AirPlay arriving on Tesla just in time for iPhone 15

(Image credit: Tesla)

After Elon Musk revealed in 2022 that it was something he and a group of engineers were considering, references to AirPlay are starting to appear in the official Tesla app, signaling that it could finally be coming to its fleet of cars.

For those unaware, AirPlay lets you send audio or video content to another device that has the feature installed, allowing you to quickly cast something without sending it to someone or uploading it somewhere.

A bunch of televisions have this feature and it's incredibly useful, especially when you want to show someone a photo of an event you've recently been to, or if you're visiting someone and you want to AirPlay a new track of your favorite band.

According to not a tesla app, the building blocks for AirPlay have been laid down, so we could see an announcement of the feature coming to Tesla cars soon. Version 4.23 of the Tesla App "adds a reference to Apple's AirPlay technology that allows audio and video streaming from an Apple device to supported hardware such as a TV."

88 AirPlay miles an hour

CarPlay dashboard — (Image credit: Lloyd Coombes)

We've spoken before about how CarPlay is a great alternative to the many dashboard user interfaces we all have to figure out and use with our cars. The third-party apps and the way you can use them when stuck in a car-to-car traffic jam can be a huge help.

You can even install devices that retrofit your car with CarPlay, completely avoiding the built-in dashboard, which is a haven to many with ones that can be very confusing to use.

But when it comes to Tesla, it has a huge iPad-like screen that's great to use - but trying to pair your iPhone to it can be a different kind of headache.

This is why AirPlay is at least a good stop-gap, even though native CarPlay support in a Tesla seems very unlikely for some reason, something that Musk can only fathom.

It's also great timing for AirPlay on Tesla, with a new iPhone 15 arriving later this year, with USB-C, improved cameras, and more.

So someone who owns a Tesla and who's also planning on upgrading to an iPhone 15, could be getting the best of both worlds by the time 2023 wraps up.

Daryl is iMore's Features Editor, overseeing long-form and in-depth articles and op-eds. Daryl loves using his experience as both a journalist and Apple fan to tell stories about Apple's products and its community, from the apps we use everyday to the products that have been long forgotten in the Cupertino archives.

Previously Software & Downloads Writer at TechRadar, and Deputy Editor at StealthOptional, he's also written a book, 'The Making of Tomb Raider', which tells the story of the beginnings of Lara Croft and the series' early development. He's also written for many other publications including WIRED, MacFormat, Bloody Disgusting, VGC, GamesRadar, Nintendo Life, VRV Blog, The Loop Magazine, SUPER JUMP, Gizmodo, Film Stories, TopTenReviews, Miketendo64 and Daily Star.