Improve your Apple CarPlay experience by doing these simple things

CarPlay can become even better when you take a few minutes to customize it.

Your iPhone turns your car's infotainment system into a navigation and communication hub, thanks to CarPlay. While it works great by default, there are several ways to make it even better, plus new features that arrive every so often.

From configuring CarPlay basics to designing the perfect app layout, adjusting the feature can make your commute safer and more entertaining. And with iOS 27 bringing several new updates to CarPlay , now is a great time to dive into this core iPhone function.

The easiest way to up your CarPlay game is customizing its layout to your liking. You may be surprised to learn that you must rearrange icons on your iPhone, not your car's display. To do this, open Settings on your iPhone, tap General and select CarPlay . From there, select your vehicle and enter the Apps menu.

Here, you'll find a list of apps on your phone compatible with CarPlay; drag them up or down to make the most important ones readily available on your CarPlay screen. The size of your car's display defines how many apps make it onto the first page, so you may have to get creative when prioritizing your most-used ones. To remove or add apps, tap the red minus or green plus, respectively.

Starting with iOS 26, you can further organize your infotainment system through CarPlay widgets. These bring the same quick views you use on your phone's Home screen, such as weather, calendar and clock, to your Car's display. Edit them by tapping Widgets on the same menu where you selected your Apps earlier. CarPlay will intelligently swap your widgets throughout the day if enable Smart Rotate , and the similar Widget Suggestions will show available ones even if you haven't added them.

CarPlay's overall brightness should shift with your dash controls, but you can go further to toggle light and dark mode to suit the conditions to the time of day. Go to Settings > Appearance on your CarPlay screen, then select Automatic to allow your CarPlay brightness to adjust automatically. Apple's CarPlay visual accessibility guide can also help here.

To spruce up its look, customize your wallpaper by opening Settings inside CarPlay and tapping Wallpaper . Choose your favorite option and hit Set . You can also change the colors of your icons, toggling between Default , Dark and Clear , under Settings > Customize icons in CarPlay.