Photo: Google
Given it allows users to interact with their phones while driving, Android Auto obviously had to come up with a distraction-free way of providing a smooth experience all the time, without forcing people to take their eyes off the road.
Google Assistant is therefore an essential part of Android Auto, and thanks to its integration into the car-optimized UI, users can send messages, answer phone calls, and configure the navigation app using nothing but voice commands.
Just like on Android, Google Assistant supports a wake-up phrase on Android Auto, and this makes sense in absolutely all regards. Because users don’t have to touch anything on the screen, but only say “Hey, Google,” the overall experience is even more convenient and straightforward, especially when trying to do something as fast as possible.
Unfortunately, however, the wake-up phrase in Android Auto has been broken for quite some time, with more and more users confirming that interacting with Google Assistant is no longer possible until they manually trigger it by pressing the microphone button on the screen – or, if available, via the dedicated voice command button on the steering wheel.
It goes without saying this has been quite a major drawback, and in so many ways, it kind of opposed Android Auto’s main objective of making every journey safer.
But as it turns out, Google needs more time to resolve the whole thing, so for the time being, updating to the most recent version of the app doesn’t produce any improvement.
The company hasn’t released an official announcement in this regard, but users who installed the most recent version of the Google app confirmed that the wake-up phrase in Android Auto is still broken.
Worth knowing is that the app you must update isn’t Android Auto but the Google app. This is because the Google app is the one responsible for powering the Google Assistant integration not only on Android but also on other devices where the assistant is available.
By the looks of things, the version that brings things back to normal is 13.38, which was released by the search giant in November. All the later updates include the glitch, so you need to go back significantly if you want to restore the wake-up phrase in your car.
After downgrading Google Assistant, you need to re-initiate the voice configuration, so in theory, you must start from scratch with the digital assistant, and it goes without saying this is quite inconvenient, especially because all your settings would be lost.
Very important to know, however, is that by default, Android is going to try to update the Google app to the latest version (which breaks down the wake-up phrase once again). In other words, make sure you uncheck the auto-update box, at least until the Mountain View-based search giant comes up with a fix.
Just like on Android, Google Assistant supports a wake-up phrase on Android Auto, and this makes sense in absolutely all regards. Because users don’t have to touch anything on the screen, but only say “Hey, Google,” the overall experience is even more convenient and straightforward, especially when trying to do something as fast as possible.
Unfortunately, however, the wake-up phrase in Android Auto has been broken for quite some time, with more and more users confirming that interacting with Google Assistant is no longer possible until they manually trigger it by pressing the microphone button on the screen – or, if available, via the dedicated voice command button on the steering wheel.
It goes without saying this has been quite a major drawback, and in so many ways, it kind of opposed Android Auto’s main objective of making every journey safer.
But as it turns out, Google needs more time to resolve the whole thing, so for the time being, updating to the most recent version of the app doesn’t produce any improvement.
The company hasn’t released an official announcement in this regard, but users who installed the most recent version of the Google app confirmed that the wake-up phrase in Android Auto is still broken.
Worth knowing is that the app you must update isn’t Android Auto but the Google app. This is because the Google app is the one responsible for powering the Google Assistant integration not only on Android but also on other devices where the assistant is available.
By the looks of things, the version that brings things back to normal is 13.38, which was released by the search giant in November. All the later updates include the glitch, so you need to go back significantly if you want to restore the wake-up phrase in your car.
After downgrading Google Assistant, you need to re-initiate the voice configuration, so in theory, you must start from scratch with the digital assistant, and it goes without saying this is quite inconvenient, especially because all your settings would be lost.
Very important to know, however, is that by default, Android is going to try to update the Google app to the latest version (which breaks down the wake-up phrase once again). In other words, make sure you uncheck the auto-update box, at least until the Mountain View-based search giant comes up with a fix.
Google News