iOS 26 Leak Reveals Apple’s Upgrades to Messages and CarPlay: Report

Apple is preparing to debut iOS 26 at WWDC25 next week, and while the spotlight will be on the system’s visual overhaul and rebranding, several smaller but useful upgrades are also on the way.

According to exclusive reporting from 9to5Mac, enhancements are coming to Messages, Music, Notes, and CarPlay, citing “previously accurate sources.” Here’s what’s expected…

Messages

Apple is working on two long-requested features:

• Automatic translation of both incoming and outgoing texts, using on-device AI. This would allow users to carry out multilingual conversations more easily.

• Polls, a feature already common in apps like WhatsApp and Telegram. Apple’s version may tie into its new Apple Intelligence platform, potentially suggesting poll formats based on the conversation.

Hopefully we’ll see group chats in iMessage get improvements as well. Quoting in a group chat should just straight up copy WhatsApp at this point.

Apple Music

The Lock Screen experience is getting livelier. Animated album artwork, currently limited to within the Apple Music app, is expected to play full-screen while music is playing—adding visual flair to the Now Playing screen.

Notes

A long-overdue feature is finally being added: Markdown export. Apple Notes will allow users to export notes in Markdown format, bringing it in line with third-party productivity apps that have supported this for years.

CarPlay

CarPlay will get a refreshed design that aligns with the new iOS 26 interface. While it’s unclear how deep the changes will go, Apple appears committed to updating the standard version of CarPlay, not just the upcoming CarPlay Ultra system.

Apple will unveil iOS 19…err…iOS 26 and more at WWDC next week. There is supposed to be a major design overhaul of all its operating systems, to look like it was inspired by visionOS, which powers the pricey Vision Pro.

These features are expected to be part of a broader rollout at Apple’s WWDC keynote event set to kick off on Monday, June 9, at 10am PT/1pm ET.