Photo: Florin Profir/autoevolution
One of the main benefits of wired Android Auto is that users can also charge their phones while running the app on the screen in their cars.
In other words, once the smartphone is connected to the head unit to fire up Android Auto, the device also gets some extra juice through the USB connection.
A recent Android Auto update breaks down the whole thing, as smartphones no longer charge due to a reason that nobody can figure out just yet.
Very few details are available right now, but the culprit appears to be an update shipped to Android devices in early April. After installing this version, the app continues to run properly, but on the other hand, the mobile device no longer charges. Everything else works as expected, minus the charging.
Users who turned to Google’s forums for assistance explain that the available generic workarounds don’t produce any improvement. Clearing the cache and the data in Android Auto, switching to other cables, or even resetting the head unit proved to be nothing but a waste of time.
At first glance, Sony smartphones are primarily impacted by the glitch. Most users reported the issue in Mercedes cars, so maybe a compatibility issue between Sony’s devices and the media receivers in vehicles produced by the German carmaker causes the charging error.
Users claim that the issue happens on Android 13, and someone with an Android 12 device from Sony explains that the charging works as expected. As such, a bug in the operating system running on Sony’s smartphones could also be at fault.
No workaround is available at this point, and Google hasn’t acknowledged the issue. However, if the latest Android Auto update causes the bug, the easiest way to address it is to downgrade to an earlier version of the app. To do this, you must download the standalone APK installer and then deploy it manually on the device.
At this point, it’s not yet known if the Coolwalk update is in any way related to this problem. Coolwalk is the new Android Auto design announced by Google in January and still rolling out to users in waves. The new interface produced some fairly unusual issues on Android Auto, including one that caused the lower part of the screen to freeze and no longer respond to input.
Needless to say, users whose cars come with wireless Android Auto aren’t impacted by the bug. Furthermore, if the vehicle packs wireless charging capabilities, affected users can just switch to this option until Google or Sony comes up with a fix. Neither company acknowledged an official investigation, so you’d better not hold your breath for a fix that would be specifically aimed at restoring the charging support on Android Auto.
A recent Android Auto update breaks down the whole thing, as smartphones no longer charge due to a reason that nobody can figure out just yet.
Very few details are available right now, but the culprit appears to be an update shipped to Android devices in early April. After installing this version, the app continues to run properly, but on the other hand, the mobile device no longer charges. Everything else works as expected, minus the charging.
Users who turned to Google’s forums for assistance explain that the available generic workarounds don’t produce any improvement. Clearing the cache and the data in Android Auto, switching to other cables, or even resetting the head unit proved to be nothing but a waste of time.
At first glance, Sony smartphones are primarily impacted by the glitch. Most users reported the issue in Mercedes cars, so maybe a compatibility issue between Sony’s devices and the media receivers in vehicles produced by the German carmaker causes the charging error.
Users claim that the issue happens on Android 13, and someone with an Android 12 device from Sony explains that the charging works as expected. As such, a bug in the operating system running on Sony’s smartphones could also be at fault.
No workaround is available at this point, and Google hasn’t acknowledged the issue. However, if the latest Android Auto update causes the bug, the easiest way to address it is to downgrade to an earlier version of the app. To do this, you must download the standalone APK installer and then deploy it manually on the device.
At this point, it’s not yet known if the Coolwalk update is in any way related to this problem. Coolwalk is the new Android Auto design announced by Google in January and still rolling out to users in waves. The new interface produced some fairly unusual issues on Android Auto, including one that caused the lower part of the screen to freeze and no longer respond to input.
Needless to say, users whose cars come with wireless Android Auto aren’t impacted by the bug. Furthermore, if the vehicle packs wireless charging capabilities, affected users can just switch to this option until Google or Sony comes up with a fix. Neither company acknowledged an official investigation, so you’d better not hold your breath for a fix that would be specifically aimed at restoring the charging support on Android Auto.
Google News