Hello everyone, I am currently developing a simple driver log book app and I’m hitting a wall regarding a seamless user experience. My goal is very straightforward: I want my app to be notified/triggered in the background as soon as CarPlay is activated or deactivated, so it can automatically start or stop tracking a trip. Even with the official CarPlay entitlement granted, I cannot find a reliable API or workaround to achieve this. It feels like something that should be incredibly simple. I know that Apple Shortcuts (Kurzbefehle) handles this beautifully—the automation triggers for CarPlay work great. However, from an app developer's perspective, this isn't a viable solution for production: The average user will never go through the hassle of manually creating a Shortcut automation just to make the app work. Third-party apps are not allowed to programmatically create or inject these automation triggers for the user. It’s quite disappointing because the OS clearly detects the state perfectly, but doesn't expose a clean way for eligible navigation/driving apps to act on it in the background. Has anyone found a robust workaround for this? Or is there a specific API within the CarPlay framework I am overlooking that allows background execution exactly at the moment of connection/disconnection? Appreciate any insights or feedback!

Is there a way to trigger the start of my app (just for a short time) when the iPhone is connected to CarPlay (and/or to a car via bluetooth). I could not find anything. I don´t want to apply for CarPlay as I have no intention to show something on the cars screen. Any even small tipp is welcome