We are developing an audio-entitled CarPlay app with Xcode 27.0 (27A266a), targeting iOS 27. Apple Music displays a circular magnifying-glass control beside the MiniPlayer while its root tabs remain visible. Selecting it starts a Siri media request. We want the supported equivalent in our audio app without reserving an assistant row on every browsing screen.
Our root is CPTabBarTemplate containing native list templates. The current CPBarButtonProviding documentation explicitly says root templates in a tab bar do not display leading/trailing bar buttons. We have checked the iOS 27 public headers, the June 8, 2026 CarPlay Developer Guide, WWDC26 session 212 and the current downloadable CarPlay Music sample. The public Siri-media entry point we found is CPAssistantCellConfiguration(assistantAction: .playMedia).
Could Apple clarify:
- Does iOS 27 expose a separate system Search/Siri control beside MiniPlayer for third-party audio apps? If so, which public API or configuration enables it while retaining the root tabs?
- Does
CPTemplate.tabSystemItem = .searchreceive any special placement or activation behavior in iOS 27 CarPlay, or is it only an ordinary tab icon/title? - Is there a supported public media-Siri activation API for a
CPBarButton, independent of the messaging-only compose button and the assistant cell?
We are asking about Apple's Siri, not an app-owned voice recognizer. Typed search through CPSearchTemplate is a separate capability. If this first-party control is unavailable publicly, please confirm that distinction and consider a compact system media-Siri entry point for audio apps.