Adding your custom wrap from the Tesla app

Since the 2026 Summer Update, the fastest way to get a custom wrap onto your Tesla is your phone. The Tesla app gained a Wrap tab that uploads a design over the air, previews it on a 3D model of your car, and applies it without a single USB drive changing hands. This walkthrough covers the whole path, from a finished design to your car wearing it.

Two requirements before you start:

• Your car needs software version 2026.26 or newer (the Summer Update). Model S and Model X got the feature first; update 2026.26.1 brought it to Model 3 and Model Y. Check your version in the car under Software, or in the app.
• Your phone needs the Tesla app at version 4.59.0 or later. Update it from the App Store or Play Store if you're behind.

If your car hasn't received 2026.26 yet, the USB method still works exactly as before, and it remains the offline fallback. Everything else in this tutorial assumes the app path.

Step 1: Get your wrap PNG onto your phone

The upload starts from your phone's photo library or files, so the design needs to be there first. Three common routes:

Designed on your phone? Open your design in the studio in your phone's browser and export. The PNG lands in your downloads, ready to go. The studio works in mobile browsers, and every export is already sized for your model (1024x1024 for most Teslas, 1024x768 for Cybertruck) and compressed under Tesla's 1MB limit, so there's nothing to convert.

Designed on a computer? Export from the studio, then move the file to your phone however you usually do: AirDrop, Google Drive, email it to yourself, or a messaging app. Send the original file rather than a screenshot; screenshots re-encode the image at your screen's resolution and break the exact template sizing.

Found one in the gallery? Browse the community gallery on your phone, open a wrap you like, and download it directly. Every gallery download is a car-ready PNG for that wrap's vehicle. Just match the model: a Cybertruck file won't fit a Model Y.

If you don't have a design yet, the first-wrap walkthrough gets you from blank template to exported PNG in about five minutes.

Step 2: Open Creations > Wrap in the Tesla app

Open the Tesla app, select your car, and find Creations in the menu. Inside it, open the Wrap tab and tap Upload.

If you don't see Creations or the Wrap tab, check the two requirements above; the tab only appears once both the car firmware and the app version qualify. This works on cars with both AMD and Intel infotainment hardware. It's actually the first Creations feature to reach Intel-powered cars, so an older build date is not a disqualifier.

Step 3: Pick your PNG and check the 3D preview

Tap Upload and select your wrap PNG from your photo library. The app renders your design on a 3D model of your car, and you can rotate it to inspect the wrap from any angle before anything touches the vehicle.

Give it a real look. Check that hood art faces the right way, that side graphics sit where you expect, and that nothing important lands on a seam. If something is off, fix it in the studio and re-export; the 3D preview in the FrunkLab editor matches how the car renders the same file, so what you approved there should be what you see here.

Step 4: Upload & Apply, or Upload Only

The app offers two buttons, and the difference is worth knowing:

• Upload & Apply Wrap sends the file to the car and applies it immediately. Next time you look at the car's screen or the app's vehicle illustration, your design is on.
• Upload Only sends the file to the car but leaves your current look in place. The design waits in the car's wrap collection until you select it.

Either way, the transfer happens over the air. There's no USB drive to keep plugged in, and the wrap survives software updates.

Step 5: Manage wraps from the car's touchscreen

To apply an uploaded wrap later, or to switch between several, use the car's own menu: Toybox > Paint Shop > Wraps. Everything you've uploaded from the app appears there alongside any wraps loaded the old USB way, and switching is one tap. Tap Default to return to the factory illustration whenever you want; the wrap is an image the car displays, not a modification, so it's fully reversible and warranty-neutral.

Troubleshooting

The Wrap tab isn't in the app. Car firmware below 2026.26 or app below 4.59.0. Update both and reopen the app. Rollouts are staged, so a car that hasn't been offered 2026.26 yet just needs a little patience.

The upload rejects the file. Almost always sizing. The file must be a PNG under 1MB at your model's exact template dimensions. Studio exports meet this automatically; files from other sources may not. Re-export rather than resizing in a photo editor, which tends to break the template layout.

The wrap looks wrong on the car. If graphics land in odd places, the design was probably made for a different model's template. Wrap templates are per-vehicle. Rebuild on the correct template, or find the same design made for your model in the gallery.

No smartphone handy, or car stuck on old firmware? The USB route is unchanged and works on every Paint Shop-equipped Tesla.

The two-minute loop

Here's what this feature really changes: iteration speed. The old loop was design, export, find a USB stick, format, copy, walk to the car. The new loop is design, export, upload, look at your car's screen. Trying five variations of an idea went from an afternoon project to a coffee break.

That speed rewards having designs worth iterating on. The custom Tesla wrap guide maps the full design landscape if you're starting fresh, and the studio is where the loop begins. Make something, upload it from the couch, and let the car model it before your coffee cools.