Apple showed off its latest software: iOS26 at an event on June 9, and along with some major updates to your iPhone’s operating system, Apple CarPlay is also getting a big makeover in both form and functionality.
Along with a new look that closely resembles the iPhone’s “Liquid Glass” design, there are a bunch of new features that are meant to make the user experience that much better while putting your car’s native operating system to shame. Apple is launching new ways to interact with phone calls and text messages along with live activities, widgets and a few more helpful tools.
Anyway, here’s a breakdown of everything you need to know about iOS26 for Apple CarPlay.
A new design
Apple has rolled out a new design language for iOS26 that it is calling “Liquid Glass,” which brings a transparent look to graphics like icons and tabs. From what I’ve seen, it has been met with mixed reviews when it comes to legibility and usability, but pictures of CarPlay demos make it seem much easier to actually read and interact with.
Regardless, everything now has a glossy, semi-translucent look which is sort of neat. I suppose it’s a nice change of pace considering CarPlay has looked virtually the same for years now. Time will tell if the new design actually works.
Widgets for all
One of the biggest changes you’ll notice to CarPlay’s overall functionality is the addition of Widgets on your homepage. It’s something we first saw on the recently rolled-out CarPlay Ultra and it means you can add stuff like your calendar, smart home appliances and weather among other things. It’s a really nice addition to a system that couldn’t provide much more than texts, calls, music and navigation for quite a long time.
Texting gets improvments
Who among us doesn’t love texting and driving? (For legal reasons, this is a joke). Now, Apple is making responding to messages — via voice to text — that much easier through two new additions. The first is the ability to send reaction emojis (called Tapbacks) like a heart, thumbs up, thumbs down, “haha,” exclamation or question to messages you just received. It lets the person on the other end of the line know you’re not speaking with them. The projection of the six reactions pops up when you get a new message, or you can just say you’d like to respond and send a voice text.
Apple
The other improvement is the addition of pinned conversations. It’s similar to your iPhone. I’d assume the same people you have pinned there will pop up on your CarPlay’s texting app. From there, just click on the name and speak your truth via text. Pinned conversations are a super helpful way to make sure the folks you talk to the most are always easy to reach — no need to go scrolling through your texts to find the person you want to contact.
A better way to take calls
Before, when you got a call through CarPlay, it would take up the entire screen regardless of what else you had displayed at the time. For many reasons, this was deeply annoying — especially if you were using navigation and coming up to a turn. I’m happy to report that Apple has fixed this issue with iOS26 with a “Compact View.”
Instead of the incoming call taking up your entire screen, a small prompt at the bottom with the person’s name and pickup and decline buttons will appear. I’m not sure if it’ll expand once you take the call, but I don’t think it’s likely. Good on you, Apple.
Live updates
I don’t know about you all, but I love using “Live Activities” on my iPhone. They’re a great way to find out the real-time status of things you’ve got coming up — almost like a countdown clock or status tracker. Well, now it’s available in CarPlay. I can see a lot of really good uses for it for things like airport pickups as well as food order preparedness. Pretty much, it’s going to be super useful whenever you’ve got to get something or someone at a specific time.
