Tesla holds back Apple CarPlay rollout as it waits for iOS 26 fix

Tesla is putting its Apple CarPlay rollout on hold while it waits for an Apple Maps bug fix in iOS 26 to reach more iPhones. The company has CarPlay working in testing, but it is not ready to ship it to customers yet.

The delay centers on how navigation behaves when Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) system is active. Tesla wants CarPlay to sit inside its own interface instead of replacing it, so both Tesla’s maps and Apple Maps can appear together.

Navigation conflict triggers a rethink

During internal trials, Tesla engineers found that turn‑by‑turn guidance from Apple Maps did not stay properly aligned with Tesla’s own navigation while FSD was running. This raised concerns that drivers could see two different sets of instructions on the same screen, which could be confusing on the road.

Tesla then raised the issue with Apple and asked for changes to the Maps app so the guidance logic would work cleanly alongside FSD visualizations. The goal is to avoid conflicting prompts when the car is handling most of the driving tasks.

Apple ships a fix in iOS 26

Apple agreed to adjust Apple Maps and delivered a fix in a later iOS 26 update, after the first public release of the operating system in 2025. Reports indicate that this patch resolves the synchronization problem and that CarPlay now works as expected in Tesla’s internal builds.

Still, the fix only helps drivers who have installed the newer iOS 26 versions that include the updated Maps behavior. Tesla does not want to roll out CarPlay to a fleet where a large share of owners might still be on older software that carries the navigation bug.

Apple’s latest official figures from mid‑February 2026 show that iOS 26 is on 74% of iPhones released in the last four years and on 66% of all active iPhones. That is broadly in line with earlier major versions, but it still leaves a sizable portion of users on older systems.

The challenge for Tesla is that Apple’s public charts track iOS 26 as a whole and do not break out how many devices have the specific incremental update that corrected the Maps issue. As a result, Tesla has limited visibility into how many of its customers are actually running the fixed version that CarPlay depends on.

Tesla has long resisted adding CarPlay or Android Auto, even as almost every major carmaker supports at least one of them. Yet demand for smartphone projection remains strong.

For Tesla, CarPlay support could help address one of the most common complaints from iPhone owners who prefer Apple’s apps and media services. At the same time, the company wants to keep its FSD visualizations and core controls on screen, so the plan is to use CarPlay in a windowed layout rather than Apple’s more expansive CarPlay Ultra experience.

How Tesla plans to integrate CarPlay

Under the current approach, Tesla’s own interface will stay in charge of vehicle controls, FSD status, and key driving data. CarPlay will provide Apple Music, Messages, calls, and third‑party apps inside a defined portion of the display, with wireless iPhone connectivity.

This setup aims to give drivers access to their familiar Apple services while keeping Tesla’s navigation and safety‑critical visuals in the foreground.

Tesla has not given a public launch date for CarPlay support. However, we can expect Tesla to bundle CarPlay into a broader software refresh later this year, similar to earlier big interface updates. And owners who plan to use CarPlay once it arrives will likely need their iPhones on the latest iOS 26 release to avoid any navigation issues tied to older Maps code.