Apple CarPlay in iOS 26 Gets Glass Look, Widgets, Better Notifications

• Apple's 2026 World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) showed updates to CarPlay.
• The software is getting its biggest overhaul to date.
• Widgets, a new look, live info and more are all coming to a car near you, and soon.

Apple's World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) is where the tech giant unveils its latest software. For 2025, the company presents iOS 26 — the number now corresponds to its release year. We've already seen what the company has planned for CarPlay Ultra, but the regular ol' CarPlay we're all used to is getting some major changes. Here's everything you need to know. 

The new iOS design is dubbed "liquid glass" and is one of the largest changes to the way iPhones look and feel in a long time. Icons now have a more see-through design, the corners are softer, and the whole idea is to give what you want to see more space while decluttering what you don't need. CarPlay gets these same design tweaks. 

The home screen for CarPlay now has this liquid glass look, with the icons getting a full makeover to look like they're, well, glass. All of Apple's base applications will have this new look, but there are a number of other features, too. 

Notifications have been minimized so they don't take up too much room on the screen. A phone call no longer takes up the entire display, which means a ring from your mom asking about dinner won't get in the way of your map as you're driving. 

You can also now react to text messages in CarPlay, so you can thumbs-up, love or laugh at a text you receive without having to look down at your iPhone. Pinned conversations now show up in the messages app in CarPlay, too. 

There are also now widgets in CarPlay. Things like your calendar and the weather forcast will show up instead of you having to tap into an application to get that information. Other widgets include the ability to change the climate straight from the CarPlay interface, so you no longer have to jump back and forth between menus inside your car's infotainment. Live info is new, too, and can show you things like a friend's flight status so you know when to be at the airport to pick them up after they land. 

Apple has also said it's going to make it easier to develop apps in CarPlay, which will open up a wider range of opportunities for devs who want their apps to be compatible with the software. We're sure there's more, and we'll be diving into CarPlay in iOS 26 as soon as we can get our hands on it.