How to customize
CarPlay: dashboard
settings on
iOS 26 and iOS 27

Widgets and widget stacks

1. While you are not driving, open Settings on the iPhone.
2. Tap General, tap CarPlay, then tap your car.
3. Tap Widgets, then tap Add Widgets, and follow the onscreen instructions.
4. Back under Widgets, drag a widget to move it, or remove one. Smart Rotate and Widget Suggestions are switched on or off here too.

Widgets sit in stacks to the left of the CarPlay Dashboard, and the number of stacks depends on your vehicle's CarPlay screen. Apple lists CarPlay widgets as new in iOS 26.

Apple source: Customize widgets in CarPlay, About iOS 26 Updates and What's new in iOS 26. More: How to add widgets to CarPlay.

Wallpaper

1. Open Settings in CarPlay, using your vehicle's built-in controls.
2. Select Wallpaper, then choose one of the available options.

Apple's guide has no step for using your own photo as wallpaper. A photo goes in a widget instead.

Apple source: Change settings in CarPlay. More: How to put a picture of your car on the CarPlay screen.

Appearance

1. Open Settings in CarPlay.
2. Select Appearance, then choose the option you want.

Apple says CarPlay is dark by default in most vehicles. Its guide describes an Always Dark option and automatic switching between dark and light.

Apple source: Change settings in CarPlay.

App icon order

1. While you are not driving, open Settings on the iPhone.
2. Tap General, tap CarPlay, select your vehicle, then tap Customize.
3. Drag an icon to move it, or tap the remove button beside it. Removed icons wait below More Apps.

Your changes appear on CarPlay Home the next time you connect.

Apple source: Rearrange the icons on CarPlay Home.

Live Activities

1. Open Settings on the iPhone.
2. Tap Apps, tap the app you want to change, then tap Live Activities.

Apple says Live Activities show on CarPlay Dashboard, and gives directions in Maps, sports updates and food delivery estimates as examples.

Apple source: View Live Activities in CarPlay.

Layout

Apple's CarPlay guide has no layout setting. It describes two screens: CarPlay Dashboard, with items such as directions, audio playback and Siri suggestions, and CarPlay Home, with your apps in pages. You control which widgets sit in the stacks, the icon order, and whether suggestions and album art show. Apple source

Sounds, through Shortcuts

Apple's CarPlay guide lists no setting for a connect sound. The Shortcuts app has a CarPlay trigger with two options, Connects and Disconnects, and an automation with that trigger can play a sound. On iOS 27 you add the automation to a shortcut. On iOS 26 you create a personal automation. Apple source. Steps: how to play a custom sound when CarPlay connects.

iOS 27 CarPlay: what changed, on Apple's own pages

Apple released iOS 26 on September 15, 2025 and iOS 27 on September 14, 2026. On October 6, 2026 the newest version on Apple's list was iOS 27.0.1, released September 28, 2026. Apple lists both for iPhone 11 and later. Apple's list of software releases, read October 6, 2026. The iOS 27.0.1 line goes out of date with each iOS update.

For the settings on this page, nothing changed: Apple's guide gives the same steps for iOS 26 and iOS 27, and its What's new in iOS 27 page has no CarPlay item. Other changes you may have read about are reported by the press and are not on these Apple pages. We have not checked them.

Video on the CarPlay display

The iOS 27 iPhone User Guide has a page for playing video on a CarPlay display. Its conditions: only when you are not driving, CarPlay video apps work only in vehicles that support video in the car, you send the video with AirPlay from a CarPlay video app or any app that supports AirPlay, and it switches to audio only if the vehicle says video is not available. Play videos with CarPlay

Apple's developer page now lists CarPlay video apps under what's new, for supported cars when parked. Apple had already described AirPlay video in the car to automakers on that page in 2025, so this is not simply new in iOS 27. Apple names no supporting car on these pages. Widgets are still images and text. A widget does not play video. Apple Developer: CarPlay

CarPlay Ultra is a different system

CarPlay Ultra is what Apple calls the next generation of CarPlay. This guide is about CarPlay, not CarPlay Ultra. Apple Newsroom: CarPlay Ultra · CarPlay Ultra in the glossary

Things you may have read that Apple's guide does not have

Other pages describe CarPlay settings that we could not find on Apple's pages. This is what the Apple page says in each case. A missing step is not proof that something is impossible. It means Apple does not document it.

• Folders for CarPlay icons

  Apple's page for the icons has three actions: move an icon, remove an icon, and add an icon back. It has no folders. Rearrange the icons on CarPlay Home

• Renaming an app or an icon

  The same page has no step for renaming anything. Rearrange the icons on CarPlay Home

• A photo of your own as wallpaper

  Apple's settings page says to select Wallpaper and choose one of the available options. It has no step for a photo. Change settings in CarPlay

• A layout setting for the dashboard

  Apple's settings page lists wallpaper, Driving Focus, appearance, suggestions and album art. It has no layout setting. For widgets, Apple gives no number: the number of stacks depends on the vehicle's screen. Change settings in CarPlay

• A sound or chime setting in CarPlay

  The same settings page has no sound setting. A sound on connect comes from a Shortcuts automation. Change settings in CarPlay

What apps can and cannot add

Apple's developer pages give an app two ways onto the CarPlay screen: a CarPlay app in a category Apple supports, such as audio, navigation or parking, or a small widget or Live Activity. Neither changes CarPlay's own icons, wallpaper or layout. So an app that says it customizes CarPlay supplies widgets, and sometimes sounds for a Shortcuts automation. Apple source

On October 6, 2026 the car widget app with the most US App Store ratings was myCar: Car Widgets & Dashboard, with 12,926 ratings averaging 4.6. The roundup compares nine apps, and the free apps page lists what each charges for. We make one of the nine, Car Play Widgets: Dashboard. It ranks last on rating count.

What our own app costs and cannot do

Browsing and customizing are free. Saving a widget requires Pro, a weekly or yearly subscription with no free trial. On October 5, 2026 the weekly plan was $4.99 in the US, and the app shows the current prices before you buy. The app has no CarPlay app of its own and reads no vehicle data. Its widgets need iOS 26 or later and a CarPlay display that shows widgets. On the iPhone the app is listed as Car Widgets. Car Play Widgets 1.5 has no synchronized lyrics. Its text cards show words you type yourself.