Over the last several years, CarPlay’s new features have been rare and few. But between CarPlay Ultra’s launch and everything new in iOS 26 for standard CarPlay, things have quickly changed. Here’s what’s new in iOS 26, CarPlay’s biggest update in years.
New ‘Liquid Glass’ design and wallpapers
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.
For a gallery of the available design options, check out our coverage here.
Additionally, CarPlay in iOS 26 benefits from a lineup of new wallpapers fashioned after the new default iPhone wallpaper.
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.
... continue reading