Anatomy of an Android Auto Bug That’s Pushing Users to CarPlay

A major new operating system update comes with lots of new features and improvements, and in theory, it should offer a much more refined experience in all regards.

This isn’t exactly what Android Auto users are struggling to deal with these days.

As far as Android Auto is concerned, Android 12 didn’t bring too many changes. What it did bring, however, is a plethora of bugs that are turning the whole thing into a continuous search for fixes, especially as Google itself doesn’t seem to be in a rush to do anything on this front.

But out of all these Android Auto bugs that are driving people nuts after the update to Android 12, there’s one that’s making them consider the switch to CarPlay.

The first Google Pixel devices received the update to Android 12 on October 19, and only a day later, someone on Google’s forums started a new thread to reveal that Android Auto no longer worked in their car.

“After the OS update when I plug in the phone, nothing happens,” they said.

It was the first post in a long series of reports signaling the very same error happening mostly with Google Pixel devices (but also with other phones) after the update to Android 12.

At this point, there are over 200 posts from different people reporting the same behavior in their cars, and the thread has received nearly 500 upvotes, which means the number of users struggling with the whole thing could be much higher.

So what exactly is happening on those phones affected by this error?

First and foremost, some say Android Auto no longer launches on their head units after connecting a device running Android 12. In many cases, the device does charge, but Android Auto fails to launch without even showing an error message.

Then, there are users who claim that sometimes (often after repeated reconnects) Android Auto does launch, but it then disconnects a few minutes later for absolutely no reason. When this happens, simply reconnecting the phone to the head unit makes no difference, as Android Auto no longer launches.

And last but not least, some people say they are provided with a message telling them to check the phone and restart Android Auto even though there’s nothing on the mobile device in the first place.

Does anyone know what’s causing all these problems on Android Auto?

Evidently, it’s Android 12, but on the other hand, you’d expect Google to be able to fix them in no time.

It’s already January 2022, and unfortunately, the number of people complaining of the same thing just keeps increasing, with absolutely no fix on the radar.

Members of the Android Auto team said in late October and then again in early November that additional information, including phone logs, was required to continue the investigation, but since then, no new details were shared.

In other words, the only thing we know right now is that Google is looking into the whole thing, and despite the continuously increasing number of people hitting the same problem, the company clearly isn’t in a rush to address it.

Is there something you can do to restore Android Auto after the update to Android 12?

Not really. The hundreds of people who ended up encountering this glitch tried literally everything, from changing cables to resetting their phones and the head units in their cars. Nothing really worked, and in many cases, they didn’t even see the tiniest improvement.

This is just the confirmation that a software update is the only way to go. Until this happens, however, the app remains impossible to use for way too many users out there, and more often than not, a switch to CarPlay just looks to be the most tempting workaround.