CarPlay is getting its biggest update in years, here’s what’s coming in iOS 26

Over the last several years, CarPlay’s new features have been rare and few. But between CarPlay Ultra’s launch and everything new coming in iOS 26 for standard CarPlay, things have quickly changed. Here’s what’s coming this fall in iOS 26, CarPlay’s biggest update in years.

New ‘Liquid Glass’ design

As part of Apple’s cross-platform design revamp this year, the new ‘Liquid Glass’ look of iOS 26 extends to the car too.

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—with the latter offering several of its own variants.

Widgets

Years ago, CarPlay widgets were announced as part of Apple’s “next generation of CarPlay” initiative.

That new version eventually became CarPlay Ultra, but thankfully Apple is bringing widgets to the standard CarPlay experience too.

In iOS 26, your car can display any widgets from your iPhone’s installed apps. So apps won’t even need to offer special CarPlay support for you to use their widgets on the go.

Video in the car via AirPlay

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.

When your car is parked, CarPlay will now let you watch video using your vehicle’s display. The feature uses AirPlay technology, and third-party apps can build custom support.

So the next time you’re charging your EV, waiting to pick up a friend or family member, or some other similar situation, CarPlay will have you covered.

Live Activities

It’s 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 in macOS Tahoe and iPadOS 26, CarPlay now supports Live Activities too.

Essentially, whatever Live Activity is running on your iPhone will now display in CarPlay too—perfect for tracking flights, sports scores, food deliveries, and more.

Messages, Phone, Maps improvements

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’ll highlight for Messages, Phone, and Maps.

Messages is finally bringing tapback support 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’ messages. Pinned conversations are supported in the car now too.

The Phone app gets an important UI change in iOS 26: no longer will incoming calls take over your whole screen, but rather they’ll appear in a compact view so you won’t miss important navigation info.

Finally, if your vehicle offers a multitouch display, Apple Maps will let you interact with the map using multitouch for the first time.

Customization tools

CarPlay gets a special ‘Smart Display Zoom’ feature in iOS 26 that provides more flexibility in how your limited screen real estate is used.

As seen in our gallery here, 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’s new iOS 26 layout options a compelling alternative.

Similarly, CarPlay will let you resize text to your liking, making it larger and easier to read if that’s your preference.

iOS 26’s new CarPlay features: wrap-up

It’s turning into a huge year for CarPlay, kicking off a strong ‘next generation’ 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—it will be a big change for your car too.

Which new CarPlay features in iOS 26 are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments.