CarPlay stopped working after iOS 26 update.

The corrective action offered by director373 revealed that CarPlay had been toggled off by the upgrade to iOS 26.4. Toggled CarPlay back on, my iPhone 16e did connect to CarPlay but only once. Back to where I was after allowing the upgrade to iOS 26.4.

Disappointing to find iOS 26.4 was not thoroughly tested before release. Waiting for a new release is a poor option.

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 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”

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.

Same car and situation since upgrading to 26.3.1 but didn’t have any issues before that point release. Try resetting the connection multiple times. Wired CarPlay works, thankfully.

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]

I have had similar issues with my 15 Pro Max and ios26. Wireless CarPlay only connects about half of the time. If I can get it working it will suddenly quit playing music, the timer is still running, maps are updating and I can hear the map notifications but no music. I have to change to another source on the radio and wait a few seconds, then go back to CarPlay to get the music working. Running ios26.01, Pioneer 6600NEX.