Photo: Google
Android Auto is becoming a more popular system these days given it’s offering a driving-optimized experience, and naturally, most people expect a flawless experience with first-party devices.
In other words, if you launch Google’s Android Auto in your car, everything should run just smoothly when using a Google Pixel phone, right? Right.
But that’s not the case, as a number of users are complaining of an issue that causes the phone to keep forgetting the USB settings when the device is plugged in to the vehicle.
More specifically, the USB mode that the Pixel activates when connected to the car switches to a different profile than “data transfer,” which also enables Android Auto. Some users explain that manually going to developer settings and forcing the Pixel to always use the Android Auto mode solves the problem only temporarily, while others claim that the choosing the USB connection mode isn’t even possible because all options are greyed out.
“I have a Pixel 4XL and it won't stay on the data transfer/Android Auto. Keeps going back to no data transfer. I also have it set up in the developer settings to automatically select the data transfer/Android Auto. It's completely useless now as it disconnects continually. I had to switch to my work iPhone and use CarPlay, which has no issues at all,” one user explains on Google’s forums.
Google is yet to acknowledge the issue, and someone says on the forums that they reached out to the support team, again without finding a fix.
For now, however, there’s pretty much no workaround that could help deal with this USB connection problem, other than just manually selecting the Android Auto mode every time the notification shows up.
It goes without saying this isn’t a very convenient approach and the disconnecting could happen every now and then, but it’s pretty much the only way to go to at least launch Android Auto.
But that’s not the case, as a number of users are complaining of an issue that causes the phone to keep forgetting the USB settings when the device is plugged in to the vehicle.
More specifically, the USB mode that the Pixel activates when connected to the car switches to a different profile than “data transfer,” which also enables Android Auto. Some users explain that manually going to developer settings and forcing the Pixel to always use the Android Auto mode solves the problem only temporarily, while others claim that the choosing the USB connection mode isn’t even possible because all options are greyed out.
“I have a Pixel 4XL and it won't stay on the data transfer/Android Auto. Keeps going back to no data transfer. I also have it set up in the developer settings to automatically select the data transfer/Android Auto. It's completely useless now as it disconnects continually. I had to switch to my work iPhone and use CarPlay, which has no issues at all,” one user explains on Google’s forums.
Google is yet to acknowledge the issue, and someone says on the forums that they reached out to the support team, again without finding a fix.
For now, however, there’s pretty much no workaround that could help deal with this USB connection problem, other than just manually selecting the Android Auto mode every time the notification shows up.
It goes without saying this isn’t a very convenient approach and the disconnecting could happen every now and then, but it’s pretty much the only way to go to at least launch Android Auto.
Google News