4 Android Auto problems that turned out to be my phone's fault, not the car's

Published Sep 18, 2026, 3:01 PM EDT Richard is the PC Hardware Lead at XDA and has been covering the technology industry for almost two decades. He's been building PCs since young, and when not creating content, you can often find him inside a chassis somewhere. I love using Android Auto and have done so for many years now. It completely replaced vehicle infotainment systems that are often sluggish, underpowered, and sometimes downright useless. If you've ever tried using the built-in car navigation system, you'll know precisely what I'm on about, unless you drive a Tesla or a recent Volvo. Wireless Android Auto is even better, negating the need for the cable, but I've found some problems with the software that turned out to be the phone's fault. Poor internet connectivity Even while at home and in range of Wi-Fi The issue with Android Auto Wireless is that it handles your phone's wireless connections. It uses both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to connect your smartphone to the available device or car infotainment system. This helps ensure everything works as seamlessly as possible, without interruption, lag, or poor performance. There's a caveat, aside from the absolute decimation of battery life: internet connectivity. We have a wireless access point in the garage that provides internet access to the front yard and driveway. The issue is that the phone can't connect to it because it's linked to the Android Auto receiver, so the fallback option is the mobile data connection. That wouldn't normally be a problem, but we live in the middle of nowhere, and the nearest mast is some distance away. That means as soon as my phone connects to my truck, it's game over. No setting up Waze. No starting a Jellyfin music playlist that isn't available offline. No quickly finding somewhere to visit before setting off. I have to do all of this either before I turn on the vehicle or after we set off and get a better signal. The entire setup is hacked together It's actually quite ridiculous My vehicle is the Maxus T90 EV with CarPlay support. There's no Android Auto. Why? Good question. Actually, there is Android Auto support, but it's seemingly locked behind a software update, which I have so far been unable to get flashed onto my vehicle. Maxus' network of dealerships near me is nonexistent, which makes getting the job done almost impossible. I encountered a solution, however, in the form of an Android Auto to CarPlay wireless adapter. This ingenious little device takes the wireless Android Auto connection, translates it to Apple CarPlay, and then outputs it to the Maxus T90 EV center screen. It's Android Auto running as Android Auto via CarPlay. Still with me? This means that sometimes the connection doesn't engage; there's sometimes a pop-up on the screen asking for authentication with a QR code even though scanning it does nothing. Aside from that, it's been flawless. That said, should I encounter anything, it's likely due to the phone or the setup I have going. This isn't the vehicle's fault. I'm trying to get it to do something it simply wasn't designed to do. ColorOS is a little too aggressive Battery management taken to a whole new level The Oppo Find X6 is a brilliant phone, but it can be seriously aggressive when it comes to letting apps use the battery with background processes. I had to manually approve each one so I can have WhatsApp notifications through, Home Assistant can alert me to high humidity readings, and other useful pings. But even then, it's not reliable enough that everything comes through. Some WhatsApp conversation notifications don't make it. The same with Home Assistant. That also affects Android Auto, which is an unusual workload itself. The phone will be locked and on charge, all while using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, music playback, mobile data, and navigation, all at once. That's quite the solution for ColoOS's battery management. I had to remove all restrictions for all apps used through Android Auto. But it also meant that when things go wrong, restarting the phone, disconnecting the dongle, and clearing the Android Auto cache became the norm. Troubleshooting became more of a headache Too many moving parts within the moving vehicle Before, especially with wired Android Auto, connectivity issues usually landed with the phone or the infotainment. Now, since the setup is essentially hacked together using Android as a mediator, troubleshooting is much harder. In essence, we have Android Auto on the phone, wireless connected to an Android device, which then connects to the vehicle, pretending to be an iPhone. It's amazing but also terrible when it comes to figuring out what's gone wrong. I still love using Android Auto Android Auto has become one of those things I simply have to do before setting off. It's akin to strapping myself in, turning the vehicle on, and checking mirrors before setting off. Using the phone with the vehicle has become part of the journey, enhancing almost every aspect of each drive, but sometimes things go wrong, and because it's not natively supported by my truck, it can become infuriating.