Do you often find random screenshots of your car’s infotainment system in your Photos app after using Apple CarPlay? If so, you’re not alone.
When your iPhone is connected to Apple CarPlay, it automatically takes two screenshots – one of your iPhone screen and one of the CarPlay interface. These images are saved directly to the Photos app, cluttering your gallery with unnecessary screen captures you probably never intended to take.
Why Does My iPhone Take Two Screenshots?
This behavior usually occurs when you manually take a screenshot while using CarPlay. The iPhone captures both your phone’s screen and the car’s display. This results in an extra screenshot that can be confusing or annoying to manage.
Until now, there was no way to stop CarPlay from taking screenshots. Thankfully, with the release of iOS 26 (currently in beta), Apple has finally introduced a simple toggle to disable this behavior and stop CarPlay screenshots on iPhone.
Strangely, the option to disable or turn off CarPlay screenshots on iPhone is not located where you’d expect. It’s tucked away in a rather separate section and not within the CarPlay settings.
How to Stop CarPlay from Taking Screenshots on iPhone (iOS 26)
Follow these quick steps to turn off automatic CarPlay screenshots in iOS 26:
- Make sure your iPhone is running iOS 26.
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Navigate to General > Screen Capture.
- Turn off the toggle button next to “CarPlay Screenshots“.
That’s it! Once disabled, your iPhone will no longer save screenshots of your car screen to your photo library.
Why You Should Disable CarPlay Screenshots
Stopping CarPlay from screenshotting and automatically saving screenshots to Photos will help you:
- Keep your Photos library clean and organized
- Save storage space by avoiding duplicate screenshots
- Prevent accidental sharing of unnecessary car screen images
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