Not OP. But I’ll give my feedback on why I stopped using android auto.
Let me preface this with most everything in the app is fine. Navigating around the interface is maybe a bit janky but not something that I couldn’t get used to.
The main thing that pushed me away from it is the constant crashing (crash every 1-3 minutes). I understand it to be a somewhat rare issue. But through my research I have not found any way to consistently solve the issue despite finding threads that were posted years ago.
The closest I had come to a solution was to clear some app caches (like Google maps) and that would fix it for the next day or two. But it would always eventually go back to constant crashing. It just became too frustrating to deal with.
Ah ok, that is rather annoying, I have a couple usbc to usb 3.0 cables that have that issue. I also drive a lot of rentals, have never had the issue with a usbc to usbc.
In what way does it suck? I’ve been happy with it for years, but I also only use it to play music and show a map, so maybe there are things you want to do that I’ve never tried?
A big one for me is choice of apps. Only apps made for Android Auto are available, and that’s not a lot. Especially pretty much nothing from F-Droid. Open source apps for Android Auto are very limited.
Sideloading is not a thing for Android Auto either. So I can’t even choose to work around the limitations as I can on the phone itself.
The ancient Android Assistant sucks. It constantly doesn’t understand what I ask it and so far I haven’t figured out when exactly it can do a google search for me and when not. Especially considering how far LLMs have come in terms of answering simple questions (e.g. if a name comes up in a podcast and I want to know a little bit of background information to that person). And when they finally add LLM support it will be Gemini only with no choice past that.
Then there’s stupid design decisions in apps, e.g. that Google Maps doesn’t show GPS speed when in Android Auto mode. I also hate that Google Maps decided in an update a year or so ago that speed camera warnings (which are illegal in some of the countries I frequently drive in) can not only not be disabled but are so important that they need to take up half the screen and hide the navigation directions while they are up. This is especially crappy when I come up to a busy highway intersection where I have to get off and suddenly there’s no navigation on my screen but a stupid warning I don’t care about because I obey speedlimits anyway.
And lastly (that’s likely down to the implementation in my car or my phone), there’s constant connection issues.
Uh, why would I text inside of Android Auto? I’d just pick up my phone and copy/paste the address into Google Maps on the phone while it’s plugged in, like I did last month, and then Google Maps would display it on Android Auto.
Also, please don’t text and drive. Pull over to text.
Because it sucks ass anyway?
No one said any tangible points as to why it sucks and I am happy with it so I am left assuming people who dont like it are just going by vibes…
Not OP. But I’ll give my feedback on why I stopped using android auto.
Let me preface this with most everything in the app is fine. Navigating around the interface is maybe a bit janky but not something that I couldn’t get used to.
The main thing that pushed me away from it is the constant crashing (crash every 1-3 minutes). I understand it to be a somewhat rare issue. But through my research I have not found any way to consistently solve the issue despite finding threads that were posted years ago.
The closest I had come to a solution was to clear some app caches (like Google maps) and that would fix it for the next day or two. But it would always eventually go back to constant crashing. It just became too frustrating to deal with.
Ah ok, that is rather annoying, I have a couple usbc to usb 3.0 cables that have that issue. I also drive a lot of rentals, have never had the issue with a usbc to usbc.
Yeah, I’ve never had it crash. Sorry your setup is broken somewhere.
It does? I honestly love it and it will be very hard for me to go back
It’s so painful, because it could really be good. But they went out of their way to make it suck…
In what way does it suck? I’ve been happy with it for years, but I also only use it to play music and show a map, so maybe there are things you want to do that I’ve never tried?
A big one for me is choice of apps. Only apps made for Android Auto are available, and that’s not a lot. Especially pretty much nothing from F-Droid. Open source apps for Android Auto are very limited.
Sideloading is not a thing for Android Auto either. So I can’t even choose to work around the limitations as I can on the phone itself.
The ancient Android Assistant sucks. It constantly doesn’t understand what I ask it and so far I haven’t figured out when exactly it can do a google search for me and when not. Especially considering how far LLMs have come in terms of answering simple questions (e.g. if a name comes up in a podcast and I want to know a little bit of background information to that person). And when they finally add LLM support it will be Gemini only with no choice past that.
Then there’s stupid design decisions in apps, e.g. that Google Maps doesn’t show GPS speed when in Android Auto mode. I also hate that Google Maps decided in an update a year or so ago that speed camera warnings (which are illegal in some of the countries I frequently drive in) can not only not be disabled but are so important that they need to take up half the screen and hide the navigation directions while they are up. This is especially crappy when I come up to a busy highway intersection where I have to get off and suddenly there’s no navigation on my screen but a stupid warning I don’t care about because I obey speedlimits anyway.
And lastly (that’s likely down to the implementation in my car or my phone), there’s constant connection issues.
deleted by creator
Uh, why would I text inside of Android Auto? I’d just pick up my phone and copy/paste the address into Google Maps on the phone while it’s plugged in, like I did last month, and then Google Maps would display it on Android Auto.
Also, please don’t text and drive. Pull over to text.
deleted by creator
Why would you look at text messages on your car screen… Especially old ones? Is that something people do often while driving?
deleted by creator
That’s good, now I can remain being happy with something I’m happy with. You’re the best!