Tesla's autonomous driving system. | Image by Tesla
Just think of the Tesla and iPhone owner who loves their car for its speed and technology but secretly wishes their car had one of the most important features of almost every other car on the road: Apple CarPlay. This has been a major drawback for many Tesla owners for a long time, and because of it, some of them have even chosen to stick with other brands. But it appears the wait is almost over for those users, although a few technical difficulties are just keeping the finish line out of reach.
A partnership with some hurdles to overcome
According to Mark Gurman, Apple expert at Bloomberg, writing in his "Power On" newsletter, Tesla is still working hard to bring the Apple CarPlay feature to their owners. Tesla’s software has always been great, but they have realized that the addition of the Apple CarPlay feature to their vehicles has been a critical one to many of their potential customers who are also iPhone owners. Therefore, the decision was made to have the CarPlay feature function inside a window on the Tesla screen, although the mapping of the two different systems has proven to be a bit of a problem.
The technical roadblocks holding things up
However, the road to get there has not been exactly smooth. During the testing phase, Apple Maps and Tesla’s own navigation system were not exactly on the same page, which caused a whole mess for the company. As a result, Apple had to go back to the drawing board and fine-tune their Maps app for the Tesla hardware. These important changes were not made until the latest versions of iOS 26.
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As a result, Tesla is just waiting for the right moment to roll it out to ensure that a majority of iPhones have the latest iOS update, which hasn't been the case considering the low adoption rate of iOS 26. As per the report, Apple recently revealed that the latest iOS 26 is installed on 74% of the newer iPhone models, and that is a big number, it is a tad slower than usual. This is why Tesla is still waiting before rolling it out for their users.
Why it is a game changer for Tesla users
Android Auto works on Tesla's infotainment system. | Image by Tesla
For a while, Tesla felt they didn’t really need CarPlay integration because their system was already good enough for things like Spotify, Apple Music, and the internet. But the harsh reality is that a majority of Tesla users use the iPhone and for them, the preference is to use CarPlay. In a sense, Tesla opening the door for Apple CarPlay is eliminating the last reason for a tech-savvy buyer to opt for a competing product from a company like Rivian or Lucid.
How much do you value having Apple CarPlay in your vehicle?
It's a dealbreaker; I won't buy a car without it.
43.24%
It's a nice bonus, but I can live with the car's own tech.
32.43%
I actually prefer the built-in manufacturer software.
10.81%
I'm an Android Auto user.
13.51%
37 Votes
The Tesla-Apple crossover
I’ve heard from so many people who enjoy everything about their Teslas but despise having to mount their phone on a plastic holder just to be able to see their Apple Maps and Waze alerts. It is a little comical to think that two of the biggest tech leaders seemingly can't get their mapping features to work together during autonomous driving.
I'm hoping that these two companies can come to some kind of agreement in terms of getting both systems to work together, and hopefully it will happen very soon.
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Johanna Romero is a Senior News Writer at PhoneArena, covering mobile technology news across Android, iOS, wearables, and the Google ecosystem she knows best. Drawing on 15 years in IT and tech support from 2007 to 2022, she brings a user-friendly eye for the practical features and lesser-known tricks readers care about. Google named her an official #TeamPixel member in 2022, and she also reviews the latest devices on her YouTube channel, JoJo the Techie.
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