — turn them off if you want your own order to stay put.