iOS 26 brings a feature to CarPlay, which has been available on the iPhone for nine years. Here you will find the new feature!
New CarPlay function
CarPlay has a range of new features! With iOS 26, Apple has brought big changes to CarPlay. It was about time, because CarPlay has not received any major updates for a long time. Apple announced the new generation of CarPlay in 2022, which meant that the current version lacked many improvements. iOS 26 changes that, the update makes CarPlay much better. A long-awaited iPhone feature is finally coming to CarPlay with iOS 26.
Do you receive a notification on your iPhone? You will also see this on the CarPlay screen, provided your iPhone is connected to the car. It is possible to respond to these messages by recording a reply via Siri. With the iPhone you have been able to respond to messages with a tapback for some time. Apple already introduced this option in iOS 10, which allows you to give a quick response under a message. With iOS 26, this iPhone function comes to CarPlay for the first time.
CarPlay works with tapback
Tapback is a useful option if you want to quickly respond to an incoming message. You can respond with emoji or use one of Apple’s default responses. These are reactions such as an exclamation point, thumb or question mark. This has been possible on the iPhone since iOS 10, an update that was released in 2016. After nine years you can finally use tapbacks in CarPlay. This makes it much easier to respond to messages.
Do you receive a message and is your iPhone connected to CarPlay? The tapbacks will then automatically appear under the notification. By default, you see six responses for an incoming notification. Tap one of these options to respond to a message with a tapback, which will then be sent automatically. The recipient will see a tapback directly below the message, showing a small variant of the emoji.
More about CarPlay
Responding with a tapback only works for notifications from Apple’s Messages app. It’s good news that the iPhone feature is finally coming to CarPlay, because tapbacks are an important part of the Messages app. This is not the only improvements coming to the Messages app in CarPlay, because for the first time you can pin conversations. This option has also been available on the iPhone for some time, but you can now finally use it in CarPlay.
Responding with tapbacks and pinning conversations in CarPlay’s Messages app are part of iOS 26. Want to use the iPhone features in CarPlay? Then make sure you have installed iOS 26 on your iPhone, all improvements will then automatically come to CarPlay. You can find iOS 26 under ‘Settings > General > Software update’. Check here which iPhones support iOS 26, so you can be sure you can get started with the latest CarPlay features!
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