- Apple’s CarPlay smartphone mirroring system will enable drivers to play videos on their car’s screen while the vehicle is stationary.
- The feature will be introduced in iOS 27, but not all cars will support it.
- Until now, iPhone users could beam a video from their phone to the car’s screen through AirPlay.
It’s update season at Apple, with the latest iOS 27 software version for iPhones bringing a new, AI-supported Siri, as well as many other improvements under the skin.
However, one new feature aimed directly at drivers flew under the radar because it wasn’t part of the American tech giant’s WWDC26 presentation. Starting with iOS 27, CarPlay will allow drivers to browse and watch videos from their phones on their car’s infotainment screen.
The change, which comes shortly after Google announced that Android Auto is getting video playback, was spotted by MacRumors in a video aimed at developers. To be clear, iPhone users could watch videos from their phones on the car’s screen before this update, but that was done through AirPlay, where the display acted like a small TV.
Now, CarPlay will enable drivers and passengers to browse videos directly on the infotainment screen, eliminating the need to use the phone. That being said, there are some limitations.
First and foremost, apps will have to update the way they handle videos to support the new feature. Second, the cars themselves need to support video sharing. And third, videos will only be played while the car is stationary—with the stream automatically switching to audio-only when movement is detected.
Apple did not provide a list of compatible cars, so you’ll have to try the feature on your own once iOS 27 starts rolling out to all users sometime in September. A developer beta is available now, with a public beta going live next month.
Besides video playback in CarPlay, the latest update brings a mini-player for audio within apps, improved wireless CarPlay reliability, improved GPS accuracy and navigation heading, and audio scrubbing within CarPlay’s “Now Playing” interface.
On iPhone 15 Pro or newer devices, a more intelligent version of Siri, known as Siri AI, will be available on CarPlay. This enables drivers to get more personalized answers to complex questions.
