Photo: Bogdan Popa/autoevolution/Reddit user broomster
An error that’s plaguing Android Auto as we speak is pushing some Waze users to Google Maps, as the navigation app freezes at random times for no clear reason.
As a Google-owned app, Waze is the preferred choice for many users in the Android Auto world. It’s considered a top Google Maps alternative, and for many drivers, it’s a must-have weapon in the app arsenal, supposed to help deal with heavy traffic.
A recent update received by Android users seems to produce more harm than good when the mobile device is connected to an Android Auto-compatible head unit to run Waze.
The app suddenly freezes at random times after this recent update, and more often than not, force-closing and relaunching it is the only way to bring the navigation back to a working state.
I’m also encountering the same problem on my Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, and after further investigation, I believe the culprit is the most recent version of Android Auto. At this point, the latest stable build, and the one that is also running on my device, is Android Auto 8.9, but I’m seeing people complaining that the previous version is causing the same glitch.
Some users seem to believe that a recent Waze update is to blame for the glitch, but I don’t think this is the case. At this point, the latest Waze build on Android is 4.81.0.2, and it started shipping to devices in late January. This means most users should already be running this version, in which case it doesn’t make sense for the freezing bug to show up only now.
Oddly enough, some say that downgrading Waze to an older version brings things back to normal. It doesn’t produce any improvement in my case, which once again makes me think that the glitch could come down to a compatibility issue between the navigation app and Android Auto.
The only workaround that I managed to figure out at this point is the said force-closing of Waze. But on the other hand, Google Maps seems to be running just fine during the whole time. This means that people who don’t want to mess too much with Waze can always make the switch to Google Maps, not necessarily forever, but at least until a fix goes live for the affected app.
Google is yet to acknowledge the problem. But given the Waze freezing seems to be triggered by an update that’s rolling out as we speak, I expect more information to surface sooner rather than later. A discussion thread on Reddit indicates that most Android Auto adopters encountering the error received the new version in the last couple of days, so the rollout of this buggy update is probably gaining traction.
A recent update received by Android users seems to produce more harm than good when the mobile device is connected to an Android Auto-compatible head unit to run Waze.
The app suddenly freezes at random times after this recent update, and more often than not, force-closing and relaunching it is the only way to bring the navigation back to a working state.
I’m also encountering the same problem on my Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, and after further investigation, I believe the culprit is the most recent version of Android Auto. At this point, the latest stable build, and the one that is also running on my device, is Android Auto 8.9, but I’m seeing people complaining that the previous version is causing the same glitch.
Some users seem to believe that a recent Waze update is to blame for the glitch, but I don’t think this is the case. At this point, the latest Waze build on Android is 4.81.0.2, and it started shipping to devices in late January. This means most users should already be running this version, in which case it doesn’t make sense for the freezing bug to show up only now.
Oddly enough, some say that downgrading Waze to an older version brings things back to normal. It doesn’t produce any improvement in my case, which once again makes me think that the glitch could come down to a compatibility issue between the navigation app and Android Auto.
The only workaround that I managed to figure out at this point is the said force-closing of Waze. But on the other hand, Google Maps seems to be running just fine during the whole time. This means that people who don’t want to mess too much with Waze can always make the switch to Google Maps, not necessarily forever, but at least until a fix goes live for the affected app.
Google is yet to acknowledge the problem. But given the Waze freezing seems to be triggered by an update that’s rolling out as we speak, I expect more information to surface sooner rather than later. A discussion thread on Reddit indicates that most Android Auto adopters encountering the error received the new version in the last couple of days, so the rollout of this buggy update is probably gaining traction.
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