CarPlay is not working after iOS 18.4.1 update

Hi

It is the same for me on a wired connection on a Kia rio of 3 years old on which CarPlay was working just fine until the update. I managed to get an error message that popped up for half a second when the disconnection occurred. You can see it on the screen capture link with that message. The message is in French and can be read as

“ Airplay not available CarPlay is already using airplay”

I hope it could help to resolve the issue.

My carplay also not working since I upgrade to IOS 18, to use my Iphone for listening music on Spotify I need to connect with usb C cable.

My car is VW T-Cross and most popular here in Brazil. After some searches I found many users talking about how Apple disclaimer here responsability about this BUG.

I contacted VW to know if it was a bug of car system or not, and they said me it was a bug of Apple system.

Infos about my car system

Screen with the error

Same here. So far only removing the car/head unit from CarPlay and reconnecting, then accepting the “access while locked” warning resolves it.

Ok. Working again and stable. Thanks to gruffers comment. Hard re-start phone, go into CarPlay and ‘forget’ your car. Re-connect again to your car. Has actually made my connection a lot more responsive than it has been in a long time.

"CarPlay is not working after iOS 18.4.1 update: I did a hard restart on the phone and manually made it forget the previous car connection - rehooked it up and I was finally able to get it working with its wired connection again."

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Report this Bug Fix to Apple:

Do your Part: These are just user-to-user forms. Apple barely reads the forums as it is on their own time and will. Apple will know nothing of this concern, if you do not spread the word to them. So, report it to Apple. They wont get back to you directly, but the more they hear about this, the more likely they will look into, knowing what is going on. They will know knowing of this fix, if you don't report it to them.

1. Go Here: Feedback - iPhone - Apple
2. Select: "Bug Report" for the "Feedback Type"
3. Comment: on the issue, the solution, and that it all started after installing this update. Include the URL of this thread.
4. Proceed from there as necessary.

I’m had the same problem. I have a 2023 VW Polo and CarPlay was pretty reliable. Normally at start up the car connects via USB if detected then wireless if not.

It pretty much refused to connect via USB and wireless was unresponsive to touch.

After forgetting the Car in CarPlay settings, restarting my phone and clearing the Bluetooth connections on my car infotainment. Touch wood it’s been okay since.

It generally prefers wireless over USB now but it’s as responsive as ever.

Oh and I swapped USB ports and cables while troubleshooting. Not sure if that helped as I lost track in frustration.

I am also having this issue. Wiresless Carplay is randomly disconnecting. This started with 18.4, and continues with 18.4.1

Iphone 14 pro. Jeep Cherokee - Using wireless dongle. Never had this issue until the 18.4 and 18.4.1 updates.

In order to reconnect, I need to unplug the wireless adapter, wait a bit, and plug it back in. At that point it reconnects.

I have been using similar wireless adapaters for years, also going back to an iPhone 11.

This is a new issue since the new software.

This problem just cost me $488 because I thought the problem was with my car audio system. It was 5 years old and it was having some minor annoying glitches, so I just bought a new one thinking the old one was completely failing on me. I was extremely frustrated when apple car play still didn't work on the brand new audio system. After testing different cables, and phones from friends, I was able to figure out that the oddity was that I updated to 18.4.1. My old audio system was Carrozzeria, and now a newer version of Carrozzeria. I hope they push out a fix soon.

My wired Carplay on my 2023 Mitsubishi ASX stopped working when updating to IOS 18.4, I then updated to IOS 18.4.1. Still no fix. Spoke to Apple for over an hour. Followed all of their "troubleshoots" and it still wont work. Did a reset on my car head unit too. I have an iphone 16 plus. My wife's iphone 14 that hasn't been updated to IOS 18.4 can still be recognised on my car play. So it is an issue with the new update hands down. Its been weeks now. Spend so much money on a phone where they just cant get the hardware right.

This could be helpful for some or all. This problem was absolutely driving me crazy. My wife had the iPhone 16 (I have 16 Pro) and she also did the update to 18.4.1, but her phone connected immediately with zero problems, so we went back and forth to see what the difference could be. We spent two hours in the car trying everything while searching both English and Japanese recommended solutions without success. One of the only difference that we eventually found was Apple Intelligence. She had not elected to use Apple Intelligence, while I had it on. Unfortunately, I tried to just turn it off, but that still didn't work. With frustration, I completely reset my iPhone back to factory settings, and when I had the option to turn on Apple Intelligence, I did not turn it on. After the phone finished resetting, and started restoring my iCloud backup, I checked and the IOS was automatically installed to 18.4.1, but I went out to the car, and it immediately connected to CarPlay. IT SEEMS THAT APPLE INTELLIGENCE IS THE PROBLEM AND YOU MUST RESET YOUR PHONE TO COMPLETELY REMOVE APPLE INTELLIGENCE FROM YOUR PHONE. Note: it is possible that there is some other unforeseen problem that just resetting the phone to factory fixed, but again, Apple Intelligence was the only difference between mine and my wife's phone. Hope this helps out!

Count me in.

Connecting my iPhonePro 16 (USB C) to my car (2020 Skoda) which runs a standard manufacturer CarPlay (this isn't 3rd party).

Everything worked until 18.4.1.

Now the phone makes a connection with the CarPlay but then randomly disconnects a few secs or mins later.

It likes the connection of the cable is way too sensitive now.

Before the connection was rock solid, now you only have to move the phone a little bit(or the car goes over a bump) and it disconnects.

I've tried several different cables (USB IF certified) and nothing works.

Tried it on another iPhone 14 (lightning) running 18.3.2 and all works fine, tried it on another iPhone 16 running 18.3.2 (USB C) and it has the same issue.

Seems to be an issue with phones with a USB C port.

To be clear - Everything worked until 18.4.1.

Having the same issue. 2021 Honda Pilot. Never had an issue before 18.4.1. I’ve always run wired but since the patch, it won’t work. Tried forgetting and resetting the connection up on both the car & phone. I’m at the point of re-storing the phone and not enabling apple intelligence (someone else said that below). New iPhone 16 Pro I’d just got a month ago…. /sigh.

Last night, by chance, I found out why Carplay stopped working for me. On my phone, I have ExpressVPN. This started on its own after the IOS 18.4.1 update. But in such a way that it couldn't be seen. Coincidentally, another app also stopped wanting to connect and I tried to make it work over the VPN. When I wanted to start ExpressVPN it crashed, noticing that it was running. The other app was also able to start normally again and my Carplay also did it again. So if you also have a VPN tool, just check that it is not turned on.

After updating my iPhone 16 Pro to 18.4.1, wireless CarPlay no longer works with 2023 Mazda CX-50. If I connect via usb cable it does work. I have gone through the troubleshooting steps(re-pairing, check car settings, etc…).

UPDATE:

For me at least - it’s Apple Intelligence.

I’ve tried everything - nothing helped. 

Then one cable (that had not worked previously) suddenly worked again (a Juice one). 

It worked flawlessly again, wiggling the cable did not make it disconnect. 

I thought about what had changed and I remember reading on Reddit that someone mentioned Apple Intelligence. 

I’ve tried restarting AI before and it didn’t work, but I remember that I hadn’t tried every cable, for some reason switching off AI makes this (and only this) cable work.

So I tried the other cables (to be clear these cables all worked fine in the past, prior to this issue starting), assuming they would all work, and here is where it gets weird. 

Trying the other cables didn’t work, but it also then made the Juice cable not work again. 

So I restarted Apple Intelligence again and it worked again. 

Looking at this logically, Apple Intelligence is doing ‘something’ to the information that it stores about cables. 

I don’t even know if it does that, I know it checks for MFi cables but does it keep track of each cable and then that gets confused by Apple Intelligence?

I just don’t know. 

So in summary:

1- Switch off Apple Intelligence 

2- Try every cable you have (a Juice one worked for me)

3- If or when you find one that works, try turning on AI and see if it continues to work. 

This might not work for others but it’s worth a try.