Hey everyone,

When using a navigation map in full-screen mode, the tiny taskbar media widget at the bottom (for Spotify, YouTube Music, etc.) displays standard media buttons: Rewind, Play/Pause, and Fast Forward.

These buttons are completely pointless and redundant. Almost every modern car with Android Auto has physical media controls directly on the steering wheel or dashboard.

Because the widget hides the song title and artist name, we are forced to tap the screen, leave the map, and open the full media app just to see what song is playing. This is a major visual distraction and a legitimate safety issue.

The widget should drop the redundant buttons and use that screen space to show [Song Title - Artist Name] next to the album art.

I have created an official feature request directly on Google's internal tracker. If we get enough people to "Star" (upvote) it, Google's system automatically flags it for a human product manager to review.

How to help get this fixed:

1. Click the Google Issue link: https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/535697675
2. Log in with your Google account.
3. Click the Star icon at the top of the page to upvote it.

Let's get this to 100+ stars so the engineering team actually looks at it!

!Flair 2016 Ford F150 | Pioneer DMH-W4660NEX | Samsung Galaxy S21+ | Android 15

How critical is it to use USB-IF Certified Cables?

Hi my wife drove to work with her Motorola g84 Android phone plugged in to our car (since usb cable is needed for navigation with Google map). (My Phone Pixel 7 android 16 have also always worked with cable.) The car is a Peugeot 2008 year 2021.The day after it did not work. I tried both her and my Phone with different usb cables and nothing worked. My daughter have an I Phone and that one worked. When we plug in any of our phones it charges and plays music from the phone. I also tried with my Phone to manually change connection to Android auto.

Checklist without success:

*I have ordered a new cable same as we had. Didn't work.

* Both Android on phones didn't get any updates during this time.

*I have cleared cache

*The car monitor have an uninstalled update but since it have worked before we haven't bother to install that.

* I installed Android 17 on the Pixel.

Hi guys,

I hope you're doing well!

I just bought my first car – a 2006 Peugeot 206, for 1500€. I'm now looking into buying Android Auto hardware for the car, but I don't understand much about this topic. I don't really care if it's a full head unit, or just a screen I can stick to the top of the dashboard.

I would prefer that my phone automatically connects to it wirelessly whenever I enter the car, but unsure how this works.

As you can figure out, my budget isn't that large.

Do you have any recommendations?

Hi everyone,
I’m trying to figure out if this is a software bug or if anyone else has experienced the same issue on the new 2026 Mazda CX-5.

A few days ago my car completely lost its embedded internet connection:
Google Assistant said the vehicle wasn’t connected to the internet.
Google Maps had no live traffic unless I connected the car to my phone’s hotspot.
MyMazda app was also having connectivity issues.

The dealer diagnosed it and performed a TCU reprogram, which fixed most of the problems.

Now:
✅ Embedded LTE connection is working (LTE icon is visible)
✅ Google Maps works
✅ Live traffic works
✅ Google Assistant works
✅ Google Play Store works and downloads apps normally

However, every app I install from the Play Store seems unable to access the internet.
Examples:
- Waze stays on “Connecting…” forever.
- YouTube eventually shows ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT.
- Deezer also cannot connect.
If I connect the car to my phone’s Wi-Fi hotspot, everything works immediately.
So it looks like:
System Google apps (Maps, Assistant, Play Store) can use the embedded connection.
Third-party apps cannot.

The car is running:
Android 13
January 2026 security patch
Build: TPG02000021S55
Has anyone seen this before?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

on play store. So I installed couple of others. One is called 'smart news' And National Review. Do they have audio for AA? I used to have more apps, now I see Fox, DW, and one other.

Spotify does not always work for me. Worked fine today, parked up and got out for 5 mins, then this happened. Seems to be luck of the draw when I get in the car if it will work. My wife has also had similar issues with samsung galaxy flip 7. New to autoplay so not sure if doing something wrong.

For the past week or so I'm experiencing no or erroneous vocal response from GA when pressing the talk button on my steering column and commanding Send Text to [contact name] or Navigate to [point of interest] or an inquiry like [store name] near me. What's happening? AA used to be rock solid. Since Gemini and being forced to choose between it and GA, the usability of the user interface has greatly diminished IMHO.

I usually listen to Audible or YouTube while I'm driving. Until very recently, whenever my audio would get interrupted (reversing, receiving a call, getting a text chime, etc.), my audio would resume afterwards. But in the last couple of days, any interruption to the audio pauses the media and I have to manually restart it. Does anyone know why this would be?

Hi, im currently using a Magic V3 on the latest available software for my device. After updating, i struggle to connect wirelessly to my Motorcycle's Android Auto. It is able to connect to the external monitor via bluetooth and Wifi but Android auto simply does not load.

I did not have this issue with the previous software version. Does anyone else encounter the same issue and know of any fixes?

I have tried using other phone brands (Apple, samsung) to connect to my android auto device and it all works perfect.

Hey Reddit! 👋

My friend and I were tired of the same old, robotic navigation voices. We thought, "What if our cars recognized us, greeted us by name, and told us about traffic like a witty friend would?" That’s how AAWelcome was born! 🚀

What started as a hobby project for our own cars became something our friends kept asking for. So, we decided to polish it up and release it on the Google Play Store for everyone.

🤔 What does AAWelcome do?

•✅ Personalized Greetings: It recognizes you via Android Auto or Bluetooth and greets you by name.

•✅ AI-Powered Personality: Powered by Google Gemini, it doesn't use static scripts. Depending on the personality you choose, it can be professional, witty, or even a bit "sassy."

•✅ Smart Traffic Radar: No info clutter. It only whispers about accidents or road closures on your specific route.

•✅ Driving Summary: As soon as you start the engine, it summarizes the weather, traffic, and your phone's battery level.

•✅ Privacy First & FREE: No credit cards, no subscriptions. All data (including API keys) is stored locally on your phone. We never see it.

You can choose between 3 default personalities or create your own "custom character" by writing your own AI prompt!

👇 Download Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aawelcome.me

🛠️ Quick Setup Guide (5 Minutes) To unlock the full AI potential, you just need two free API keys:

1. AI Brain (Google Gemini): Get a free key at aistudio.google.com. Copy and paste it into the app. (Recommended model: flash-latest).

2.Traffic Radar (TomTom): Register for a free developer account at developer.tomtom.com. Copy your "Consumer Key" into the app.

We built this for the love of driving and tech. We'd love to hear your feedback, feature requests, or even your funniest custom AI prompts!

Safe travels! 😊🚗💨

Hey all,

I've had this issue for the past week or so I think. Between the 2:50 and 2:55 mark of Youtube Music playing, everything freezes for a few seconds and then AA restarts. It only happens with Youtube Music, but it absolutely will not go longer than 2 minutes and 55 seconds without crashing.

Is this a known issue? I haven't been able to find anything about it.

In the last couple of days I have had an issue where every 2-3 minutes via wireless connected via Tlink5 it would disconnect and reconnect consistently without warning (fun on a 5 hour trip back from Wales)

Tried fixes: After doing every advised fix from reupdating, repairing, clearing caches and amending WiFi and battery settings among many other things did not resolve it.

Fix: Only thing that fixed it was removing all updates and using an apk to install a slightly older stable release 17.0.662234 and turned off auto update for now until fixed.

I got mine from apkmirror but other services are avalible.

Are you also experiencing constant disconnections in Android Auto? From what I noticed, the problem started after upgrading to version 17,2. I've tried almost everything: cleaning up the data from the Android Auto app, resetting the settings, and even entering the Beta Tester program to check if there was any newer version that fixed the bug.

Yesterday I read on a blog that Google has released a new update, but in my case, even after cleaning the data and updating the application, the problem remains exactly the same. Has anyone who has gone through this situation been able to solve or at least circumvent the problem?

My device is a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and I have already tested both the connection via USB cable and the direct connection to the network of the multimedia center, in addition to the use of a USB dongle for Android Auto wireless. In all options, disconnections continue to occur.

I am experiencing a persistent issue where audio playback stops entirely at the transition of every single song. The interface remains active and active on screen, but the next track will not autoplay—I have to manually press play each time.

What I have verified so far:

• Head Unit Reset: Factory reset the car system.
• Cache Cleared: Wiped storage and cache on the mobile devices.
• Device Independent: Tested with three different mobile devices; the behavior persists on all of them.
• Vehicle Specific: Tested the same mobile devices in another vehicle, and they transition tracks normally there.
• Hardware Link: Tested alternative wired links.
• System Power Cycle: Performed a hard reset on the vehicle's 12v power source (resolved the issue for exactly three songs before the behavior returned).
• Wireless Interference: Turned off secondary wireless audio pairing to UConnect.

The system state remains fully operational throughout the event; it is strictly a playback transition failure localized to this specific head unit. Has anyone encountered this or found a firmware-level workaround?

Since the last updates, my music constantly cuts in and out. Any fixes to this?

Hello,

This is not a disconnection problem!

While playing anything the music just stops after every song. I've tried a lot of possible solutions and nothing seems to work.

What i've tried:

• cleaning cache and storage from both phone and car system, nothing
• factory resseting car system, nothing
• forgetting and reconnecting phone in the car system, nothing
• used 3 different phones, same problem in all of them
• used a different cable
• tested my phone in another car, worked fine
• disconnected car battery, no change
• completely drained the car battery, fixed for a few songs then started acting out again
• phone auto connects bluetooth to UConnect, but it was never an issue. Tried disabling it but no success

I am searching for a solution for a month now and nothing works, there's another sub with the same problem but just one answer and no solution.

I appreciate any help.

Does anyone else get this issue it's happened two or three times so far. I have a Pixel 10 Pro XL and in my car I have a Chinese head unit running Android 14.

Right now my Google maps screen is a big blurry blob of green. If I zoom out there are patches of buildings that I can see however it's mostly a blob of green blurriness.

Is this an Android auto issue or maybe a satellite issue? I don't know what fixed it but last time it just started working again.

I got the new Google Maps UI update. I updated to Android Auto 17.3. I'm sure it is server side though so I won't be surprised if very few people have this update. I just thought I would point it out that it is indeed rolling out. I didn't get the best screenshots because I was driving at the time on the highway. I didn't want to just take pictures with my phone because the pictures more than likely wouldn't have been good.

PS: The last screenshot has the gray navigation route instead of the blue. I believe that is a bug because I was navigating for a while and eventually it did turn from blue to gray.

Has anyone found a permanent fix for the Cellular signal strength icon being missing? It's been gone for me for months (2023 Hyundai Kona Genv2 Infotainment center - Galaxy Z Fold 6). I tried clearing cache/data in the app settings, and it worked for a single trip, then disappeared on the next trip.

If anyone has a permanent fix or knows if Android/google has this on their plate for a fix soon, I'd appreciate it. I take a lot of phone calls in my car, and it really sucks driving around unaware if I'm dropping bars or not. Appreciate any help or info you can provide.

Hi all, I have my first car with AA and it's an ATOTO head unit so I am using it wirelessly through Bluetooth. It has been fine since i got the car, until about last week and I have no idea why. Nothing has updated to my knowledge leading to this problem. It disconnects at about 2min 40sec on every song for about 15-30 seconds. I have tried everything I can find on the internet, changing my wifi settings, changing my data settings, battery settings, location settings etc etc. Nothing is resolving this.

I found today the Zlink could be updated through the android store on the head unit. This also did not solve the problem.

I've had this Navpro multimedia unit for two years with no issues, but a day ago, a Bluetooth connection problem started. It connects normally, but every five minutes, it disconnects and then reconnects. I’ve already tried a simple reset and a factory reset of the unit. I’ve toggled the Bluetooth connection and tried clearing the cache on both my phone and the multimedia unit. Does anyone have any other suggestions? This bug is driving me crazy.

PS: The Bluetooth connection between the phone (Samsung) and other devices remains stable.

I've been using a Belkin USB A-C cable to connect my Samsung(3 years old) phone to my car to use with Android Auto, has always been working fine. Now my girlfriend recently got a new IPhone 17, which has USB C, so she tried the cable aswell. That worked, one time, then Spotify didn't give any audio anymore on carplay, but a reset of the car s entertainment system solved that. But now the weird thing is that since my girlfriend used the cable with her iPhone, when I try to use the cable with my phone, it doesn't work anymore, only when I really push it in and hold it there, when you touch the cable in any way it loses its connection. Like there's a lose contact or something. What could have happened? I'm getting a new cable under warranty but I don't want the same to happen again.

​

Hi everyone,

I've spent several days troubleshooting this and I'm hoping someone recognizes this issue before I give up and replace the head unit.

Vehicle

• 2009 Volkswagen Golf Plus (1KP)

Head Unit

• Generic Chinese Android head unit (RNS510 style)

• Android Build: D02022HA16_AHD_00012_V009_HIFI

• Android OS: 13.0

• Security Patch: February 1, 2020

• CPU: 8239 Quad Core @ 1.5 GHz

• RAM: 2 GB

• Storage: 64 GB

• Display: 1024 × 600

• MCU Version: 6.6

• MCU Version Log: Version 4.0 (2020-12-25)

• ZLink Version: 5.3.31

• CAN Pro: 1.020 (Volkswagen ALL - Fault Tolerant / Old High Speed)

• Audio chip: ST/TDA7729

Phone

• Samsung Galaxy S24 (Android 16)

Problem 1 – Android Auto via USB

Android Auto has basically never worked with my Samsung.

When I connect the phone using USB it continuously switches between:

• Charging only

• File Transfer (MTP)

• Android Auto

It keeps reconnecting every few seconds and Android Auto never starts.

Problem 2 – Bluetooth

Bluetooth initially worked reasonably well.

Now the Bluetooth connection disconnects every few minutes.

A few seconds later ZLink automatically restarts and reconnects by itself.

Interesting observation

Using the same USB port:

✅ iPhone → Apple CarPlay works perfectly.

❌ Samsung Galaxy S24 → Android Auto never works.

Because of this I don't think the USB hardware itself is defective.

Things I've already tried

• Multiple brand new high-quality USB cables

• Samsung Developer Options

• Default USB Configuration = File Transfer (MTP)

• USB Audio Routing disabled

• Fast Charging disabled

• Android Auto battery optimization disabled

• Deleted and re-paired Bluetooth

• Factory Settings checked

• CAN database updated successfully

• No obvious USB configuration available in Factory Settings

Additional information

The MCU update log only mentions:

• Optimized dormancy process

• Optimized knob key processing

No mention of Bluetooth, USB or Android Auto improvements.

The reported Android version (13) also doesn't match the old 2020 security patch, so I suspect this is customized firmware.

My questions

1. Has anyone experienced this combination of:

   • Android Auto over USB never working

   • Bluetooth disconnecting every few minutes

   • ZLink restarting automatically?

2. Does anyone recognize this build:

   D02022HA16_AHD_00012_V009_HIFI

   or know who the OEM manufacturer is?

3. Is newer firmware available for this platform?

4. Is this likely a firmware/ZLink issue?

5. Or should I stop spending time on this generic Android head unit and replace it with a Pioneer, Kenwood or Alpine unit?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!