Android Auto

Android Auto gets major settings redesign, rolling out now

Ben Schoon | Aug 27 2020 - 8:33 am PT

Google’s Android Auto platform has seen a handful of major updates over the past few months following its complete redesign last year. Now, Android Auto is getting an update that overhauls the settings menu you’ll find on your phone.

Thanks to one of its most recent updates, Android Auto picked up support for a handful of settings directly within the car. However, most of the advanced functions are still buried within the full Android Auto app that lives on your connected smartphone.

Over the past several days, updates to Android Auto and Google Play Services have rolled out a brand new settings interface for those advanced settings on your phone. The new menu now has a graphic at the top to show off the new Android Auto UI, and then the various toggles and menus are listed underneath in sections. At the top, you’ll see your connected car as well as how it’s connected, whether that be wireless or over USB.

Under that, there’s a section for customizing the launcher, another for “Hey Google” detection, media resumption, Google Assistant options, weather, notifications, and a few system options and safety/legal details. There are no new additions to the Settings, but the visual overall makes it much easier to find what you’re looking for.

This change was first highlighted on Reddit and, as they captured in some of the screenshots below, there are also revised interfaces for connecting a car via USB or wireless and a new “Connect a Car” button.