Photo: HT Tech
There are many things Google needs to improve about Android Auto, but some users have recently come across a problem that’s worse than most discovered before.
In just a few words, it looks like some Android phones are restarted every single time they are connected to Android Auto, all for a reason that nobody can figure out right now.
The problem is rather new, and users on Google’s forums claim it affects phones from all brands, including the Google Pixel and Samsung devices.
So basically, every time the Android phone is plugged into the head unit, the device automatically reboots, no matter how many times you try. Resetting the phone doesn’t seem to make any difference, as the restart still happens on a clean install.
And yet, someone has discovered a workaround that brings things back to normal, and it is as efficient as it is unexpected.
According to several posts in the linked discussion thread, simply removing the Chrome updates on the Android device prevents the phone from restarting when connected to Android Auto. While it’s not yet clear how Chrome triggers the reboot, it looks like a recent update the app received on Android introduced this behavior, so theoretically, downgrading to a previous release fixes everything.
Several users have confirmed that restoring Chrome to the original version does the trick, though the shortcoming is that users are now stuck with an older version of the browser.
In the meantime, Google is already investigating the problem, though, for the time being, there’s no ETA as to when a fix could land. But by the looks of things, it’s not the Android Auto team that needs to take care of the whole thing, but the Chrome developers, as the latest browser update is to blame for the unexpected reboot happening all of a sudden.
You can find both the old and new versions of Chrome on this page right here should you be interested in a manual installation of the browser.
The problem is rather new, and users on Google’s forums claim it affects phones from all brands, including the Google Pixel and Samsung devices.
So basically, every time the Android phone is plugged into the head unit, the device automatically reboots, no matter how many times you try. Resetting the phone doesn’t seem to make any difference, as the restart still happens on a clean install.
And yet, someone has discovered a workaround that brings things back to normal, and it is as efficient as it is unexpected.
According to several posts in the linked discussion thread, simply removing the Chrome updates on the Android device prevents the phone from restarting when connected to Android Auto. While it’s not yet clear how Chrome triggers the reboot, it looks like a recent update the app received on Android introduced this behavior, so theoretically, downgrading to a previous release fixes everything.
Several users have confirmed that restoring Chrome to the original version does the trick, though the shortcoming is that users are now stuck with an older version of the browser.
In the meantime, Google is already investigating the problem, though, for the time being, there’s no ETA as to when a fix could land. But by the looks of things, it’s not the Android Auto team that needs to take care of the whole thing, but the Chrome developers, as the latest browser update is to blame for the unexpected reboot happening all of a sudden.
You can find both the old and new versions of Chrome on this page right here should you be interested in a manual installation of the browser.
Google News