7 CarPlay Features Apple Recently Added To Your Vehicle – BGR

The past six months have been pretty good for Apple CarPlay users. After all, Apple has been very active on its vehicle platform since rumors suggested the company killed Project Titan, its effort to release an autonomous vehicle.

With that initiative now behind Apple, the company has been focused on several upgrades to its CarPlay system, not only with the recently released iOS 26 update last September, but with the new iOS 26.1 and iOS 26.2 versions. More interestingly, customers who own top-tier Aston Martin vehicles can get an upgraded experience with CarPlay Ultra, which shares the features introduced with iOS 26 but also integrates into the entire vehicle system instead of just the infotainment panel. Here are some of the finest CarPlay features Apple added in the latest updates you can start enjoying today, including better notifications, more widgets, and an interface upgrade.

With iOS 26, Apple introduced a new Liquid Glass design language. This has been the biggest update to the iPhone user interface and experience since the iOS 7 change over a decade ago. The company says this update was “instantly familiar” while it made the icons, interactions, and apps more fluid and expressive.

An impressive feature of the Liquid Glass design is its control over the reflection and refraction of its surroundings on the screen. Apple says these changes are made to let you focus on the content on your device. For a system like CarPlay, which requires users to pay attention to the road, this new version has been fundamental to simplifying the experience. 

Liquid Glass and the iOS 26 update bring other nice tweaks, such as a new Clear icon view for apps and new wallpapers that match dark and light modes. Besides that, the iOS 26.1 update fixed the issue that made iPhone 17 users unable to properly connect their smartphones to Apple CarPlay. This wasn’t the only bug Apple has fixed in the past few months, but it was one of the most noticeable. After all, if you bought the new iPhone and had a less reliable experience that made CarPlay worse, what was the point of upgrading?

Thanks to the Liquid Glass design, Apple revamped the notification system for CarPlay users. For example, a call that would take over the entire display now brings a small notification in the upper part of the infotainment system, which prevents incoming calls from blocking navigation information. Messages and other notifications also appear more compact. The iOS 26 version also has features to avoid unknown callers.

In the iMessage department, Apple also brought important updates to improve the user experience. Besides filters for unwanted messages, Apple finally lets users reply to a message with Tapbacks. Tapbacks have been available for years, but they had never made their way to Messages on CarPlay.

Another new change is the ability to unpin chats and group chats with iOS 26.2. This was added after Apple introduced pinned chats to iMessage on iOS 26. You get an extra privacy layer if you don’t want passengers checking on your main chats, but it can also help you keep only the most important people at the top when you’re driving. With these upgrades, CarPlay continues to improve on its main feature of being a useful operating system connected to your phone without distracting you from the road.

Widgets and Live Activities have been an important part of the iPhone system that are finally on CarPlay. Apple introduced two rows of widgets with iOS 26, then expanded to three rows in iOS 26.2. These widgets can give you information about the song you’re listening to, your scheduled appointments for the day, and even start a route with Apple Maps. While some widgets can be less useful than others, they bring extra ways to interact with your infotainment system with fewer taps.

Live Activities, on the other hand, help you track your tasks and events. You can follow a family member’s flight before picking them up at the airport, keep an eye on your favorite team’s match, see if your DoorDash delivery is arriving at home, or if your Starbucks order is almost ready to be picked up.

Essentially, Apple introduced more ways for CarPlay users to stay connected with important apps without distracting them from what matters most. More importantly, since these two features are already more mature in the Apple ecosystem, their implementation is better than it was a few years ago, making Widgets and Live Activities instantly useful for anyone on iOS 26.

Video streaming apps aren’t available in CarPlay, and they might never be. However, Apple took an important step towards making the infotainment display more useful when the vehicle is parked. Starting with iOS 26, users can finally AirPlay video to the display. While AirPlay has been available for audio for years, this is the first time Apple lets you stream a YouTube video, a Netflix show, and others to your CarPlay screen.

As noted by Apple, the video in the car feature can only be used with AirPlay when the vehicle is parked, which is standard in other car infotainment systems. For example, Tesla has a Netflix app that can only be used when the car is parked. This is great when making a stop to rest during a long trip, when you’re waiting for a family member, or when you want to show a video to someone on a display larger than your phone’s.

Several carmakers plan to release vehicles with CarPlay Ultra, but it’s now limited to Aston Martin vehicles. While all the CarPlay features mentioned above are also on CarPlay Ultra, these functions and the updated design become even more interesting in this super-powered platform.

CarPlay Ultra works like iOS on the iPhone; it’s the soul of the vehicle, instead of just a part of the experience. Drivers get a full Liquid Glass experience across the system with even more customization options, as they can now add widgets and live activities across every panel in the car. More rows of widgets and apps are available, and you can get tasks done with fewer taps, which is all that matters when you’re driving. Apple says it wants to make sure everything looks prettier and more useful with the new Liquid Glass design, along with all the other perks.