CarPlay stopped working after iOS 26 update.

Happy to report the bug has been fixed for me after the latest update. Wired car play worked the moment I plugged it into the same vehicle model (not same as it was a rental) using the same wire and no special settings.

iphone 17 pro max

ios 26.0.1

polestar

I have the same issue with iPhone 17 Pro and IOS 26. I have an after market XTrons head unit, but I never had an issue with it before. Apple support is basically useless, they don't know what to do or how to debug this. They want to blame the head unit which clearly isn't the issue, my wife's old iPhone 13 with IOS 18 works fine with it. Apple clearly broke wireless CarPlay in IOS 26 but won't accept any repsonsibility unfortunately.

I have news... I jumped into iOS 26.1 Release Candidate... it seems to have fixed my Wireless Carplay Issues... Usually it couldn't complete a 5 minute drive without disconnecting, I left home, went for a coffee at a drive-thru, and drove to the office (around ten minutes connected without issues)...

I had widgets enabled (if you are curious)

I'll give updates if the conection starts failing in longer drives or when I get to the final iOS 26.1.

iPhone 17 with iOS 26.1 RC

Apple Watch Ultra 2 with watchOS 26.0.2

Atoto F7 XE head unit

I have the same head unit.

First, I’ve always had an issue with maintaining a CarPlay connection while I have my earbuds with me. They don’t need to be in my ear to cause a connection issue, just being with me will cause it.

Second, that head unit cannot handle widgets. On your phone you need to go into CarPlay settings and disable widgets.

Third, Waze will definitely cause your CarPlay to disconnect while Google Maps will cause CarPlay to freeze up upon startup if you have it open when you shut your car off.

i would recommend removing any app that you don’t use and try to remember to go to a screen other than Google Maps when you shut off your car.

iOS 26.1 has resolved the issues.

Thanks Apple for one revision of pain.

I have iPhone 16 Pro Max, the CarPlay stopped working during an iOS18 update and did not resolve with iOS26. My head unit is 2017 Kenwood and is wired only. The new os is wireless connection and I was not able to change the setting in the phone. I spent $80 at BigW and fixed the issue with a wireless dongle for CarPlay.

so I’m all set, hope this info helps someone else. The colourful screen display i get from Siri is mimicked on the head unit, I like it a lot. But what a distraction !

I’ll up-date my experience with 2018 F150 SYNC3. After one day of success with a new Ankor USB A to USB-C cable it went back to dropping regularly. I purchased a Beats cable and it’s worked fine since. Switching back to the new Anker cable causes regular drops.

iOS 26.0.1

iPhone 17 Pro

Pioneer DMH-1770NEX

CarPlay does not work with iPhone 17 Pro on iOS 26. My friends android device works fine with android auto but CarPlay does not work. I even updated the firmware of the unit to no avail. Then I found this discussion post and it’s clear there’s something wrong with the OS In regard to CarPlay.

I removed the widgets and that seems to have resolved the issue.

how I solved the issue

my problem was connecting my phone to wired CarPlay.

I bought a cheap wireless CarPlay device on Amazon and yesterday it worked flawlessly for the whole trip.

There’s a new audio input option in iOS 26. Go to settings then sounds and haptics, now to input and make sure it’s set to “Automatic”

I also had to have my vehicle's software updated. I have a 2025 Chevy Trailblazer. Check with your dealer to see if there is an update.

I updated my iPhone 15 when iOS 26 came out, but i had no issues.

When i received my iPhone 17, I loaded my iPhone 15 backup, it connected wirelessly to CarPlay but dropped a minute later.

I've tryed this:

• resetting wireless settings on the phone, it didn't work.
• I deleted a vpn profile and app from 1.1.1.1 that i carried from my iPhone 15's backup, didn't work.
• updated to iOS 26.0.1, it didn't work. (but i did not erased my headunit from bt, carplay and wifi settings)
• I also use an apple watch ultra, tryed disabling the "unlock with iphone" feature and didn't work.
• I tryed turning my watch off, it seemed to work for 3-5 minutes but carplay disconnected after that.

I remembered that i did not erased the carplay/bt/wifi settings from my phone after the update to iOS 26.0.1... i've erased it... i'll se in my lunch break if that worked when a re-pair it.

I was using Carplay wireless with my pioneer nex 8600 and my iphone 16 pro max without any issues from past 6 - 8 months, but facing connectivity issues ever since i upgraded to IOS 26. Now i am in IOS 26.01 but the connectivity issue still persists. I hope apple release another update very soon, as Carplay is critical application for me

I had this problem for days, and I tried everything including deleting the configuration and starting fresh. I was NOT running a Beta version when the problem occurred .

But, last night as I was parking my car, a message popped up on my phone saying, “Complete setting up CarPlay”.

as soon as I responded to it, Carplay began working.

[Edited by Moderator]