Android Auto is a great application that makes traveling by car much easier. Drivers can enjoy a number of great features that will make the journey a much more pleasant experience. But what to do when Android Auto does not work? And what could be the reasons?
What is Android Auto?
It is a highly functional software from Google that was officially launched in 2015, although some testers had access to the tool much earlier. The idea behind Android Auto is to bring some of the functionality of our smartphones into the car.
You may wonder why this is so important. From experience, we know that every time we take our phone in our hand and look at the screen in a speeding car, it increases the risk of an accident. We can’t see what is happening around us on the roadway. This is a very dangerous situation.
Google came up with the idea that it would be much better to give people the features they care so much about through a dedicated app that would make it easy to, for example, switch a song on Spotify or answer a phone call by using the touch screen or steering wheel menu in their car.
Of course, an extremely important part of this ecosystem is also navigation, which uses Google Maps. This is a great solution, which significantly increases comfort of every journey. If your car has a multimedia screen, the entire route – after pairing with Android Auto – can be displayed on it. If you do not have such a screen, the directions will be delivered to you by voice. This is a considerable facilitation.
Android Auto also allows you to make and receive phone calls quickly. The number of cars that even enable you to quickly import your entire contact book is growing every year, and you can also set up favorite calls that you can get to much faster.
In many of the markets where Android Auto is already running – and there are more than 40 of them worldwide – you can often pair the service with Google Assistant, too. This is another convenience that means you can turn on your favorite features with your voice, without taking your hands off the wheel and without having to look at your phone screen. This is a huge improvement in our safety on the road.
Why is Android Auto not working?
There could be several reasons, but the most likely is that your car is not compatible with this service. How to check it? First of all, it is necessary to realize how your car connects to your cell phone.
To check this, the built-in WiFi network (especially in new cars) or Bluetooth is usually used.If your vehicle doesn’t have either of these transmitters, then – from the point of view of our smartphone – it is an analog vehicle, meaning it is a car that cannot be connected to.
Fortunately, you can solve this problem. A very cheap, yet effective method is to replace the factory radio found in your vehicle with one that supports Bluetooth connectivity. If the company performing the radio replacement service does everything right, then you should be able to connect to Android Auto and enjoy some of its functionality.
How do you recognize such a radio? First of all, by the fact that it has a Bluetooth label on the box or it says that it supports Android Auto connectivity. If you want to enjoy the ability to navigate not only with the switches on the radio panel, but also from the steering wheel, then you need to make sure that they are properly connected to your new device.
Is my car compatible with Android Auto?
The vast majority of new vehicles from Audi support both Android Auto as well as a competing app from Apple, Apple Car. Occasionally, a vehicle may not want to connect via Bluetooth to our Audi.
Luckily, you can take advantage of wired connectivity. The majority of new cars have a built-in USB port. It’s usually located by the main dashboard or by the gear stick. All you have to do is buy a cable to connect your phone to the car.
Newer smartphones will require a USB- USB-C cable, while older smartphones may rely on the USB-microUSB standard. Typically, as soon as you connect your vehicle to your smartphone, you can take advantage of the many features Android Auto provides.
Despite the fact that the vast majority of car manufacturers already support the application from Google, it can not be forgotten that there are several brands that will not be compatible with Android Auto until the near future. The official list of vehicles that are supposed to connect this way with your smartphone can be found on Google’s website.
In practice, this means that sometimes there may be a situation when even a car with Bluetooth or WiFi module will not be able to connect to Android Auto. Why? Because the manufacturer of the vehicle has not provided for such a solution. Fortunately, these situations are extremely rare, and companies that manufacture such vehicles are slowly changing their policies and aiming to make their new cars support this application.
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