Photo: reddit user shmykelsa
It’s been a while since Google rolled out the last major update for Android Auto, but this doesn’t necessarily mean the company isn’t working on new goodies for drivers using its mobile operating system behind the wheel.
And most recently, some of the users received what appears to be a new design for the notifications showing up on the screen when Android Auto is running.
More specifically, as you can see in the screenshot here, the Android Auto notification design now includes two new elements, which seem to be a silent button and a dismiss option.
Previously, the notification included no such option, albeit tapping it allowed users to switch to the app that sent it (for example, if the notification was issued by Spotify when a new song started playing, tapping the banner took you to Spotify to the now playing interface).
This time, however, the facelift appears to be much more significant, as the notification itself no longer eats up the entire screen estate at the top. Tapping the silent button most likely prevents the notification alerts from the same app, which is definitely a welcome improvement, especially for messaging apps like WhatsApp.
The floating notification design isn’t yet available for everyone, and it appears to be just a server-side switch that Google activates in stages. In other words, it’ll take a while until the new feature shows up for everybody, as Google probably wants to collect more feedback and further polish the notification design before it’s live for all Android Auto users.
Is there anything you can do right now to get the new design? Not really. As all server-side switches, your only option is to wait and hope for Google to include you in the next phase of the rollout. Of course, updating to the latest version of Android Auto doesn’t make any difference since it’s not a new feature that’s bundled with the app itself.
More specifically, as you can see in the screenshot here, the Android Auto notification design now includes two new elements, which seem to be a silent button and a dismiss option.
Previously, the notification included no such option, albeit tapping it allowed users to switch to the app that sent it (for example, if the notification was issued by Spotify when a new song started playing, tapping the banner took you to Spotify to the now playing interface).
This time, however, the facelift appears to be much more significant, as the notification itself no longer eats up the entire screen estate at the top. Tapping the silent button most likely prevents the notification alerts from the same app, which is definitely a welcome improvement, especially for messaging apps like WhatsApp.
The floating notification design isn’t yet available for everyone, and it appears to be just a server-side switch that Google activates in stages. In other words, it’ll take a while until the new feature shows up for everybody, as Google probably wants to collect more feedback and further polish the notification design before it’s live for all Android Auto users.
Is there anything you can do right now to get the new design? Not really. As all server-side switches, your only option is to wait and hope for Google to include you in the next phase of the rollout. Of course, updating to the latest version of Android Auto doesn’t make any difference since it’s not a new feature that’s bundled with the app itself.
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