Tesla released a new version of their mobile app on the iOS App Store this week, and hidden in the code is a hint that support for Apple Airplay is coming soon to your vehicle.
Not to be confused with Apply CarPlay, which is all but guaranteed to never be supported to Tesla, Airplay allows you to stream videos, photos, music and more from Apple devices to supported devices like speakers and smart TVs. Last year CEO Elon Musk said in an interview he would consider adding Airplay support to allow for higher quality audio streaming, and it looks like that feature is in the pipeline and could soon be released.
According to a decompile of the latest app update, version 4.23.0, by @Tesla_App_iOS on Twitter, hidden in the code is a reference to ‘allowsAirPlayForMediaPlayback.’
Wow we have some juice in this version:
allowsAirPlayForMediaPlaybackhttps://t.co/snBjqbA3Td_MEDIA_AUDIO
JS_FUNCTION_OLD_API
LotteryGameType
LotteryGiftNumberType
LotteryPrizeType
applicationsV2
isExperimentalWebImplementationEnabled– More info on the charging metrology info pic.twitter.com/UMV1yQAXq4
— Tesla App Updates (iOS) (@Tesla_App_iOS) July 13, 2023
The reference to Airplay is just that, a reference, and there is currently no ability to actually use the feature from your mobile device to your Tesla vehicle. It is also worth noting that there have been previous hints in the source code of app updates that have never made it into production, but that has not been the case lately.
If it does come to fruition, and it definitely looks that way, Airplay would be a improvement in terms of audio playback quality compared to the current method of streaming audio from your mobile device, Bluetooth. Airplay can now support support for up to 24-bit/48kHz audio playback over WiFi.
There are additional benefits of Airplay over Bluetooth. One of those is the ability to stream more than just audio, and the ability for anyone to stream audio and video without the need to pair or connect to the vehicle every time you get in, which is required for Bluetooth before you can send any audio to your car.
