{"id":8313,"date":"2025-06-23T15:26:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T15:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/8313\/"},"modified":"2025-06-23T15:26:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T15:26:10","slug":"carplay-is-getting-its-biggest-update-in-years-heres-whats-coming-in-ios-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/8313\/","title":{"rendered":"CarPlay is getting its biggest update in years, here\u2019s what\u2019s coming in iOS 26"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\"\"<\/p>\n

Over the last several years, CarPlay\u2019s new features have been rare and few. But between CarPlay Ultra\u2019s launch and everything new coming in iOS 26 for standard CarPlay, things have quickly changed<\/a>. Here\u2019s what\u2019s coming this fall in iOS 26, CarPlay\u2019s biggest update in years.<\/p>\n

New \u2018Liquid Glass\u2019 design<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As part of Apple\u2019s cross-platform design revamp this year, the new \u2018Liquid Glass\u2019 look of iOS 26 extends to the car too.<\/p>\n

This means app icons and various UI elements have all received a fresh new design, and you can even customize the look with different icon appearance modes, choosing from Default, Dark, and Clear\u2014with the latter offering several of its own variants.<\/p>\n

For a gallery of the available design options, check out our coverage here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Years ago, CarPlay widgets were announced as part of Apple\u2019s \u201cnext generation of CarPlay\u201d initiative.<\/p>\n

That new version eventually became CarPlay Ultra<\/a>, but thankfully Apple is bringing widgets to the standard CarPlay experience too.<\/p>\n

In iOS 26, your car can display any widgets from your iPhone\u2019s installed apps. So apps won\u2019t even need to offer special CarPlay support for you to use their widgets on the go.<\/p>\n

Video in the car via AirPlay<\/p>\n

\"Apple<\/p>\n

Ever found yourself sitting in the car needing to kill time? Of course you have. CarPlay in iOS 26 will make that experience better thanks to support for video in the car<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When your car is parked, CarPlay will now let you watch video using your vehicle\u2019s display. The feature uses AirPlay technology, and third-party apps can build custom support.<\/p>\n

So the next time you\u2019re charging your EV, waiting to pick up a friend or family member, or some other similar situation, CarPlay will have you covered.<\/p>\n

Live Activities<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a big year for Live Activities, the feature that was formerly iPhone and Apple Watch exclusive. In addition to debuting on the Mac and iPad<\/a> in macOS Tahoe and iPadOS 26, CarPlay now supports Live Activities too.<\/p>\n

Essentially, whatever Live Activity is running on your iPhone will now display in CarPlay too\u2014perfect for tracking flights, sports scores, food deliveries, and more.<\/p>\n

Messages, Phone, Maps improvements<\/p>\n

\"CarPlay<\/p>\n

Apple has a ton of new features coming to system apps in iOS 26 that will benefit CarPlay too. But here are a few specific updates I\u2019ll highlight for Messages, Phone, and Maps.<\/p>\n

Messages is finally bringing tapback support<\/a> to your car. This popular Messages feature will let you quickly and easily add a thumbs up, heart, or any other tapback to your friends\u2019 messages. Pinned conversations are supported in the car now too.<\/p>\n

The Phone app gets an important UI change in iOS 26: no longer will incoming calls take over your whole screen, but rather they\u2019ll appear in a compact view so you won\u2019t miss important navigation info.<\/p>\n

Finally, if your vehicle offers a multitouch display, Apple Maps will let you interact with the map using multitouch for the first time. <\/p>\n

CarPlay gets a special \u2018Smart Display Zoom\u2019 feature in iOS 26 that provides more flexibility in how your limited screen real estate is used.<\/p>\n

As seen in our gallery here<\/a>, Smart Display Zoom can enable you to fit significantly more content on screen at once. Of course, then smaller things get, the trickier they might be to tap while driving. But depending on your setup, you might find CarPlay\u2019s new iOS 26 layout options a compelling alternative.<\/p>\n

Similarly, CarPlay will let you resize text<\/a> to your liking, making it larger and easier to read if that\u2019s your preference.<\/p>\n

iOS 26\u2019s new CarPlay features: wrap-up<\/p>\n

It\u2019s turning into a huge year for CarPlay, kicking off a strong \u2018next generation\u2019<\/a> for the longtime user favorite. With all of the new features coming to CarPlay, iOS 26 will offer a lot more than just upgrades for your iPhone\u2014it will be a big change for your car too.<\/p>\n

Which new CarPlay features in iOS 26 are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments.<\/p>\n

Best CarPlay accessories<\/p>\n

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over the last several years, CarPlay\u2019s new features have been rare and few. But between CarPlay Ultra\u2019s launch…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[611,158,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-8313","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-mobile","9":"tag-technology","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114733383659951952","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}