Apple is making a huge change to how CarPlay works in iOS 26. It is finally adding support for video playback.
CarPlay in iOS 26 Support Video Playback on the Car’s Screen Using AirPlay
If you’ve ever used CarPlay, then you know for a fact that it does not support video playback in any shape or form. It goes against the company’s rules for CarPlay.
However, with CarPlay in iOS 26, Apple is adding the ability to play video as well. This is a huge change for developers.
The ‘video in the car’ feature allows users play video on the car’s infotainment screen wirelessly from their iPhone. But it will only work when the car is idle and parked.
From Apple:
AirPlay video in the car enables people to watch their favorite videos from iPhone right on their CarPlay display when they aren’t driving. Integrate support for CarPlay with AirPlay video to enable this feature in your car.
It’s somewhat amusing that Apple left out one of the best features from its CarPlay announcement at WWDC 2025. I think this was intentional, otherwise it would have completely taken attention away from Liquid Glass.
This is exactly the feature CarPlay lacked, but it remains to be seen which developer ends up supporting it. Something tells me there is going to be a lot of resistance by developers as they prefer to keep users in their app on iPhone.
