Pixelated Apple CarPlay screen on iPhone 17 Pro Max with Mercedes BClass W246

Hi,

Ive tried quite a few wireless adapters with no luck, they just remove the need for a wire…..it’s still the same connection. However the Ottocast play2video ultra and the getpairr go 2.0 do fix the issue, (getpairr is £40 on Ali express), these have a whole new android UI so it completely updates the software system of the car.

It is not the display that’s the problem, it’s the software/hardware in the Mercedes.

Same situation for me on my Mercedes a class 2018. Tried new wires even tried wireless and all the same. I went out of my way to see another Mercedes a class 2018 and it doesn’t work either. My previous iPhone 11 worked perfectly fine everything up till the 16 not sure about pro max looks fine. Just the 17 pro max seems to be the issue. Went to Mercedes to ask about this and they are asking for £252 just to check for a problem not even to fix it just to check it. I even went to return my current 17 pro max and get a new one on the spot and even that doesn’t work. Hopefully an iOS update fixes this issue or might have to downgrade to 16 pro max if it’s available

Having the same issue here.

Car: 2020 Mercedes-Benz SLC 43 AMG (tested with wired and two wireless adapters)

Adapters: Ottocast Mini Cube 3.0 + CPlay2Air

Phone 1: iPhone 17 Pro Max (iOS 26.0.1) → CarPlay rendering glitches (wired & wireless)

Phone 2: iPhone 15 Pro Max (iOS 26.0.1) → works perfectly

After switching to iPhone 17 Pro Max, Apple Maps and other CarPlay apps stutter or partially refresh on-screen; audio and controls OK. Same result with two wireless adapters and even wired connection, so it seems to be a compatibility issue between iPhone 17 Pro Max and CarPlay, not the adapters or the MB system.

I have a Mercedes A200, 2018 and get a pixelated screen with my iPhone 17 pro plugged in. I tried 3 different leads and tried troubleshooting as do directed by Apple support. No joy. Spoke to Apple again. They are aware there is a software issue that is affecting CarPlay compatibility for a number of car manufacturers. Expect an iOS update to resolve…

Hi All,

Just a bit of an update for those of you who may be interested…..

I have now tired both the ottocast play2video ultra and the getpairr go 2.0 both devices are pretty much the same, the second one generally being cheaper. (They are ai box wireless adapters).

I can confirm that both devices fix the distortion on CarPlay in my 2017 Mercedes. My device in non touch screen and thus made setting up pretty difficult (but possible) so it’s not without its faults - there’s other features such as YouTube/Netflix etc you will need a remote to set up the WiFi if you don’t have a touchscreen. You will also need a remote to do system updates.

It works but not without its problems, it’s boots reasonably fast but seems to want to share a warning message and ask you to set the language each time (not easy without a touchscreen screen) and then you have to open the CarPlay app….

I will be emailing the developers about its faults and hope they can set up a direct boot to CarPlay, which would be awesome!

Hope this helps some people with their frustrations while apple pull their finger out.

Please do not recommend replacing the cable or wireless adapter. It will not fix the problem and will only mean users chasing a costly upgrade solution that does not work. This problem is caused by dropped bits or corrupted data on the digital video output from the phone. The only partial solution I have found is that using the split screen will reduce the severity of the issue. Apple will not publicly acknowledge the problem and directly me to Mercedes when I contacted them. Hopefully they are working on this in the background, and we will see a solution in a future release.

I’ve purchase the amazon bundle ottocast play ultra + remote. The Ottocast on amazon has an input for the remote’s receiver. This allows you to use the remote in the Ottocast (android) interface to get set up, which is fairly quick. From there I only use the remote when I start the car just to select ‘CarPlay’ as one of the options in the Ottocast. This method is not quite as slick as a direct connection to the vehicle, but until Apple tweaks the iOS (this is an Apple issue, my iPhone 17 pro max works fine in my wife’s 2025 GMC vehicle with CarPlay) this solution will work. Thanks to the users in this thread for that suggestion

I have a bluetooth controller coming from the US Amazon store some time this weekend so I am looking forward to trying it. I did get the GetPairr working however but without the remote I can't correct some of the settings for the device but CarPlay is functioning. I have been using it for 3 days and I have had ZERO issues with pixelation (knock on wood). For me, this adapter has seemed to fix the problem and adds some fun extras. I would recommend this as a solid workaround.

Same issue here on a A200 2016 W176 with a new iPhone 17 pro max on ios 26.0.1.

Tried with the official USB A to lightning + official lightning to USB C set up and the car play isn’t recognised on the device

Tried a made for iPhone Beats USB A to USB C cable and the result is the same.

Tried a generic USB A to USB C and the car play connects fine but then is either pixelated or crashes after a period of time. Tried this across several cables like this and got the same. Also tried it with a friend’s new iPhone 17 pro max and got the same issues.

Tried the reset network connections fix via the settings menu and no change.

No issues at all when I had my iPhone 12 Pro Max with lightning cable on the same car driving to pick up the new 17!

After much trial and error,
I've found a trick to improve CarPlay:
making a phone call using WhatsApp or another high-bandwidth app solves the problem.
In my case, after hanging up, everything works perfectly for about 30-40 minutes,
and leaving a call open works flawlessly for the entire trip. It's not a perfect solution,
but it improves what we have.

Update 09-Dec-2025: Apple engineering support called me to say that, after reviewing the logs they extracted from my iPhone 17 Pro Max while connected to the car (GLA 180 2018), that they identified the issue and is in talks with Mercedes. However, during the call they said that because the technology evolved, they would need to add backward compatibility. So I'm assuming there are a couple of potential fixes for our issue:

1. car manufacturers update the software, which would be bad for us customers because Mercedes will charge us one hour of service (AUD 330) to update the software. By the way, Apple paid for that service but Mercedes installed the same version, saying that was the latest version.
2. Apple will update iOS 26 to support older car models.

They also said there's no estimated date for a final resolution.

Same issue wired or wireless via carlink 5.0. However when wired I have found if you turn off the WiFi it works as normal. Not ideal but will do until a permanent fix is available.

After much trial and error,

I've found a trick to improve CarPlay:

making a phone call using WhatsApp or another high-bandwidth app solves the problem.

In my case, after hanging up, everything works perfectly for about 30-40 minutes,

and leaving a call open works flawlessly for the entire trip. It's not a perfect solution,

but it improves what we have.

After much trial and error,

I've found a trick to improve CarPlay:

making a phone call using WhatsApp or another high-bandwidth app solves the problem.

In my case, after hanging up, everything works perfectly for about 30-40 minutes,

and leaving a call open works flawlessly for the entire trip. It's not a perfect solution,

but it improves what we have.

Yet all iPhones before the 17 series with iOS26 work fine. If the problem arose with the 17 series, then that is where the problem lies.

Apple knows the hardware differences these new iPhones have and can therefore fix this with an update.

If it's physically impossible then they need to announce it to prevent customers from buying new cables/adapters or paying for car diagnostics which would be futile.

I know many people would have maybe not purchased a 17 series iPhone knowing of this issue and it will definitely put off prospective buyers with the effected Mercedes vehicles if they knew.