{"id":195294,"date":"2025-10-01T18:20:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T18:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/195294\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T18:20:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T18:20:18","slug":"using-ios-26-carplay-heres-why-youre-probably-not-getting-messages-notifications-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/195294\/","title":{"rendered":"Using iOS 26 CarPlay? Here\u2019s why you\u2019re probably not getting Messages notifications anymore"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve updated your iPhone to iOS 26<\/a>, I bet you\u2019re enjoying all the new features and visual makeover it offers with Liquid Glass<\/a>. I\u2019ve been using the final version ever since Apple released it a couple weeks ago just ahead with the iPhone 17<\/a> launch, but I\u2019ve found something odd two weeks in with CarPlay<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Apple\u2019s car infotainment software gets some changes that address many of the issues I\u2019ve had previously<\/a> with CarPlay. Not only does the new Liquid Glass material design language give CarPlay a face lift, but other new additions like Live Activities and new widgets make things way more functional than ever before.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

However, I\u2019ve noticed something strange happen ever since I upgraded my iPhone 16 Pro Max<\/a> to the public release of iOS 26. The Messages app disappeared and I didn\u2019t realize it until recently. If you’re facing the same issue, here’s what’s going on.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

Apps don\u2019t appear if App Lock is enabled<\/p>\n

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\"iOS\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Tom’s Guide \/ John Velasco)<\/p>\n

After restarting my iPhone and pairing it again to my vehicle to access CarPlay, the Messages app was still not showing up. I was going mad at this point and thought to myself that I needed to perform a hard reset on my iPhone, but I eventually found the culprit \u2014 the App Lock feature<\/a>.<\/p>\n

App Lock debuted with iOS 18<\/a>, but I only recently enabled Face ID lock with my Messages app. Apparently this causes the app to not show up in CarPlay for obvious reasons, as the only way to access and run the app is to perform a Face ID unlock each time.<\/p>\n

Other apps are also affected in this way, so if you absolutely need them in CarPlay, you\u2019ll need to disable App Lock on those apps. There\u2019s unfortunately no work-around for this.<\/p>\n

Disabling App Lock is pretty simple and requires you to perform a long press on the Messages app on your home screen. If you\u2019ve already enabled App Lock via Face ID (or Pass Code), you\u2019ll see the option for \u201cDon\u2019t Require Face ID.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.<\/p>\n

Why you should disable App Lock with Messages<\/p>\n

\n

\"Disabling\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Tom’s Guide \/ John Velasco)<\/p>\n

Although I was initially torn about disabling App Lock with Messages, the way CarPlay handles Messages notifications while I\u2019m driving is superb. That\u2019s why I ended up disabling App Lock altogether because of how well Siri<\/a> announces messages politely. Instead of announcing them right away, Siri will ask if I\u2019d like to hear them first \u2014 and then proceed to let me know if I\u2019d like to reply.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m really impressed by how accurately Siri transcribes my messages because it\u2019s been 100% accurate with my responses, which are spoken back to me to make sure everything’s correct. And of course, it\u2019s all done in a way that doesn\u2019t take my attention away from the road ahead of me \u2014 which is the biggest reason I\u2019m willing to disable App Lock.<\/p>\n

Apple should come up with a fix for this<\/p>\n

\n

\"iOS\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Tom’s Guide \/ John Velasco)<\/p>\n

While this is my solution for the interim, I really hope that Apple can somehow address this issue with CarPlay and App Lock. Perhaps it could ask for an additional Face Unlock permission when my iPhone connects to CarPlay? That way, it could at least continue to relay Messages notifications while I\u2019m driving instead of ignoring them altogether.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s still tough because the premise of App Lock is to require Face ID each and every time an app is accessed on your phone. I really hate missing important messages while I\u2019m driving, which took me a couple of weeks to realize. I thought I must\u2019ve put my phone on silent mode or something. But I guess not, because App Lock has been the culprit all this time.<\/p>\n

Follow Tom’s Guide on Google News<\/a> and add us as a preferred source<\/a> to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!<\/p>\n

More from Tom’s Guide<\/p>\n

Today’s best Apple iPhone 17 deals<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019ve updated your iPhone to iOS 26, I bet you\u2019re enjoying all the new features and visual…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[165,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-195294","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-mobile","9":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}