Photo: Google
There’s a new struggle in the Android Auto world, and unfortunately for users who are trying to deal with it, the workaround isn’t necessarily the most convenient out there.
According to some users who turned to Google’s community forums to report this new problem, Android Auto somehow kills off the phone’s keyboard, which means that after disconnecting the mobile device from the head unit, they can no longer type anything.
All apps are affected, so the keyboard no longer launches not only in messaging apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger but also in browsers and pretty much everywhere else where you need to type something.
And as it turns out, the keyboard app that users are running doesn’t make any difference, as all of them are impacted, including both Google’s and Samsung’s very own solutions.
What exactly happens is currently unclear, but users who have noticed this weird behavior claim in their posts that the whole thing showed up last week, possibly after installing the most recent update. But on the other hand, it’s not yet clear if the culprit is indeed the latest Android Auto version or whether something else has triggered this problem.
And yet, given not just a single keyboard app is affected, there’s a chance the problem resides in Android Auto itself, so Google is now the one that must investigate and figure out what happens.
In the meantime, the good news is that a workaround has already been discovered. But the bad news is this workaround isn’t necessarily the most convenient, as it requires a full device reboot every time the phone is disconnected from the head unit.
In other words, users need to restart their phones after shutting down Android Auto in order to be able to use the keyboard, as nothing else seems to do the trick for now.
Google hasn’t yet acknowledged the problem, and at this point, it’s still not known how many users are affected.
All apps are affected, so the keyboard no longer launches not only in messaging apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger but also in browsers and pretty much everywhere else where you need to type something.
And as it turns out, the keyboard app that users are running doesn’t make any difference, as all of them are impacted, including both Google’s and Samsung’s very own solutions.
What exactly happens is currently unclear, but users who have noticed this weird behavior claim in their posts that the whole thing showed up last week, possibly after installing the most recent update. But on the other hand, it’s not yet clear if the culprit is indeed the latest Android Auto version or whether something else has triggered this problem.
And yet, given not just a single keyboard app is affected, there’s a chance the problem resides in Android Auto itself, so Google is now the one that must investigate and figure out what happens.
In the meantime, the good news is that a workaround has already been discovered. But the bad news is this workaround isn’t necessarily the most convenient, as it requires a full device reboot every time the phone is disconnected from the head unit.
In other words, users need to restart their phones after shutting down Android Auto in order to be able to use the keyboard, as nothing else seems to do the trick for now.
Google hasn’t yet acknowledged the problem, and at this point, it’s still not known how many users are affected.
Google News