iPhone 17 CarPlay Disconnects and won’t work

Updated to 26.1 and still keeps disconnecting.

Problem is my Pioneer head unit not the iOS.

I got an £20 dongle of Amazon and it’s worked great since, not one single disconnection.

Even though my Pionner is wireless CarPlay. The dongle is sold as turning wired only car play units into wireless units. This bypasses the issue with the Pioneers Bluetooth and uses the better bluetooth in the dongle. Issue solved!

I solved it. But in an unusual way. My problem was that my wired CarPlay didn't work with my new iPhone 17 Pro. My old iPhone 12 Pro worked without any flaws for years in this very car. So did my iPhone X. So it is an issue of the combination of iPhone 17 Pro and iOS 26 in CarPlay mode.

My issues were, as written above, random disconnections. This could happen after a few seconds, a few minutes or not at all for a whole drive. So I couldn't reproduce it.

I called Apple support and they suggested to delete (!) all VPN apps I have. Disabling their VPN connections weren't enough, they said, so I deleted them. The result: The same disconnections. So no results at all. Then Apple support told me to reset my network settings. As you can imagine, it didn't change a thing for CarPlay.

So I reinstalled my VPN apps and tried to find a pattern of behavior, something that makes those disconnections less likely. And I discovered that being in fullscreen mode of apps like Maps for navigation or Overcast for hearing podcasts seem to help a little in comparison of being in the split screen mode of the home screen. In fullscreen mode the chance of CarPlay not disconnecting was increased a bit in my opinion. Of course that was no real solution. Sometimes it didn't disconnect for a whole drive, but sometimes it disconnected 5 times in 15 minutes which not only is annoying but also a safety issue.

That's why I tried something completely different: I bought a small USB dongle from Amazon to make my wired CarPlay experience a wireless one. This dongle costs around 15 Euros and that's why I thought to myself, that I can try that. What happened? It was easy to install. And when using it I didn't have a single disconnection. Suddenly CarPlay worked just as it should. Not a single problem anymore. And I am using it for over a week now.

So assuming Apple won't fix this annoying bug ever, maybe this is the way out for you as well, as long as you are a wired CarPlay user with the same issues I am experiencing.

Great news folks - I just downloaded i.OS 26.1 ( the very newest upgrade, released 3 November 2025) and CarPlay now works fine! No connection/ disconnection issues.

So kust make sure your CarPlay unit has its latest software, update your iOS to 26.1 ( NOT iOS 26.0.1) and the CarPlay will connect & stay connected.

Yippee!

This post confirms that not only do you need iOS 26.1, but also you need to download or make sure that the head unit in your car has its latest software. It seems that iPhone 17s have tweaked bluetooth, and if your car doesn’t have the latest version of its own software, it will not connect cleanly with iOS 26. Ihave an aftermarket head unit from 2023, and after installing both iOS 26.1 and the head unit’s latest software, everything worked fine. If your head unit doesn’t have a USB plug or can’t download directly (or its software is not upgradeable) then the unit needs replacing.

“iOS 26.0.1 just released and they fixed the problem of the random wlan and bluetooth disconnects.[…]”

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All the more reason to report bugs to Apple.

I updated to 26.0.1 and one of our two cars started working ok. Our 2022 Ram 2500 works However the aftermarket "CPlay2Air" wireless CarPlay adapter that is connected to my 2017 VW Golf still has the same disconnecting issue. This adapter has been working flawlessly for years with numerous different iPhones.

Updated to 26.2 and the problem still persists. Setup: iPhone 17 Pro, wired CarPlay (USB-A to USB-C cable). I've tried several cables, also branded ones (Anker) that sell under "CarPlay" cable. But it doesn't matter what cable I use, this problem is still here.

CarPlay disconnects usually after 30 seconds to 2 minutes. I then reinsert the cable and it restarts, it loses the connection after 30 seconds to 2 minutes. In about 5 to 10 percent of tries, it works without any flaws for the whole drive that can last an hour and the next time it just disconnects after seconds again.

I've tried everything like disabling VPN (I use 1Blocker that toggles VPN to the enabled position), I disconnected my Apple Watch, I turned off WiFi and Bluetooth, but all those things don't change the behaviour of CarPlay.

On my older iPhone 12 Pro, CarPlay worked flawlessly in this very car. The problem is the combination of iPhone 17 Pro with iOS 26. I will write a bug report to Apple, but I am really disappointed that after two major updates this problem wasn't addressed at all.

iOS 26.0.1 just released and they fixed the problem of the random wlan and bluetooth disconnects. It should be fixed now :)

I still need to test it out but im beeing optimistic

I agree. My aftermarket CarPlay device has worked flawlessly with pre-iOS26 and iPhone 14. But now with iOS 26 and an iPhone 17 CarPlay disconnects after about 10 to 15 seconds. Then after five or so seconds reconnects and then plays for some number of random seconds and disconnect again. This never never never occurred previously. If I connect Bluetooth directly to the CarPlay device, it will stay connected without a problem. But then you have to use your phone as the controller to change songs and of course you cannot use your apps on the card device screen. But if I connect as CarPlay, turning on CarPlay in the iPhone 17, then it will not stay connected (and I know that uses Wi-Fi) so this appears to have something to do with the Wi-Fi connection to CarPlay.

I just updated my phone to 26.1 and wireless CarPlay is fixed and now works as expected with my CPlay2Air adapter.

I also confirmed it still works via wireless on a 2022 Ram 2500. (It never broke on the Ram)

Posted yesterday what I thought might be a fix to iPhone 17 disconnecting from car. Tried it this morning and it worked -

Settings>General>CarPlay>Your model car should appear under My Car, tap your car>Allow CarPlay While Locked turned on to green.

Why Apple makes everything so convoluted we will never know..........anyone have easy way to link a song in Music to a contact without going through Garage Band??? Ridiculously convoluted and complicated.

For now, my 17 is working in CarPlay.

First fix I posted a few days ago and will repeat:

Settings>General>CarPlay>My Car-tap on your car>Turn on Allow CarPlay While Locked.

Next thing I switched my cable to the cable that came with 17 Pro - since then CarPlay has stayed connected, won't be fully confident until I have tested it more, for now, it is staying connected.