CarPlay: no banner or sound for APNs while connected, works on phone (iOS 18.0, UNNotificationCategoryOptions.allowInCarPlay)

Question

freddiefarruh OP

Created 1d

Replies 2

Boosts 0

Participants 2

Hi everyone!

I’m integrating push notifications for a taxi-driver app and ran into a blocking CarPlay issue.
When the iPhone is connected to CarPlay (wired or wireless), the push arrives on the phone without any sound and nothing is shown or announced on the CarPlay screen.
If I unplug CarPlay, the same push plays the default sound and shows a normal banner on the lock screen, so the payload itself looks valid.

Environment

iPhone 13 Pro, iOS 18.0
CarPlay head-unit: Xcode 16.2 CarPlay Simulator
App built with Flutter 3.22 + firebase_messaging: ^15.2.5
Deployment target: iOS 14.0
Xcode capabilities enabled: Push Notifications, Time-Sensitive Notifications
App settings on the device: Allow Notifications -› Sounds ON, Show in CarPlay ON
Siri › Announce Notifications › CarPlay: master toggle ON + my app added to the allowed list
Driving Focus = Off (same result if it’s On)

Native setup in AppDelegate.swift

UNUserNotificationCenter.current().requestAuthorization(
  options: [.alert, .sound, .badge, .carPlay]
) { _,_ in }

let carPlayCategory = UNNotificationCategory(
  identifier: "CARPLAY_ORDER",
  actions: [],
  intentIdentifiers: [],
  options: [.allowInCarPlay]
)
UNUserNotificationCenter.current().setNotificationCategories([carPlayCategory])
UNUserNotificationCenter.current().delegate = self
application.registerForRemoteNotifications()

APNs payload that I send via FCM

{
  "aps": {
    "alert": {
      "title": "New test order",
      "body":  "Location info test"
    },
    "sound": "default",
    "category": "CARPLAY_ORDER",
    "interruption-level": "time-sensitive",
    "relevance-score": 1
  }
}

What could be the problem? Please help me solve the error

Boost

Answer 1

Frameworks Engineer OP

Apple

1d

Hi, generally only CarPlay apps - apps that have an icon on the CarPlay home screen - may show notification banners in CarPlay.

0

Answer 2

freddiefarruh OP

23h

We're building a taxi driver app. Our goal is simple:

Play a notification sound when a new ride request arrives — even if the iPhone is connected to CarPlay.

We use Firebase push with "sound": "default" and "interruption-level": "time-sensitive". The app requests .carPlay and uses a category with .allowInCarPlay.

Everything works when CarPlay is disconnected — we get sound and banner. But when connected to CarPlay:

the push is delivered silently,
no sound is played (even on the phone),
Siri Announce is enabled, but nothing is spoken.

Questions:

Is notification sound blocked when CarPlay is active, unless the app has CarPlay entitlement?
Is Siri Announce the only way to notify the driver audibly in this case?
Would getting a CarPlay entitlement (e.g. CarPlay.communication) fix this without building a full CarPlay UI?

Thanks — all we need is a reliable sound alert when a new ride comes in.

0