CarPlay stopped working after iOS 26 update.

I think I got my car play to work. After I started having problems with the iPhone 17 I installed the 26.0.1 update and the problems got worse. CarPlay would shut off, then come back on, using Siri locked it up completely, and it would shut down during phone calls. I reset the phone, my jeep’s audio system, paired and re-paired the audio system and the iPhone. Nothing worked until I went to the Apple Store and bought a Morphie brand USB A to USB C cable. It solved the problem. I used CarPlay for an hour and a half without a single drop or lock up. Strange but true.

UPDate: i spoke to customer support today and it was escalated to a senior engineer. Was asked to delete VPN, reset network settings, deleted my car from CARPLAY, deleted my iPhone from my CAR’s config and then re-added my phone to the config: NOTE: they also told me to rename my iphone to iphone1.

I did a quick 20 minute ride with maps running and music: result, no freeze and music played cleanly. I’ll have a 90 minute ride tomorrow and will update

Yesterdays 26.1 update has fixed my issues with CarPlay. In fact the widgets are gorgeous!

Disabling the active VPN for me immediately fix the issue as well. In my case, it was Windscribe VPN.

I noticed that the problem gets worse when I use the Waze app. I deleted it, and for now everything is working normally.

I'd been having this too. Cleaned USB port, new Anker USB-A to USB-C cable, used port closest to screen, up-dated to 26.0.1, disconnected other devices in car. iPhone 17 Pro been dropping every 5 minutes or so using Waze. Drove five hours today -- knock on wood -- without a single drop. Not sure why.

While CarPlay widgets may be causing issues, it isn't anything to do with the Head Unit; CarPlay simply uses the head unit as a screen and input device; All of the code, including Widgets, is actually running on your phone.

Turning CarPlay widgets off and the back on seemed to resolve the problem I was having with the screen not being responsive to "swipes".

Hopefully Apple will address this bug in an update

Updating to iOS 26.1 actually made my problem worse. It was good with iOS 26.0.1 after disabling the widgets.

To help with maintain a connection I have created an automation in the shortcuts app that restarts my WiFi when CarPlay disconnects. This is also helped me somewhat debug the issue. What I’ve noticed is this seems to be related to when the phone switches cell towers as I live in a fairly mountainous region I lose my carplay connection at around the same areas the phone should be switching cell towers. That being said, I don’t think the cell towers are the actual cause but point to a bug in Apple‘s code that causes a small Wi-Fi glitch when cell towers are being switched.

I have attached a screenshot of the automation in case anybody is interested.

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.