Car 2 Home publishes a set of actions on iPhone that the Shortcuts app can see: start and stop a trip, connect and disconnect the adapter, read the odometer, find where you parked, get the value of a sensor. They go into shortcuts you build, into automations that fire by themselves and, for most of them, into a direct request to Siri.
There are 18 actions in all, and 10 already come with a ready-made Siri phrase. The rest are just as available, only from the Shortcuts app, and you can give them whatever phrase you like.
On Android the path is a different one, through launcher shortcuts and routines. It is in Routines on Android.
Use an action in the Shortcuts app
Open the Shortcuts app, create a new shortcut and search for Car 2 Home in the action search. The full list is there, under the same names as in this guide's table.
One shortcut can chain several of them, and mix them with actions from other apps. A common example is connecting to the vehicle and then starting the trip.
Ask Siri
Ten actions already come with a phrase, so you just speak. Where did I park in Car 2 Home and What's my average consumption in Car 2 Home work with nothing to set up.
For the rest, build a shortcut in the Shortcuts app with the action inside and give it the name you want to say. The shortcut's name becomes the phrase Siri understands.
Create an automation for getting into the car
In the Shortcuts app, go to Automation and create a new one. Among the available triggers there is Bluetooth: choose the car stereo and, as the action, the Car 2 Home action you want.
Worth remembering that recording a trip does not depend on this automation. The app already wakes on its own when the adapter reappears and when the iPhone notices you are moving. The automation is there to make it reconnect sooner, or to fire something specific of yours.
Give it a sensor or a car
Three actions take a value, and this is where iPhone goes further than Android:
- Get sensor value: you pick the sensor from a list built out of the car's active profile, so it works even before connecting.
- Switch car: chooses which vehicle in the garage is the active one.
- Create a place: takes the name of the place, instead of using the address.
For Get sensor value Siri also takes the ready-made phrase, with the sensor's name in the middle: What's the engine temperature in Car 2 Home.
Keep a shortcut close at hand
In the Shortcuts app, a finished shortcut can go to the Home Screen as though it were an app, sit in Control Centre, or be reachable from a widget.
For the actions you use every day, such as connecting to the vehicle, that is the shortest path without having to say anything.
The trip activity on the Lock Screen
Show trip activity is an action apart: it exists because iOS only lets a Live Activity start with the app on screen, and an automation works around that.
It asks for iOS 18 or newer, and Live Activities have to be on under Appearance in the app's settings. The Appearance screen itself lists the steps and has a button that opens the Shortcuts app.
The full list
Everything Car 2 Home publishes to the Shortcuts app, with the ready-made Siri phrase where there is one and whether there is an equivalent on the other side:
Action Ready-made Siri phrase Also on Android Connect to vehicle “Connect to my car in Car 2 Home” yes Disconnect no ready-made phrase yes Start trip “Start a trip in Car 2 Home” yes Stop trip “Stop the trip in Car 2 Home” yes Restart trip no ready-made phrase yes Get location “Get my location in Car 2 Home” yes Create a place no ready-made phrase yes, but without a name Get odometer “Get the odometer in Car 2 Home” yes Check error codes “How many error codes in Car 2 Home” yes Last trip score no ready-made phrase yes How am I driving no ready-made phrase yes Where did I park “Where did I park in Car 2 Home” yes Which car is active “Which car is active in Car 2 Home” yes Average consumption “What's my average consumption in Car 2 Home” yes Last fill-up no ready-made phrase yes Get sensor value “What's the [sensor] in Car 2 Home” no Switch car no ready-made phrase no Show trip activity no ready-made phrase no
- Connect to vehicle
- Tells the app to look for the saved adapter and start connecting. Needs an adapter already paired in the app, and answers straight away without waiting for the connection to complete.
- Disconnect
- Closes the connection and suspends automatic reconnection until a Connect to vehicle. This is the action that frees the adapter for another device.
- Start trip
- Starts recording a trip. Needs the location permission and a registered vehicle. With a trip already running, it says so and does nothing.
- Stop trip
- Ends the running trip and saves it. With no active trip, it says there is nothing to stop.
- Restart trip
- Ends the current trip, if there is one, and starts another right after. Same requirements as Start trip.
- Get location
- Answers with the address of where you are. Needs the location permission and a usable fix.
- Create a place
- Saves the current position as a favourite place. Takes Name as a parameter; left blank, the address becomes the name.
- Get odometer
- Answers with the active car's mileage, already in your unit of measurement.
- Check error codes
- Answers how many codes the last reading found. It does not run a new scan: it reports the most recent diagnosis, so there has to be one already done.
- Last trip score
- Answers with the economy and safety scores of the last recorded trip.
- How am I driving
- Answers with the economy and safety scores of the trip happening right now. Only works with a trip in progress.
- Where did I park
- Answers with the address of the last recorded parking, or with the coordinates when there is no address.
- Which car is active
- Answers with the name of the active car.
- Average consumption
- Answers with the average consumption in your unit. Needs enough fill-up history for an average to exist.
- Last fill-up
- Answers with the cost of the last fill-up and, when there is one, the volume.
- Get sensor value
- Answers with the latest value of the chosen Sensor and how long ago it was read. The sensor has to be in the active profile and to have a stored reading. iPhone only.
- Switch car
- Makes the chosen Car the active one in the garage. The switch applies on this device. iPhone only.
- Show trip activity
- Gets the trip's Live Activity ready to appear on the Lock Screen, in the Dynamic Island, in CarPlay and on the Apple Watch. Asks for iOS 18 or newer. iPhone only.