iOS 26 will fit CarPlay to better match the shape of your car’s screen

iOS 26 has introduced a new feature that will help Carplay to enjoy your vehicle’s screen better, Apple announces to WWDC 2025. When activated, the new smart display zoom will narrow the elements on the screen to adapt to an additional line of application icons.

“Vehicle screens are in many forms and sizes,” said Carplay engineer Olivia Hess in a developer video spotted by Macrumors. “In iOS 26, some screen configurations allow drivers to adjust their display scale with a configurable smart display zoom in carplay settings. When the smart display zoom is activated, your carplay application will be automatically resized on the new display scale.”

Although the change is relatively small, it should make Carplay less complicated to use if you have a lot of applications. The functionality is only available in a beta version of the developer for the moment, but will appear in a public beta version next month and in the latest version of iOS 26 by September of this year.

Carplay receives other updates as part of the IOS 26 update. It will include a more compact view for incoming calls so that the screen does not obscure the directions. Tapbacks (emoji responses, that is to say) and pinned conversations come to messages in Carplay, and widgets and live activities can be reflected on the infotainment system. These updates will be present in Carplay Ultra Also.

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