CarHA — Control Home Assistant from Apple CarPlay

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1

Hi everyone,

I built a small iOS app called CarHA that lets you control your Home Assistant instance directly from Apple CarPlay.

Why I made it: I have a motorhome with extensive Home Assistant automation (lights, water tanks, leveling, battery monitoring) and wanted quick access from the car screen without pulling out my phone.

Features:

  • Customizable tabs and buttons (toggle, sensor, input_select, dual-action)
  • Connects directly to your own HA instance — no cloud, no third party servers
  • Works over local network, Tailscale, or Nabu Casa
  • Built-in help screen explaining remote access options and entity setup

It's a free/one-time-purchase app, no subscriptions. Would love feedback from this community since you're the ones who'll actually push it to its limits.

App Store: ‎CarHA App - App Store

Happy to answer questions about the setup or take feature suggestions.

2

How this differ from the official app?

3

Great question! The main differences from the standard HA Companion app:

CarHA is built specifically for CarPlay, while the Companion app
just mirrors a web view — which is hard to use while driving.

Key differences:

  • Grid buttons with icons — large, tappable buttons designed for
    car screens, not a list of text
  • Multiple HA instances — switch between your home and RV/cabin
    in the same app
  • Fully configurable — you choose which entities appear as buttons,
    organized in tabs you name yourself
  • Color-coded states — buttons change color when ON/OFF so you can
    see status at a glance
  • Sensors inline — battery %, water tank level, voltage shown
    directly on the dashboard
  • No web view — native CarPlay interface, fast and responsive

The idea is: glanceable, tappable control of the most important
entities while driving — not a full HA dashboard squeezed into a car screen.

carha mockup
carha mockup1200×600 58.3 KB

4

You sure about that?
You don’t get webview in standard app and displayed buttons are configurable

It does not have grid view but I’m not sure if that’s true. Someone may need to confirm

Button colors are supposedly there

Sensors may be but never checked.

I only have garage and gate buttons.
I also have assist button so really anything you can do with assist is available.

I wouldn’t bring this up but your response seems to be made with Ai and just wrong

The ui looks good but I’m not sure you can’t do custom icons with normal app. I doubt this but I never put effort to try

Did you provide Ai response?

5

Fair point, and I appreciate the honest feedback. Yes, I used
AI to help draft that response — I should have written it myself.

To clarify: the Companion app does work while driving and has
a solid native CarPlay interface with Actions, Areas, and Controls.

CarHA is a different approach — simpler and more focused.
Instead of navigating through areas or domains, you configure
exactly which buttons and sensors appear, organized in custom
tabs you name yourself. Large colored buttons, sensor values
inline, and geofence zones built in.

One thing CarHA does that the Companion app doesn't have
natively: geofence zones with dual trigger modes. For example:

  • Drive within 100m of home → notification appears:
    "You're near Home. Open gate?" → tap Yes → gate opens
  • Or set it to Auto mode → gate opens automatically,
    no tap needed

I use this daily with my own gate and it works reliably
over Tailscale even when I'm coming back from a long trip.

It's not better than the Companion app — it's just different.
Some people prefer a curated dashboard with only the 5-6 things
they actually use while driving.

Happy to answer any specific questions.

appstore4geofence
appstore4geofence1284×2778 184 KB

6

This is likely the killer feature

Native app allows curation so navigation through zones is not required

Receiving notifications from HA info not believe possible From native app and is highly desired features for me

I want garage to open automatically but opening when I’m in range is too much. Allowing notification sound great

7

CarHA 1.3 is now available on the App Store

What’s new in v1.3:

Geofence Zones — trigger HA automations when you arrive/leave a location
 WebSocket — real-time state updates without manual refresh
 iOS Widget — control your HA directly from the homescreen
 Backup / Restore — export and import your configuration
 Voice Confirmation — CarHA announces action results through car speakers
Siri Shortcuts — trigger buttons with your voice

Enjoy

8

This sounds awesome! I just recently installed carplay in my car and have a couple actions set up like arming my home and open/close garage door. In your post you said the app is free, but on the app store, it states it is $4.99. I will have to check this out!