Android Auto Disconnecting? 6 Tricks to Try Before Giving Up
Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve had the worst luck when it comes to Android Auto reliability. I hate to say it, but my iPhone has never had any problems connecting to Apple CarPlay in any car I’ve tried it in, but my Android phones always seem to have one or another extra hoop to jump through.
The good news is that, as annoying as it may be, there seem to be a handful of tricks that almost always solve the problem, and I’ll rank them here in descending order.
Plug in your phone before starting the car
I currently drive a 2020 Kia Sportage and for the first few years Android Auto worked perfectly. Now I get this error every time I connect an Android phone to it.
This was incredibly frustrating for my wife, who is currently the Android user between us, and after trying everything else on the list below, it turned out that the solution was to connect the phone to the USB port. Before turn on the vehicle and start the engine.
So if you are having similar issues, try this first.
Try another cable
The second most likely culprit is the USB cable itself. If you’re using a wired data connection, of course. Replace the cable with a good one to see if that makes a difference. If the cable you’re using has never worked properly, it may be a juice-jacking-only charging cable rather than one that can also carry data.
Disable battery optimization for Android Auto
It’s possible that Android’s Battery Optimization feature is interfering with Android Auto’s background process. So you might want to turn off battery optimization for Android Auto, especially if you’re using it wirelessly, and it can be useful even when plugged in, so it’s worth a try.
Go to Settings > Apps > Android Auto > Battery, then make sure you’ve chosen the “unrestricted” option.
You may also want to check the settings of apps you use while driving, like Google Maps, to make sure they aren’t set to do the same thing.
Forget your car and reconnect from scratch
This is a trusty old fix, especially right after an Android update. All you have to do is open your Android Auto settings, then from your list of connected cars, choose to forget the car you’re having issues with. Then log in again as if for the first time.
I’ve found that this generally fixes all but the most stubborn Android Auto issues.
Clear Android Auto cache and storage data
As with all Android apps, issues with the app cache can create issues, especially after an update. Fortunately, it’s quite simple to clear the Android app cache.
The exact steps and menu labels may differ slightly depending on your version of Android and brand of phone, but they’re in the Apps section of Settings and should be under the “Storage” subsection of the app’s main settings page.
Update everything: your phone, Android Auto and your car
For Android Auto to work properly, several things need to work together in harmony: Android, the Android Auto app, and your car’s software.
An update to any of these three components can cause Android Auto to not work properly, if at all. Updating Android and the Android Auto app is pretty simple, and you probably already know how to do it, but when it comes to updating your infotainment system software, it might not be as simple.
Some vehicles may have the ability to perform an OTA (Over The Air) update, but in the case of my own vehicle, the only way to update the infotainment system firmware is to use an update file from a properly formatted USB drive. I strongly suspect that our issues with Android Auto arose because the latest version of Google’s software has some sort of problem with the Kia software that came with my car.
Unfortunately, Kia hasn’t made any sort of update available for my 2020 model vehicle, and even if it did, I’d be better off asking the dealer to do the update, because you can brick your infotainment system if something goes wrong and, apparently, that’s a pretty expensive mistake to fix.
So if updating the car’s software is an option for you, it’s worth a try, but in my case I can only hope that Google fixes the problem on their side of the fence.
Android Auto is such an important app for the millions of drivers around the world who use Android phones that it’s a shame it can be so finicky. This is understandable given the wide variety of Android cars and phones, so perhaps it’s a miracle that it works so often, but in any case, these simple tricks should solve most of the stubborn problems you’re having.
