Apple did not end up building its own car, but that gave us Carplay. With iOS 26, Carplay obtains some neat improvements, which includes an improved design, an option for the largest police sizes, and Useful accessibility characteristics also. Here is all that is new to Carplay with the next Apple update:
Credit: Apple
With iOS 26, live activities come to Carplay. These contextual windows allow you to keep a tab on important updates without playing with your phone or the main unit. Live activities on your iPhone are useful for monitoring deliveries, flight statutes and much more, and although all iOS use cases are not relevant here, some of them will also be available in Carplay. (I think that the flight status function will be particularly useful for microphones and airport departures.)
You have nothing to do to see live activities in Carplay. As long as it is visible on your iPhone, it will appear on the carplay dashboard, or will appear as a popover above other applications such as your navigation application. Apple says You can deactivate the activities live if you don’t want to see them, and even control their appearance by defining different focus modes.
Carplay also adds support for widgets, including things like calendar entrances, weather and sun / sunset. You can select the widgets you see on the Carplay dashboard going to Settings> General> Carplay on iPhoneSelect your vehicle and choose the widgets.
A new compact view for incoming calls
Credit: Apple
The redrawn carplay with iOS 26 now includes a compact view. For example, when you receive a telephone call, it will appear as a small contextual window on the screen, instead of taking up more space. This means that other important information, such as routes, is not hidden when you receive a telephone call.
What do you think so far?
Some upgraded messages
Credit: Apple
With iOS 26, the messages in carplay will allow you to use tapbacks – apply the language to react to text messages with emojis. This will allow you to quickly press an emoji to answer someone via the car display. Messages will also allow you to view the pinned conversations of your iPhone, which facilitates the text with which you are often in contact.
New icons
Credit: Apple
Yes, liquid glass also arrives at your car. The icons of iOS 26 went to Carplay. Whether you like them or hate them, you will see this new design on your car screen.
Improvement of accessibility features
Carplay with iOS 26 will also support a large text, which increases the font sizes and makes text easier to read on the screen of your car. Apple also adds sound recognition to Carplay, which will inform drivers and passengers when iOS detects certain sounds. Notifications can warn you when Carplay detects sirens, a crying baby, horns or other important sounds.
