SoundLeaf supports CarPlay, letting you browse your library and control playback directly from your car’s display.

Connecting to Your Car

1. Connect your iPhone to your CarPlay-compatible vehicle
2. SoundLeaf will appear on your CarPlay home screen
3. Tap to open and start browsing

No additional setup required - if you’re logged into SoundLeaf on your iPhone, CarPlay uses the same connection.

What You Can Do

The Library Screen

Your books arrive in shelves, so the ones you are likely to want are near the top:

• Now Playing, when something is playing
• Recently Listened, anything you touched in the last week
• Recently Added, added to your server in the last three days
• In Progress, started a while ago and not finished
• More, the rest of the library, alphabetical

A podcast library gets a Podcasts list instead. Tap a show for its episodes, newest first.

Switch Libraries From the Car

The Library button sits at the top left. Tap it, pick a library, and you land back on the list you chose. A tick marks the one you are on.

It is the same choice as the one on the phone, so the two never disagree, and switching does not stop what is playing.

Show Only What Is Downloaded

The button at the top right says which set you are looking at: All or Downloaded. Tap it to flip.

On Downloaded, only books that play with no network stay on the list. In a podcast library it keeps the shows that have at least one episode on the phone, and the episode lists you open are filtered the same way. Whatever is playing stays on screen either way.

Useful in a tunnel, on a rural road, or anywhere you would rather not find out mid-chapter that a book was streaming.

Playback Controls

• Play / Pause
• Skip forward and back, by the amounts you set in Settings → Playback (30 seconds each to start with)
• Scrub through the progress bar

Now Playing

The Now Playing screen shows:

• Cover art
• Book title and author
• Current chapter
• Progress through the book

Getting the Most Out of It

Download Books First

Streaming over cellular works, but downloaded books:

• Start instantly (no buffering)
• Don’t use mobile data
• Work in areas with poor signal (tunnels, rural roads)

Download your current listens before a trip for the best experience.

Use Voice Commands

SoundLeaf has Siri Shortcuts:

• “Resume my book in SoundLeaf”
• “Play a book in SoundLeaf”, which then asks which one
• “Pause SoundLeaf” / “Play or pause SoundLeaf”

None of them take over your screen. See Widgets and Siri for setup.

The system-level commands still work with whatever audio app is active:

• “Play” / “Pause”
• “Skip” / “Go back”

Save a Bookmark From the Car

There’s a bookmark button in the CarPlay player. Tap it to mark the moment without touching your phone. The glyph fills in to confirm, and tapping again within 15 seconds takes the bookmark back if you hit it by mistake.

Bookmarks are a book thing. The button is off while a podcast episode is playing.

Current Limitations

No Search

Browse by shelf, or narrow the list to what is downloaded. There is no search field in CarPlay yet.

No Speed Controls

Playback speed adjustments need to be made from the iPhone app. The speed you set there carries over to CarPlay playback.

Troubleshooting

SoundLeaf Not Appearing in CarPlay

1. Check that CarPlay is enabled for SoundLeaf: Settings → General → CarPlay → Your Car → Customize
2. Make sure SoundLeaf is installed (not just in TestFlight on some iOS versions)
3. Disconnect and reconnect your phone

Audio Not Playing

1. Check your car’s audio source is set to CarPlay
2. Verify the book isn’t at the end (100% progress)
3. Try force-quitting SoundLeaf on your iPhone and reopening

The List Is Empty on Downloaded

Nothing in that library is on the phone. Tap the button again to go back to All, or download what you want before the next drive.

Slow to Load

CarPlay fetches cover art and metadata from your server. On slow connections:

• Downloaded books load faster
• Download what you are in the middle of before you set off, then tap Downloaded in the car