If you have an Android phone and drive a car, you should take advantage of Android Auto. This handy feature makes it easy to safely access music, navigation and other apps while driving.
Here are some Android Auto tips and tricks to get the most out of the experience.
A Note About Android Auto and Google Assistant Driving Mode
While Android Auto is designed to be used with a compatible infotainment unit in your car, Google also used to offer a version of Android Auto right on your phone’s screen. However, Android Auto for phone screens is no longer supported. Instead, you’ll need to use Google Assistant’s Driving Mode, which is similar but has a few differences.
Check out our comparison of Android Auto and Google Assistant Driving Mode for more information. Here we will focus on Android Auto itself, but some of the advice applies to driving mode as well.
1. Take advantage of the Google Assistant
Android Auto voice commands, powered by the Google Assistant, are vital to mastering the feature. The Google Assistant not only lets you access information quickly, it’s the safest way to do it while driving. You don’t have to reach for your phone to skip a song, ask a question or make a call.
If your car has Android Auto integration, you can press the voice command button on your steering wheel to activate it. In driving mode, tap the microphone icon or use the “OK Google” voice command.
To make sure you have voice commands enabled, open the Android Auto app and tap Detection of “Ok Google”. In this menu, make sure you have while driving On Then, while you’re navigating with Driving mode, the Google Assistant will respond even if your screen is off.
Many of the most common Google Assistant commands also work while you’re driving. Of course, not all of this is relevant in the car, but try some of these queries the next time you’re on the road:
- “Which is the news?”
- “Remind me to buy paper towels in twenty minutes.”
- “How long will it take to get to Pinewood Park?”
- “Call Mark.”
- “Did the Giants win last night?”
- “Skip this song.”
2. Download Android Auto Compatible Apps
Android Auto doesn’t support many apps, as it’s designed to reduce distractions while driving. It still has a good selection though, so you should take a look at what’s on offer.
To view apps compatible with Android Auto, visit Google Play apps page for Android Auto. We have covered the best Android Auto apps before; In general, you will find that they fall into one of three categories:
- Music: Pandora, Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music
- Messenger service: Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Kik, Telegram
- Radio/News: iHeartRadio, Simple Radio, New York Times, ABC News, dozens of local radio station apps
For navigation, Google Maps comes built into Android and works with Android Auto. If you prefer Waze, you can use it to navigate on Android Auto. Audiobooks are also supported in apps like Audible.
Any music or radio app you install will appear in the app list in Android Auto or Driving Mode; tap on them to explore what they offer while driving.
Messaging apps work a little differently. If you have a compatible messaging app installed, you’ll see a notification appear when you have a new message. You can touch Reply to say your answer, or use the auto-reply command to let the chat know you’re driving.
For some apps, you can also mute the conversation to prevent further notifications.
3. Organize your list of automatic Android applications
The Android Auto home screen contains a list of compatible apps on your device. This can become unmanageable if you have a lot of apps installed, which you don’t want to be distracted while driving.
Fortunately, the app allows you to organize and trim the list of apps in the launcher. In the Android Auto app menu, choose customize launcher have a look.
The default is AZ with suggested apps on topbut you can choose custom order to rearrange them as you see fit. Uncheck a box to remove that app from your launcher screen. You can’t disable key apps, like Maps or Phone.
4. Specify a default music provider
When you have multiple music streaming apps installed on your phone, the Google Assistant can get confused when telling it to play a specific song.
Let’s say you are a Spotify Premium user. Without linking your account to the Google Assistant, you won’t be able to play your Spotify playlists. And if you don’t tell the app that you prefer Spotify, you’ll have to say “on Spotify” at the end of every music request. Otherwise, Assistant will tell you that you’re not subscribed to YouTube Music.
This is annoying when you’re driving, so make sure you fix it ahead of time. Within the Android Auto menu, tap google assistant to open the relevant options for your account.
On this page, scroll down and tap Music. You will see a list of installed music services; touch the one you want to set as default. if you see a Link you’ll need to link your account for that service with the Google Assistant before setting it up as your primary music provider.
Once you’ve done this, general requests like “Play Jazz Music” will start playing from your chosen service. If you want to play from another provider, you can still say something like “Play Kansas music on YouTube Music.”
It’s important that your contacts are easily accessible while driving, and this means that you should keep your contact list clean and unambiguous. If you say “Call Matt” while driving and you have more than one contact that matches that name, Assistant will ask you which Matt you want. Spending more time on this will distract you from driving.
For best results, avoid duplicate contacts; add people’s last names if necessary to remove ambiguity. Don’t include emojis or other strange characters in a contact’s name that could confuse the Google Assistant.
Also double check if you have contacts split across multiple entries, perhaps from a long time ago when you could only store one number per contact. You may not remember that you have separate entries for “John” and “John cell” when making a call through the Google Assistant, for example.
Follow our guide to cleaning up your Google contacts for more tips.
6. Modify other Android automatic options
You’re almost ready to go, now that you have Android Auto commands and tips under your belt. However, before you hit the road, you should check a few settings. As before, open the Android Auto app to explore these options.
Modify the following, if desired:
- Day/Night mode for maps: Choose whether you want to always set light or dark mode when browsing.
- Start music automatically: Enable this to listen to music or podcasts when you start driving so you don’t have to do it manually.
- Time: Turn it on to display the current temperature and conditions on the top bar of your car screen.
- Show notifications of conversations (group): Disable notifications for individual and/or group messages entirely. Use Android’s notification options if you want more precise control.
- Show the first line of conversations: Decide if you want to see message previews when your car is stopped.
Check out the best Android Auto settings to tweak for more help.
Hit the road with Android Auto
If you were wondering what you can do with Android Auto, now you know. These Android Auto tips and tricks help you get the most out of the feature and keep you safe on the road. Remember to be careful when driving, even with these convenient features. Anything that takes your attention away from driving is dangerous.
And if you ever run into problems, it’s not hard to fix Android Auto when it stops working.