iOS 26 brought CarPlay a setting that, by most accounts, never should have taken this long.
Apple added the option as part of its iOS 26 update, and early testers describe it as the kind of basic fix that should have shipped with the feature years ago. The setting didn't arrive with any announcement or fanfare — it surfaced through hands-on testing. That's consistent with how Apple tends to handle CarPlay: incremental, quiet, and often years behind where drivers expected the platform to be.
CarPlay has faced persistent criticism for lagging behind Android Auto on driver-facing controls and customization. Google's in-car platform has added features at a steadier clip, and the gap has become a standing frustration for users who expected more from Apple's integration story. The fact that a setting this apparently fundamental is landing in 2026 says something about where CarPlay ranked on Apple's priority list.
With iOS 27 already promising more substantial CarPlay changes, this fix reads less like a bold new direction and more like a backlog ticket finally reaching the top of the queue.