4 CarPlay settings I modify to right away make it higher

Reflecting a bit, I believe Apple downplays the significance of CarPlay manner an excessive amount of. The tech did get cheap consideration at WWDC 2025, together with the launch of CarPlay Ultra, but it surely performs an out-sized function within the lives of iPhone house owners. Many people depend on it not only for music and podcasts after we’re driving, however to get the place we have to safely and on-time. That may be true even if you’re conversant in an space — lately, building decreased a serious freeway to 1 lane in my metropolis at an hour when there was nonetheless loads of visitors. The primary time I bumped into this, a 20-minute journey all of a sudden ballooned to about an hour. Popping open Apple Maps throughout a subsequent drive allowed me to take a fancy detour and make it house in cheap time.

If want be, CarPlay is often high-quality to make use of instantly after you set it up. However if you need one of the best expertise, there are a selection of settings you must change, each in your iPhone and your automobile’s dashboard. The tweaks under are those I think about important as of iOS 26. Your individual preferences could differ, though I encourage you to no less than think about these concepts.

Deleting and rearranging house display screen apps

Effectivity issues on the highway

That is my most necessary change. For simplicity’s sake, CarPlay defaults to loading each appropriate iPhone app if you set it up on your car. The issue with that is that the majority sprint shows cannot match greater than eight or 10 icons, and the whole lot else will get shoved into extra house display screen pages.

There’s additionally no prioritization past pre-installed apps, so if you happen to use Google Maps or Waze as a substitute of Apple Maps, you might need to swipe to a second or third house display screen each time you wish to navigate someplace. That is annoying sufficient if you’re parked, and a dangerous distraction if you’re on the highway.

Earlier than you get behind the wheel once more, clear up CarPlay by going to Settings > Common > CarPlay > [your car] > Apps in your iPhone. Drag the triple-line icons on the correct to rearrange their precedence. As a rule, the apps you utilize most frequently ought to occupy the highest eight spots. That manner, they will all the time be on the primary house display screen web page.

Use the crimson icons to take away as many pointless apps as attainable. Don’t fret — you are not uninstalling these out of your iPhone, simply CarPlay. You’ll be able to all the time add them again later by returning to the underside of the Apps web page and tapping on the suitable inexperienced icons. You will have to do that whereas your automobile is off too, however if you reconnect your iPhone, any adjustments will sync routinely.

Choosing Darkish and/or Clear look choices

Mild could have its benefits, typically

For a lot of customers, one of the best look settings — present in CarPlay’s in-vehicle Settings > Customise Icons menu — would be the Default icon set, and Auto for switching between Mild and Darkish themes. This could hold the whole lot discernible in vivid daylight, however then flip the theme over to Darkish as soon as the solar goes down. That is much less straining on the eyes, particularly if you’re watching a navigation app.

Personally, although, I discover the Default icons boring to take a look at, and sometimes want Darkish mode’s distinction at any time of day. If you wish to observe go well with, simply faucet each Darkish choices.

New to iOS 26 is the power to decide on Clear icons. These are visually slicker than the darkish ones, for my part, however they don’t seem to be for everybody — there’s even much less distinction than the default, so some drivers could discover themselves searching too lengthy for the correct icon. Your selection of wallpaper could have an effect right here (see under). As I write this, I am experimenting with clear icons and the Auto theme mode to check if these may be higher than all-dark, on a regular basis.

Selecting wallpaper

Full your customization

Wallpaper would possibly appear to be a trivial factor, however with iOS 26, it might probably go a great distance in direction of making your automobile really feel like your individual. That is as a result of the replace’s Liquid Glass aesthetic turns plenty of the interface clear, bringing out the colour of your wallpaper, notably if you happen to pair it with clear icons (see above).

In my case, I am utilizing a gold-tinged wallpaper that matches the “desert titanium” of my iPhone 16 Pro. You also needs to be capable to discover ones that match the colours of the iPhone 17 lineup, or if you happen to’re fortunate, the inside of your cabin. Go to Settings > Wallpaper if you’re within the driver’s seat.

Whereas I am right here, I ought to gripe that Apple nonetheless has but to permit customized wallpapers in CarPlay. That is most likely as a result of the corporate is anxious about legibility, decision, and total visible enchantment — that picture of your accomplice or pet might sound good in your iPhone, but it surely may grow to be an outright mess on a 10-inch panorama show. If that is going to vary in iOS 27 (or another future launch), Apple will want a system to routinely crop and scale pictures added to CarPlay, at a minimal. Some form of monotone filter choice would possibly assist with extra chaotic pictures.

The extra money you’ve, the extra helpful it’s

One of many side-benefits of Apple’s work on CarPlay Extremely is that a few of its extra superior widgets have slid into the usual UI. These permit issues like checking the climate, viewing your upcoming calendar appointments, or accessing smart home controls with out having to cease first. I think about that for some individuals, the power to lock a door or flip off lights after they’re miles away from their storage shall be an actual time saver. On most sprint shows, you may entry any widgets you’ve configured by swiping to the left of your house display screen.

To get began, you will need to go to Settings > Common > CarPlay > [your car] > Widgets in your iPhone. For those who add a number of widgets, you may rearrange their order, and/or activate Sensible Rotate to let your iPhone select what to prioritize based mostly on the time of day. Regardless, you may swipe up or down in your in-car widget stack(s) to vary what you are taking a look at.

That leads me to an necessary word, which is that on larger shows, you will see a number of widget stacks without delay. This makes the expertise inherently higher in dearer autos. I am high-quality with that in my very own automobile — the one widgets I’ve added are Climate, Batteries, and Calendar, and the one one I care about more often than not is the primary one. I have to know if I will be coping with rain, snow, or freezing temperatures regularly, however checking my Apple Watch’s energy can most likely wait till I’ve arrived at my vacation spot.

One other word is that whereas a shocking variety of third-party widgets can be found, many of those are most likely going to be ineffective if you’re driving. Nobody actually must know who’s reside on Twitch after they’re cruising down the freeway, for instance.