Man sets up his iPad Mini to serve as a custom Apple CarPlay and people are saying it's genius

With just about enough pixels on the 5-inch display to see what radio station is on, this Volvo owner had reached the end of his tether, so he decided to build his own ‘genius’ Apple CarPlay system with the help of an iPad Mini.

Although most new cars are built with a dashboard designed to be a savvy interface, this wasn’t always the case.

While this Volvo was still holding strong in the driving department, it was severely lacking in others including the infotainment system.

So much so that he couldn’t even port in an Apple CarPlay upgrade, so YouTuber Nilson Creative was forced to live up to his name and get… creative.

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This man couldn’t have Apple CarPlay, so installed an iPad Mini instead

Infotainment systems are becoming increasingly thorough in 2026, as new dashcams were revealed at CES that offered everything CarPlay offers and even night-vision thermals to your car.

But with so much weight being placed on the likes of Apple CarPlay to support key apps like Maps (Or Waze, depending on what side of the battle you’re on), this Volvo owner found it was time to step into the modern day of technology with his older SUV.

Using a leather clip with two magnets to attach it, Nilson Creative attached a brand-new iPad Mini to the dashboard instead, and it fit perfectly.

The quick and effective method had the iPad Mini sitting flush on the dashboard, rather than looking as if it were an independent Apple device, which would be a fast-track method to a broken window.

But he wasn’t stopping with just the installation, and instead continued to show people how to build their own custom homescreen to optimize it for driving.

Optimizing the iPad with the best display

With Apple’s iOS allowing for a wide range of customization, he then went on to create a new homescreen optimized with shortcuts and a Focus Mode.

The interface included widgets for music, parking payment, maps, and car manufacturer apps, with shortcuts to brightness-changing features that can dim the screen at night.

He even made split-screen shortcuts to allow for music and maps to appear together.

Driving Focus Mode was created in the settings, which blocked any unnecessary notifications as well.

The iPad Mini display isn’t as safe as the likes of Apple CarPlay, which doesn’t allow for distracting video-playing apps to be run while the car is active.

Still, it’s a savvy little fix for anyone who can’t get Apple CarPlay, allowing you to get everything in one place, rather than messing around with Sat Navs and other radios.

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