Apple Unveils Major CarPlay Upgrades with iOS 26: New Design, Widgets, and CarPlay Ultra Expansion

At WWDC 2025, Apple announced a significant update to CarPlay as part of iOS 26, which is now used over 600 million times daily. The new features aim to make the driving experience more seamless, intuitive, and stylish than ever before.

What's New in CarPlay with iOS 26?

Liquid Glass Design: The sleek new interface from iOS 26 now extends to CarPlay, offering a unified look with dynamic icons that adapt beautifully to both light and dark modes.

Compact Call Notifications: Incoming calls now take up less space on your screen, so you can keep your eyes on the road and your map in view.

Tapbacks & Pinned Conversations: Just like on iPhone, you can now respond to messages with emoji reactions and access pinned chats directly in CarPlay for faster communication.

Widgets & Live Activities: CarPlay now supports iOS widgets and live activities without developers needing to do any extra work — they appear automatically, helping drivers stay updated without distraction.

Live Activities View: Critical updates like delivery tracking or sports scores will be shown in a corner of the screen, optimized to minimize driving distraction.

CarPlay Ultra Expands

CarPlay Ultra — launched last month with Aston Martin — is also getting these updates. It integrates deeper with vehicle systems, allowing users to control certain car functions right from the CarPlay interface.

Apple says more global automakers are adopting CarPlay Ultra, hinting at a wider rollout in the coming months.