CarPlay with iOS 18 Broken

Thanks for this post, had same type of issues with my iPhone 14 plus after updating to IOS 18 and 18.0.1 didn't help. I made a vocal shortcut to turn on flashlight after updating. I disabled and deleted my shortcut and my CarPlay is now restored.

I think I’m having a related issue ever since updating to 18.1. Have tried deleting and re-pairing to no success. I have no vocal shortcuts enabled either. CarPlay worked perfectly prior to the update.

CarPlay won’t connect and even pairing, the icon will oftentimes not even show up.

Wondering if this is a known bug or if there are any other workarounds to try?

I used to work and was last tier of apple support, they have 2 option in this case. Refer u to car manufacturer or say that we are aware of this issue and working to fix it, and you have to wait for update

So i would recommend u. Not to touch cars firmware, cause for apple this issue is known. And that support guy just followed stupid instructions

thats not a case that will work for everyone

for ex

i restored my device to factory settings and setted up as new. Not to take bugs from backup file. But does same

i already tried all suggested things and even more than we have here.

meanwhile my all other devices runnging ios 17 are working good..

but i have typically different issue

my carplay works fine. Before call arrives. As soon as call arrives. Doesnt makes sense it will be cellular or no. My carplay display freezes immediately and got no reactions . But as soon as i swith voice to airpods or loud speaker. Carplay display starts working and automatically presses all buttons that i used when it was freezed..

so i think better way to wait for an update, cause if not this regular steps wont work.. there is no other way to resolve this issue

sincerely CPU T2

My notifications on my Apple Watch are delayed, but I can deal with that. My biggest gripe is the lack of popup banner notifications on my screen when I get a text. Ever since I upgraded, I don’t get them. I don’t want my car reading my messages automatically. Please fix it Apple!

CONCLUSION:

I was the cables... at least in my case... the very thick Nikon USB-A to USB-C cable appears to be able to carry charging energy, and data, as well. And apparently the smaller, white and look like Apple cables, only supply charging capabilities.

So those of you faced with this paradox: try getting yourself an "Apple Approved USB-A to USB-C" cable designed to charge and supply data.

P.S. Someone else on this problem support thread had brought up the "cable issue"... I just confirmed it.

It’s driving me completely crazy. I’ve tried everything, but ever since I updated to iOS 18, CarPlay no longer works with a cable. Sometimes it connects and then disconnects randomly.

I’ve also tried connecting it wirelessly, but there’s a huge delay. It’s impossible to use Google Maps because it freezes and then starts working again just after you’ve missed the exit…

Honestly, this is horrible. I’ve already tried resetting the network settings on my phone, etc

Henk S wrote:

iPhone 16 Pro with iOS 18. CarPlay does not work with it on either of our cars. Both vehicles are late model (2023) and worked perfectly fine with my prior iPhone 14 Pro, and still work perfectly fine with my Spouse's iPhone 12 Pro with or without a cable. I've gone through the various recommendations in this thread with both our vehicles without success. I hope Apple fixes whatever they broke soon, as I rely heavily on CarPlay.

Hard to offer much help when you don't tell us what things you tried.

1. Do you use a VPN on your iPhone? If yes, turn it off or better yet, delete it completely as they aren't needed.
2. Did you go to Settings > General > About > Name and change the name of the phone as often cars see the name and are then trying to connect to the previous phone.
3. Did you have your car forget your previous phone, then have your phone forget the car if it is in Settings > General > CarPlay, then reconnect to your car?

Same. I Upgraded to iphone 16 Pro. My old 12 pro max connected flawlessly.

I have tried three different cables. Carplay will activate and then disconnect and then reconnect. Over and over and over.

Both phones operating iOS 18.

Swapped iPhone14 Pro Max to 16 Pro Max. CarPlay just wouldn’t engage as before.

Solution: Whilst in car - iPhone turned off, Car turned off. Switch iPhone back on, start car, connect iPhone to system - CarPlay now running as expected!!

This is absolutely an ios18 issue. Like everyone else, prior to the update, my carplay was flawless. Afterwards, wired (my only option in my Jeep) carplay results in poor sound which only comes out of my driver's side speaker. When simply using my Bluetooth "media," sound is excellent. However, I can't initiate "play" at the top of the selected Playlist. This prompts me to go to "settings" with no remedy. Now I have to press "play" on the first song of the Playlist which initiates the playing of the desired Playlist. If I wish to use my Carplay for navigation, I'm relegated to a subpar music experience. So YES, Apple seriously needs to fix this!

My iPhone 13 ProMax would not connect to Car Play after having worked fine before. My troubleshooting included checking to see if it worked wired in my wife’s Mazda CX5. It did. Checking to see if my wife’s iPhone 12 SE worked wirelessly in my car. It did. Thus, there was some software on my phone messing things up. I tried all the recommended fixes including wiping network settings, checking VPN (off) and various other recommended checks for culprits. No joy.

In the end, I decided on the nuclear option and wiped the phone and restored from an iCloud backup. It fixed the problem. Don’t know what it was but it isn’t there anymore.

I have a 2020 Toyota Tundra, that only has WIRED Car Play. And a new iPhone 16 PRO MAX (iOS 18.0.1) that I tried to connect to the pickup Tuesday morning as we headed for the beach. It would not connect, and my wife and I tried each of our own USB-A to USB-C cables. The phone would show it was charging using either cable, but no Car Play activation.

On the way home, my wife connected her iPhone 13 Pro running iOS 18.0.1 to the pickup and Car Play worked as expected. So not at all likely just an iOS issue.

When we got home, I connected my iPhone 16 PROMAZ my wife's AUDI e-Tron, which does support wireless connectivity to Car Play. Car Play activation started and finished just as would be expected. I used the same car today to drive across the city on a long errand, and Car Play worked flawlessly for Apple Maps, iMessaging, Voice Mail retrieval, outbound calls and listening to music. So, not an iOS issue if connecting wirelessly.

So just now, I followed someone else's procedure: turn off phone, turn off pickup, get in pickup, turn on phone and let it complete boot cycle and unlock it, then start pickup and let it complete boot cycle. Connected phone to pickup and Car Play activation started and I was able to complete it on the pickup and phone side.

NOW, what I did that I should not have, was tried a 3rd cable I had yet to try... so right now don't know if it was the steps I followed, or the cable.

I will go back to one of the first cables I used to see if Car Play fails now, or still works.

FINAL FOLLOW-UP: My Nikon cable is USB-A 3.0 to USB-C... the cables we used previously were only USB-A 2.0 to USB-C... not enough bandwidth to carry the data. Get online at Amazon and get yourself some USB-3.0 or better to USB-C cables and your problems should be solved.