Your Next Car Might Finally Let You Binge ‘The Studio’ While Parked

New code references discovered in this week’s first beta of iOS 26.4 have once again kicked off discussions and speculation about Apple’s plans to add video support for CarPlay, thanks to references to the feature in Apple’s own TV app.

The snippets were found in Apple’s TV app by MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris, who shared the news on X. So far, they’re merely some strings directing users to open Apple TV on their iPhone to sign in or review privacy information.

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However, the way they’re phrased does hint that we could see an actual “TV” app on the dashboard, and an additional “TemplatedTVApp” reference found by 9to5Mac lends weight to this. That would be a big change from what the feature previously seemed like.

‘Video in the Car’

While Apple hasn’t publicly discussed this, several folks found references to Video in CarPlay on Apple’s CarPlay Developer Page shortly after iOS 26 was shown off at last year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). That generated a lot of enthusiasm in certain corners, but as we said last June, it’s probably not as exciting as what most folks are looking for.

While Android Auto allows video apps to play on vehicle infotainment screens — and several Android-based car adapters can do the same — Apple maintains a very strict list of acceptable app categories for CarPlay — and video apps have never been on them. Apple not only limits CarPlay apps to things like messaging, audio, and navigation, but it also insists those apps have distraction-free user interfaces designed with safety in mind before it will authorize them to appear on the dashboard.

So, when Apple quietly added Video in the car to its developer page, it’s understandable that many hoped we’d soon be able to catch up on the latest episodes of Pluribus or The Studio while waiting to pick up our kids from school. Sadly, there were several indications that this might not be coming as soon as we thought — or in the way some anticipated.

The fact that Apple has never made a consumer-facing announcement about this should be our first clue. If you’ve heard about this feature, it’s because it’s generating a lot of buzz on third-party sites that cover what Apple is up to; the company itself has yet to say anything about it beyond a single paragraph on its CarPlay Developer Page that reads as follows:

However, the key thing to keep in mind is that this exists in the CarPlay for automakers section of the page, meaning it’s a feature for carmakers to enable, not software developers or end users. “Your car” in this context means the car you make, not the car you own.

It’s therefore up to automakers to add support for it, and there’s another wrinkle here. Apple’s use of the word “AirPlay” implies that this will simply allow a vehicle screen to act as an AirPlay streaming destination, in much the same way as a smart TV or set-top box.

If that’s the case, then this will be a mixed bag in terms of flexibility and availability. On the upside, any app that supports AirPlay would be compatible without the developers needing to do anything special, but the downside is that automakers might. AirPlay traditionally only works over Wi-Fi and requires special chips, suggesting it would be limited to higher-end trims, and wouldn’t be available as a software update on most vehicles. There’s also a better-than-even chance that this could be destined exclusively for vehicles equipped with the next-generation CarPlay Ultra, which would be a very limited group of cars.

Of course, Apple could plan to extend the “AirPlay” brand to mean something more. Certainly, the suggestion of an actual Apple TV app on the dashboard — which is what these new code strings imply — would be more than traditional AirPlay streaming, so we’ll have to wait and see.

So far, my contacts in the auto industry haven’t had much to say about this; most aren’t even fully aware of the specs, and those who might be are being unusually tight-lipped about it. Official PR responses are the usual boilerplate statements about “Exploring and evaluating all new features,” while having “nothing to announce at this time.”

It’s also worth keeping in mind that the very existence of these strings doesn’t mean this feature will launch in iOS 26.4. Apple still has to wait on carmakers, so the most likely scenario is that some 2027 models are already teeing up support for AirPlay video in the car and Apple is just getting ready.