CarPlay stopped working after iOS 26 update.

Today, Tried connecting my iPhone 17 Pro Max to wired CarPlay in my wife's 2021 Honda Pilot, keep getting connection error and will not set up. Her iPhone 15 still works fine with IOS 18, no issues. My 17Pro Max does work fine in my truck with aftermarket Kenwood wireless CarPlay. Going to have to hold off on upgrading her iPhone 15 until I hear this BUG is fixed. This seems like a widespread issue, Apple please fix ASAP. Upgrading my 17 to 26.1 beta 2 tonight, hopefully that will fix it

For the issue in this thread related to wired CarPlay just not connecting/working at all for some people, that is still not fixed as of 26.2 Public B 1. Using the feedback app to report back to Apple, also referenced this thread. Hopefully we get their attention eventually!

I also have the wired carplay problem. I have a 2019 Mazda CX9 and worked perfectly until the update on my Iphone 14 to IOS 26. I am now on 26.1 It now sometimes connected but the intermittently disconnects and will sometimes reconnect by itself and other times will not. I will try shutting off widgets (not optimistic that will fix it for me), turn off bluetooth and wifi while driving, forget the carplay connection and see if any of these makes it more reliable. Fortunately, I was able to stop my wife from upgrading and it still works perfectly for her.

I have been having trouble with navigation while using CarPlay but had made a couple of changes at the same time so I'm trying to lock down what is causing the issue.

Recent changes:

1. upgraded phone from iphone 14 pro max to iphone 17 pro max
2. upgraded my car stereo from factory 7" uConnect ('21 Jeep Wrangler) to Stinger Offroad Horizon10

Issue: While navigating using CarPlay (wired or wireless doesn't matter) the map will randomly show as if I'm as far as a mile off my route. This happens with both WAZE and APPLE MAPS. It has shown me driving through fields, rivers, lakes, and often thinks I'm on roads adjacent to the road I'm actually on telling me to reroute. If I disconnect from CarPlay, the GPS immediately syncs my location and works properly with zero glitches.

Solutions tried: factory resetting my iPhone, calibrating my compass on my phone and enabling precise location setting, uninstalled and reinstalled maps and Waze apps, verified that I'm on the most recent version of iOS. I started with Apple support to work through the issue but because the issue only happens when connected to the Stinger head unit via CarPlay and does not occur when connected to a factory head unit, I have also been working with Stinger support and have updated the firmware twice now based on links provided by Stinger support. Based on this discussion board, I am now going to try disabling widgets and see if that makes a difference.

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.

I've had this problem too. CarPlay isn't even available now. I'm in the process of erasing my contents and settings (after backing up) and restoring the backup. I will try again after that has completed. This is so annoying.

Have we had any more evidence that this may be an iPhone hardware-related problem in some cases? I think I recall one reply here mentioning they had a board replaced or maybe their entire iPhone 17 replaced to fix the issue with CarPlay no longer working.

I've posted earlier, have a 2019 Ford Edge where CarPlay worked fine for years, and then when I got my iPhone 17 Pro this year (which came with iOS 26), CarPlay just stopped working. To me this rules out any of the "using the wrong cable" type stuff - it worked fine for a long time, no change in setup.

My wife and I both have launch day iPhone 17 Pros, and what's strange is that I get slightly different "CarPlay not working" behavior with her phone compared to mine. Mine will present the CarPlay terms where you accept, but then CarPlay never shows up. Her phone will do the same, but my car does at least show CarPlay icons and such in the native UI of the car...but still can't get CarPlay to display.

I've been trying each point update for the past few months (now up to iOS 26.3), and still no progress. I might get Apple Support involved now, maybe go down the "is it the hardware?" path...

When i loose connection to carplay, it wont reconnect... turning carplay off inside the phone's bluetooth settings of the headunit allows me to use regular bluetooth with no problems.

I tried to turn off the bluetooth when connecting my phone through wired carplay (the only connection i have). It seems less glitchy, I still get reconnection issue sometime though.

My issues with a 17 Pro were finally solved by a trip to the Genius Bar and a replacement of the logic board on my phone.

It www fixed with the 26.1 update but it is not working on 26.3.

Got the same issue on the a 16 pro max.

after the last iOS 26 update my wireless CarPlay stopped working and only shows a connecting screen. It seems to be a wireless / Bluetooth issue in the update. I’ve tried all the fixes and resets. I’ve also tried two different cars and two different adapters with the same results.

Best I got was one connection and then when restarting the car it wouldn’t connect again.

I’ve been using wired CarPlay for years since it was introduced. My 14 pro suddenly stopped being able to use CarPlay as soon as I updated to iOS 26. I’ve have a pioneer AVIC-6000NEX head unit in my car.

Just want to add to the pile here.

Have a 2019 Ford Edge w/ Sync 3.4, wired carplay. Worked fine w/ iPhone 16 Pro on iOS 18. Upgraded to iPhone 17 Pro, came w/ iOS 26 (now on 26.0.1), carplay hasn't worked since. Submitted on apple.com/feedback as well, hoping they address this soon.

Same problem here. I was using a wireless adapter since August 2024 with no issues. After the 26.0.1 update, my iPhone 15 suddenly disconnected from the adapter. Using a USB cable everything is fine. I tried with a brand new adapter, same result. I tried also with a couple of Samsung and Oppo phones and both the old and the new wireless adapter work flawlessly with Android Auto.