FrunkShow

From your phone to the car

Getting the file onto a flash drive, with the right name, in the right folder, on a drive the car accepts.

Before you start

The drive

Size
32 GB or less
Format
exFAT or FAT32
Partitions
one
Must not contain
TeslaCam/
Also must not contain
map or firmware update files
Never supported
NTFS

The car

Light shows need
2021.44.25 or newer
Several shows on one drive
2023.44.25 or newer
Lock sound needs
2023.44.25 or newer
Port to use
glovebox USB-A

On many cars built after late 2021, and every 2025 or later Model Y, the console USB-C ports are power only.

Three things that catch people out

  • Do not use your Dashcam or Sentry drive. A light show drive must not have a top-level TeslaCam folder. On a 2025 Model Y the glovebox port already holds Tesla’s Dashcam drive: unplug it, then put it back. Dashcam and Sentry do not record while it is out.
  • Do not format the drive in the car. Controls > Safety > Format USB Drive creates the TeslaCam folder a light show drive is not allowed to have. If you already did, delete TeslaCam and TeslaTrackMode.
  • Names are case sensitive: LightShow, LockChime.wav. Delete old copies first, or a phone renames the new one to lightshow (1).fseq.

What goes on the drive. A light show is a LightShow folder at the top level holding two files that share a basename: lightshow.fseq and lightshow.wav (or .mp3). A lock sound is one file, LockChime.wav, under 1 MB, on the drive itself — owners report a Boombox folder working too.

iPhone with a USB-C port

iPhone 15 and later, Safari on iOS 15 or newer. The drive plugs straight in, and Files can format it.

Light show

  1. Get the files into Files

    Download in Safari and tap the downloads arrow; they land in Files > Downloads. Tap LightShow.zip and Files unpacks it beside itself. Delete any older LightShow folder first — owners report the new one arriving as LightShow 2.

  2. Plug the drive into the phone

    It appears in Files > Browse under Locations. If nothing shows up, try a different drive.

  3. Move the folder onto the drive

    Hold the LightShow folder, Move, pick the drive under Locations, Move. If the drive already has a LightShow folder, open it and move just the two files in.

  4. Check the names, then take it to the car

    On the drive: LightShow/lightshow.fseq and LightShow/lightshow.wav, nothing else. Unplug, glovebox USB-A port, wait a few seconds, then Toybox > Light Show > Schedule Show.

Lock sound

  1. Download and move it

    Tap the downloads arrow, hold LockChime.wav, Move, pick the drive under Locations — the top level, not inside a folder.

  2. Plug it into the car

    Glovebox USB-A port, then Toybox > Boombox > Lock Sound. Owners report the entry appearing as USB. If nothing appears, try the Boombox folder and reinsert the drive.

To reformat on the phone: Files > Browse, hold the drive, Erase, then ExFAT or MS-DOS (FAT). This erases everything on it.

iPhone with a Lightning port

iPhone 6s through 14. Same steps as above, with two differences.

  • Use Apple’s Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter, the one with a second Lightning port, and plug a charger into it. The cheaper adapter can answer “this accessory uses too much power”, and Apple does not list flash drives as supported on it.
  • Files cannot format a drive on a Lightning iPhone. Use a computer or an Android phone.

Everything else is identical to the USB-C steps.

Android

Chrome on Android 7 or newer, with a USB-C flash drive or a USB-A drive plus an OTG adapter. If nothing is detected, try a different cable or adapter.

Light show

  1. Download the two files separately

    Individual files, not a zip: lightshow.fseq and lightshow.wav land in Downloads. Delete older copies first — Chrome renames a duplicate to lightshow (1).fseq.

  2. Plug the drive in and allow access

    Tap the “USB available” notification, then Allow. On Samsung phones, open My Files and look under USB storage.

  3. Make the folder and move both files into it

    Files by Google: Downloads, select both, Move to, Storage devices, your drive, Add new folder named exactly LightShow, Move here. Samsung My Files: select both, Move, USB storage, Create folder LightShow, Move here.

  4. Check, eject, and take it to the car

    On the drive: LightShow/lightshow.fseq and LightShow/lightshow.wav. Eject — My Files menu, Unmount, or the USB notification, Eject — then unplug. Glovebox USB-A port, wait, then Toybox > Light Show > Schedule Show.

Lock sound

  1. Download and move it

    LockChime.wav lands in Downloads. Files by Google: hold it, Move to, Storage devices, your drive, Move here — the top level, not inside a folder. Check the name survived.

  2. Eject and plug it into the car

    Unmount, unplug, glovebox USB-A port, then Toybox > Boombox > Lock Sound.

If your phone offers to format the drive, the result on 32 GB or less is FAT32.

A computer

  1. Download and unpack

    You end up with a LightShow folder holding a .fseq and an audio file with the same basename. A lock sound is one LockChime.wav.

  2. Copy it to the top level of the drive

    The LightShow folder at the root, not inside anything else. LockChime.wav at the root as a bare file.

  3. Format only if the car refuses the drive

    Windows: exFAT or FAT32. Mac: ExFAT or MS-DOS (FAT). Never NTFS.

  4. Eject and go

    Eject properly, then the glovebox USB-A port.

If it did not work

The popup says “Light Show” instead of “Custom Light Show”

The car found the menu but not a valid show. Work down the list: the folder is LightShow with that exact capitalisation, at the top level; the .fseq and the audio share a basename; no top-level TeslaCam folder and no map or firmware files on the drive; the drive is exFAT or FAT32. Stick with the basename lightshow — every Tesla example uses it, and one owner report has a differently named show greyed out.

The car does not react to the drive at all

Probably a charge-only port. On many cars built after late 2021, and every 2025 or later Model Y, the console USB-C ports supply power and nothing else. Use the glovebox USB-A port and give it a few seconds.

The show plays but the music drifts out of time

Check the audio is 44.1 kHz. Tesla states 48 kHz files will not sync.

There is no Lock Sound entry under Boombox

Either the software is older than 2023.44.25 or the car has no Pedestrian Warning System speaker. No Boombox app in Toybox at all settles it.

Paraphrased from Tesla’s owner documentation, release notes and light show repository; sources are on the credits page.