It’s turning out to be a huge year for CarPlay, surprising many of us after years of middling updates. Among the host of new CarPlay features coming in iOS 26, there’s a key fix for what’s long been the most annoying Messages issue for me: the lack of tapbacks support.

CarPlay in iOS 26 adds support for Messages tapbacks

Ever since Apple unveiled the “next generation of CarPlay” in 2022, new updates for the standard CarPlay experience have been fairly underwhelming.

But things are starting to change, with CarPlay Ultra’s launch finally arriving and iOS 26 bringing a packed lineup of new CarPlay features.

One such feature is the kind of low-hanging fruit that serves as perfect evidence of CarPlay’s previous lack of attention from Apple.

Tapbacks are a core feature of the Messages app, and have been since they debuted almost a decade ago in iOS 10.

Yet until now, you could never send tapbacks over CarPlay.

This has proven especially annoying for me personally, as my typical Messages conversations almost always end with a tapback.

Using a thumbs up, heart, or laughing emoji has become extremely common for me. It’s a way to acknowledge the previous message but also intentionally not continue the conversation.

Now with iOS 26, tapbacks are finally supported in CarPlay’s Messages app.

The same simple convenience of tapbacks on the iPhone will be available inside the car too.

This isn’t the only Messages change: pinned conversations are now supported too.

These features join the variety of other iOS 26 upgrades coming to the Messages app on iPhone.

Here’s hoping Apple’s renewed CarPlay efforts are a sign that Apple won’t let similarly core app features, like tapbacks, go absent from the car for so long moving forward.

Source: 9to5mac