CarPlay stopped working after iOS 26 update.

It didn't work...

I ended up disabling wifi on the iphone to see if wired carplay worked, but i think it turned it back on... i dont remember, but it didnt work correctly...

To force wired carplay i ended up disabling wifi and bt on the iphone and that allowed to used wired carplay with no issues...

at the end... i can have BT connection disabling Carplay on the bluetooth settings of my headunit on the iphone... or disable wifi and BT so i can use wired carplay...

iphone 17 with iOS 26.0.1

Apple Watch Ultra 2 with watchOS 26.0.2

Atoto F7 XE head unit

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

I did what @Brandon2021 sugested... It seemed to work at first, but it failed again...

I ended up using the Ottocast Mini 2025, I´m still playing with the settings but seems to work ok. The label on the box reads "Ottocast Mini Flow".

I disabled wifi and bluetooth on the Atoto Unit and it "thinks" the connection is wired... it is to it...

Apple Support said the "new and improved" wireless chip is better, even if it looses compatibility with "obsolete" devices.

The only things I have to figure out yet with the ottocast dongle is:

• When i start my car it does connect automatically and starts transmitting audio, but i have to press the carplay button on the screen (it doesn't switch to the carplay display).
• I think I have to switch something in the ottocast settings about the GPS.

I'll also contact Atoto Support... they asked for me to inform them if the atoto dongle worked.

By the way, wired carplay works great, It's just that my drives where i live are short and i leave my phone on my pocket most of the time.

iPhone 17 with iOS 26.1 RC

Apple Watch Ultra 2 with watchOS 26.0.2

Atoto F7 XE head unit

Ottocast Mini 2025 (Flow)

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

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.

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 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.

I have spent several weeks troubleshooting this and spoke to apple support. Here’s what I’ve done to date without resolution:

Car: 2017 Mercedes GLE 350; had firmware for USB and Master controller updated

USB Cables: new from apple that supports CarPlay high data transfer, not just charging

iPHone 17 fully updated

I have also tried, resetting all network and security settings to factory settings; deleting VPN; and various toggles; only changing one thing at a time. The problem occurs with WAZE and GoogleMaps too, although I’ve limited extensive testing my iPhone.

other testing: Without firing up Apple Maps, just either streaming iTunes or a streaming a radio station. The system seems to stay up for about 30 minutes before crashing

by crashing, the screen freezes and everything on CarPlay stops working; i unplug, frustrated yet again…

I’m surprised there’s no formal update from Apple on this issue. At one Apple Store in Danbury, CT, the rep told he and his wife both have the same problem with no apparent resolution.

I have a very long trip planned in March and will super annoyed if this isn’t resolved by then…possibly returning my phone and downgrading. Really hoping for some insight here…

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”