General Motors has started removing CarPlay from its EVs. The company also plans to phase it out completely. For drivers who built their routines around Apple CarPlay, the change means fewer familiar phone-app shortcuts in General Motors EVs and more reliance on whatever software General Motors keeps in the dashboard.
CarPlay has existed for over a decade, and Apple now says it supports over 800 different models. Apple also said at WWDC 2022 that 79 percent of car buyers would not choose a model without CarPlay support.
General Motors EVs and CarPlay
The shift lands where the integration gap is hardest to ignore. EVs often need tighter links between the screen, the vehicle, and the software behind them, while CarPlay was built to put iPhone apps in front of the carmaker's own interface.
That tradeoff is why the move is bigger than a menu change. Drivers lose a familiar layer, and General Motors gains more control over data and in-car services inside its own EV software stack.
Tesla Rivian and BMW
General Motors is not alone in moving away from CarPlay. Tesla has never offered support for CarPlay, and Rivian has never offered support for CarPlay.
Tesla has reportedly tested out CarPlay, but it has not added it. BMW once tried to charge $80 a year for access to CarPlay, which shows how valuable the feature became once buyers expected it to come standard.
MyFord Touch on Ford and Lincoln cars lasted just five years. That short run is a reminder that in-car software systems can change faster than the vehicles carrying them.
Apple CarPlay in 2026
A more recent survey suggested losing CarPlay was a deal breaker for 55 percent of its users. Apple Maps Offline Downloads Keep CarPlay Working on Long Drives can help some drivers keep navigation available when they still have access to the feature, but it does nothing for a phaseout inside General Motors EVs.
The practical question now is how quickly the removal reaches the rest of the lineup and which current General Motors EVs still have CarPlay today. General Motors says the phaseout will continue, but it has not given a completion point.
