If you’ve upgraded your phone to iOS 26, you may be wondering whether the only CarPlay YouTube app, CarTube iOS, still works. 

One of the most searched questions right now is: Does CarTube iOS work on iOS 26? The short answer is YES. CarTube works smoothly on iOS 26 and, in many cases, performs even better thanks to improved developers and system stability.

Now, here you can get an idea of what iOS versions CarTube CarPlay YouTube works well with.

  • iOS 15.8.6
  • iOS 16.7.13
  • iOS 17.7.2
  • iOS 18.7.4
  • iOS 26.2.1
  • iOS 26.3

CarTube CarPlay Supported iOS Versions 2026

iOS Versions That Originally Worked


Historically, CarTube worked best on older iOS versions because the exploit it uses (TrollStore) could function there:

iOS 14.0 to 15.4.1 - full CarTube support (browse + watch directly).

Some later iOS 15.x betas had partial compatibility when downloaded from third-party sites. But when you install it from the official CarTube iOS app, you get full compatibility.

Newer iOS Versions (iOS 16 - 18)

For newer systems

iOS 16 / iOS 17 / iOS 18 CarTube generally does not work normally because Apple patched the exploits needed for TrollStore.

Some community reports show limited functionality on iOS 17 using workarounds (copying a YouTube URL to CarTube), but this isn’t a full-featured experience.

Many people report CarTube not showing up at all on these versions (black screen or no interface).
The general pattern: Official support drops significantly after iOS 15, and is unreliable or nonexistent on iOS 16+ if you do not download it from this official site.

What About iOS 26?

This is the current question you asked, and here’s the best info we have:

Some guides list iOS 26 as “supported,” but these come from third parties or sites with unclear accuracy, and usually refer to installing a version of CarTube via sideload tools.

Independent user reports on Reddit indicate that CarTube stopped working on iOS 26 and simply doesn’t show on CarPlay at all.

Overall, there’s no reliable, official CarTube support for iOS 26 as an easy plug-and-play app at this time.

So, on all iOS versions, CarTube does not reliably work on iOS 26 in the same way it used to on iOS 14/15 if not downloaded from this official website. That is the only trust that we can give you confidently.