iOS 26: CPMapTemplate crashes CarPlayTemplateUIHost (SIGABRT) in CPSMapTemplateViewController._configureNavigationBarShareButton

[bayandbridgeholdings-coder]

Summary

On iOS 26, presenting a MapTemplate as the CarPlay root template crashes the CarPlay host process (CarPlayTemplateUIHost) with SIGABRT during the template's viewDidLoad. The crash is inside Apple's CarPlaySupport framework while it configures a new iOS-26 navigation-bar share button. A non-map template (InformationTemplate) on the exact same setup renders fine, so the scene/Nitro wiring is sound — the crash is specific to CPMapTemplate on iOS 26.

It appears to be simulator-only: the same TestFlight build runs fine on a real CarPlay head unit. Filing because it blocks simulator-based CarPlay development on iOS 26.

Environment

• @iternio/react-native-auto-play 0.4.11 (and ios/templates/MapTemplate.swift is byte-identical in 0.5.1)
• react-native-nitro-modules 0.35.9
• Expo SDK 54, React Native 0.81.5, React 19.1.0, New Architecture enabled
• iOS 26.5 Simulator (iPhone 17), Xcode 26.5, macOS 26.4.1

Repro

On didConnect:

const root = new MapTemplate({ component: MapScreen, onStopNavigation: () => {} });
root.setRootTemplate();

Run on the iOS 26.5 simulator, then I/O → External Displays → CarPlay. CarPlayTemplateUIHost crashes (Abort trap: 6) as the map template view loads.

Crash (key frames)

-[NSObject(NSObject) doesNotRecognizeSelector:]
___forwarding___  /  _CF_forwarding_prep_0
-[CPSMapTemplateViewController _updateShareButtonVisibility]
-[CPSMapTemplateViewController _configureNavigationBarShareButton]
-[CPSMapTemplateViewController _viewDidLoad]
-[CPSBaseTemplateViewController viewDidLoad]

EXC_CRASH (SIGABRT), unrecognized-selector forwarding. iOS 26 added a navigation-bar share button to the map template; configuring it sends a selector that isn't recognized.

Notes / questions

• InformationTemplate renders fine on the same simulator, so this is CPMapTemplate-specific.
• Is this known? Is there a way to suppress or pre-configure the nav-bar share button (e.g. setting leadingNavigationBarButtons/trailingNavigationBarButtons before the view loads) so the map template works in the iOS-26 simulator?

Thanks for the library and the quick release cadence! 🙏

[g4rb4g3]

This sounds a lot like a iOS simulator bug to me. Most likely related to the destination sharing with the vehicle Apple introduced on iOS 26.4.

https://developer.apple.com/download/files/CarPlay-Developer-Guide.pdf page 59

Nothing we can fix on lib side sadly, this is something Apple has to fix.
We had a similar issue with CPSupportsInstrumentClusterNavigationScene. The iOS simulator would crash when starting a trip when the cluster navigation scene support was enabled.