The last year has been an exciting one for CarPlay, with CarPlay Ultra launching and iOS 26 bringing some of the biggest CarPlay changes in years. Now iOS 26.4 is set to continue this positive trend, showing that CarPlay’s best days may be ahead.
CarPlay gets big new features in iOS 26.4, continuing a recent trend
CarPlay has been beloved by consumers for a long time, as driver surveys consistently show.
But until recently, Apple seemed content to let CarPlay stagnate.
After announcing the “next generation of CarPlay” in 2022, ‘regular’ CarPlay received little attention from Apple.
In the last year though, things have finally changed in a big way.
CarPlay Ultra launched and was followed by iOS 26, a huge update for existing CarPlay users thanks to widgets, Live Activities, a Liquid Glass design, and more.
Now iOS 26.4 is coming, and its beta reveals two more big upgrades in the works:
support for playing videos when parked
third-party AI chatbot apps
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