Widgets in CarPlay

While widgets in CarPlay weren’t exactly a “hidden” gem, as Apple highlighted it during the CarPlay segment of its iOS 26 presentation. However, the interesting part that Apple only barely touched on is that developers won’t need to create new widgets just for CarPlay.

That’s because CarPlay uses the same widgets as StandBy. For those unfamiliar, that’s the mode introduced in iOS 17 that lets you turn your iPhone into a digital photo frame, clock, or display widgets when charging in landscape orientation.

This is excellent news for CarPlay fans, as it means you’ll have a nice collection of widgets to get started when iOS 26 is released. Plus, you won’t have to worry about whether the developers of your favorite apps have the time to add CarPlay-specific widgets.