How to add widgets to CarPlay in iOS 26

Good news: in iOS 26 you can finally add widgets to CarPlay, so your car screen shows more than maps and music. Here is how to do it step by step, how stacks and Smart Rotate work, and how to make your widgets actually cute.

What you need

• An iPhone on iOS 26 or later. Widgets on CarPlay don’t exist on older versions.
• A car with CarPlay (with a cable or wireless, both work the same here).
• Apps that offer widgets, like Calendar, Weather or Stunny, installed on your iPhone.

How to add widgets to CarPlay, step by step

1. Park, then open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Tap General, then CarPlay, then tap your car.
3. Tap Widgets, then Add Widgets.
4. Follow the on-screen steps to pick a widget and the stack it goes in.
5. Look at your car screen: the widget is now in your CarPlay widget stacks.

These steps follow Apple’s own iPhone User Guide for iOS 26. Apple can rename a menu in a later update; if yours looks different, the Apple guide always has the current wording.

Stack widgets, Smart Rotate and suggestions

CarPlay shows widgets as square tiles in stacks. How many stacks you see depends on your car’s screen: most cars show two side by side, smaller screens one, and wide or panoramic screens can fit three.

Each stack can hold several widgets, up to five, and you swipe a stack to go from one to the next. That’s the trick to a cute setup: put your favorite on top, and the useful ones (weather, calendar) underneath.

Two switches change how stacks behave:

• Smart Rotate lets CarPlay bring a different widget of the stack to the front when it thinks it will be useful.
• Widget Suggestions lets CarPlay suggest widgets you haven’t added yourself.

To turn them on or off: Settings → CarPlay → your car → Widgets, then switch Smart Rotate or Widget Suggestions. If you want your cute widget to stay on top, leave Smart Rotate off.

How to change or edit your CarPlay widgets

1. Parked, open Settings → CarPlay → your car → Widgets.
2. To move a widget, drag it by its handle to another place or stack.
3. To remove one, tap the delete button next to it.

To change what a widget shows, you usually change it inside its app. With Stunny, edit your widget in the app (new words, new date, new world, new paint) and the widget on CarPlay updates by itself.

Add Stunny widgets to CarPlay

Stunny makes widgets that star your real car, in your color, in one of 13 dreamy worlds.

9:41

hello, Lina ♡

9 days till Dubai

LINA ♡

drive safe, babe ♡

PILATES 7AM

1. Open Stunny, pick your car among 812 models and choose its paint.
2. Pick a world, then make a widget: “my car”, a countdown, your plate, a mood…
3. Parked, go to Settings → General → CarPlay → your car → Widgets, tap Add Widgets, choose Stunny and place it in a stack.

Not sure your car is in there? Find your car and see it in all 10 paints first.

Widgets not working? 5 common causes

1. Your iPhone isn’t on iOS 26 yet. Go to Settings → General → Software Update.
2. You picked another car. If you’ve used CarPlay in several cars, each one has its own widget list. Choose the car you are sitting in.
3. The widget needs a refresh. Open the widget’s app once, then unplug and reconnect CarPlay (or turn the car off and on).
4. Your screen shows one stack at a time. On smaller screens, swipe the stack: your widget may be underneath.
5. The app doesn’t offer a CarPlay widget. Not every app does. Check the list in Settings → General → CarPlay → your car → Widgets.

If nothing helps, restarting the iPhone fixes a surprising number of CarPlay hiccups.

Cute widget ideas for your car

• “my car”: your real car in your paint, with “hello, you ♡” underneath.
• A countdown: “9 days till Dubai”, “3 days till payday”, “12 days till the concert”.
• Days together: for your partner, your bestie, or the day you got your license.
• Your plate: in glitter, in varsity letters or in a delicate serif.
• Mood of the day and a daily compliment from your bestie.
• Car care: a countdown to the next car wash, service or insurance renewal, and the parking meter timer.

Want them all in one style? Each of the 13 worlds restyles every widget in one tap.