CarPlay stopped working after iOS 26 update.

Brandon2021 wrote:

The CarPlay widgets are what’s causing the issue. Your CarPlay head unit isn’t powerful enough to have them running even in the background.

This "fix" doesn't make sense. CarPlay widgets don't run on the head unit, they run on your phone. The only processing your head unit does is to show the video feed from CarPlay, and it only does that when CarPlay is active.

iPhone on iOS 26.1— Wireless CarPlay with my Pioneer SPH-DA360DAB drops every 30 seconds and reconnects in a loop.

Wired CarPlay works fine.

Tried forgetting/re-pairing, resetting network settings, turning off widgets — nothing helps.

No new firmware available for this Pioneer model.

Waiting for a fix from Pioneer or Apple.

iPhone 17Pro Max running iOS 26.1. I have had consistent CarPlay issues where connection freezes or drops connection. Never had these issues before iOS26. This issue is not vehicle specific as I travel for work and am in rental cars frequently in addition to my personal vehicles. The issue is also not the cord as I am using what was provided with my new phone. Apple when are you going to fix this? The quantity of issues surfaced in your community platforms combined with Reddit should be enough for for your CarPlay UI team to research and solve quickly. It is unacceptable that a $1500 piece of technology is rendered ineffective due to a program team not engaging with the Customer experience.

Tested by disabling the widgets. Same issue with Waze and Apple Maps. I tried Google Maps and it worked a little better but also started acting up as well. I found another thread elsewhere that said that the issue is the vehicle's GPS sends a signal to the phone when connected using CarPlay and that it interferes with the internal GPS on the phone and that the solution is to go into Settings > Privacy and Security > Location Services > System Services and to disable "Vehicle GPS"...but this doesn't exist on iOS 26. So I'm still at a loss.

since i have my iphone 17 pro i have the exact same problems as everyone here. Tried evertyhing. With ios 26.0.1 no solution. Wired carplay works flawless.

That would be your sign to disable the widgets

my cabled carplay is fine, and my old iphone8 works ok with my ottocast MiniCube. its actually the iphone 13 prorunning 26.01 that wont connect to the ottocast ...

Got a brand new Air today with iOS 26, constantly disconnecting CarPlay every couple of minutes. Appears to be either BT or Wireless as only have wireless CarPlay onboard.

My iPhone 15 Pro Max was flawless even on iOS 26.

I am going to try this tomorrow in my rental car. My phone is updating tonight. (Will come back to report if it works.) Much appreciate you posting your troubleshooting steps.

I got in my rental car the other day and was left with no on screen navigation. I tried resetting the network settings and connections settings in the car.

Polestar 2025

17 Pro Max ios26

ios 26.0.0

similar issue I guess, iPhone 17 on mercedes GLC 2018. new phone, even new type-A to type-C cable, almost works except the screen looks like crap. my wife's iPhone 15 with iOS 18 works fine.

[Edited by Moderator]

The same problem here.

USB connection to my aftermarket headunit works as intended, however, wirelessly using the Carlinkit Mini SE PRO does not work at all. Stuck at an infinite "connecting in" screen until it gaves up the connection.

IPhone 16e 256GB on iOS 26.0.1 (never saw wireless carplay working as i got my phone yesterday, october 2th and updated to 26.0.1 right after the unboxing).

Same here. 16 Pro Max, 2024 Nissan. CarPlay works, but Siri cannot hear me and I cannot hear her. He microphone just turns off when getting or giving commands. Was on the phone with Apple for two hours and no luck. Everything else is working but CarPlay is a nonnegotiable for me - I need it to work.

i updated to 17 pro max and my car play is the same in my Mercedes A-Class. It’s with wireless and wired. Screen just keeps cutting out. I have tried resetting my car and phone. Tried different wires etc nothing works.

Still not working for me on Ford Sync. iPhone is sometimes recognized when plugged in, and sometimes not. Carplay crashes after a few minutes with or a frozen screen or completely disconnecting. Seems to happen more often when Google Maps or Apple Maps is running. Restarting device, reconnecting etc. doesn't help. Hope it will be fixed very soon!

Ford Sync 3 version 3.4

iPhone 17 Pro

iOS 26.0.1

i have an iPhone 16 Pro Max and a Pioneer aftermarket top of the line ApplePlay (or Android) head unit with a navigation screen. Using Waze and audio through Apple Music, I periodically lose audio for the music. I can’t get it to turn back on until I turn the car and therefore the unit off and on again. Since that is difficult to do a lot of the time while driving, I went long times without sound and was very irritated. I then found that if I select the main screen, go to the Nex icon on the Pioneer, select Bluetooth (which doesn’t work), hit the settings icon, then select Apple CarPlay from the dropdown menu. Next I select CarPlay through the main screen and go to Apple Music to turn the music back on. Then finally back to Waze.

This will work for an indeterminate period of time, however. I have had some long drives and have had to do this too frequently. It’s random on time between it happening from 15 minutes to an hour. I hope this helps some with a temporary fix but that Apple can get the bug fixed quickly and release the next update. When I reported this problem to Apple, the advisor told me that he waits a bit to upgrade to new major versions of iOS due to the initial bugs like this and I’m going to do the same next year.