PSA: Recent Android Auto Update Could Ruin Your Day

This happened again in late May with an update that seems to wreak havoc on some devices. Several readers told me, and I could find confirmation online from many other users, that installing a late-may Android Auto update breaks down the connection between the phone and the head unit.

You can see where this is going. Once the connection isn’t working, running Android Auto becomes impossible, so users who installed this update are left with a broken app and no workaround to fix it.

Here’s what I know so far, although the bug is only now becoming more widespread—likely as the rollout through the Google Play Store gains pace—so feel free to contribute with more information in the box after the jump if you hit the same problem.

Users claim the broken update, which many believe to be Android Auto 11.9, started shipping to their devices on May 24. After they installed the update, launching Android Auto with a cable or wirelessly no longer works, as the head unit doesn’t even detect the connection. The Android Auto app doesn’t appear on the infotainment screen.

Everything worked correctly before the update, and the generic workarounds in the Android Auto space, which include clearing the cache and the data, changing cables, and reinstalling the app, fail to restore the expected experience.

Users claim that Android Auto won’t work if they downgrade the app. When they do this, Android Auto fails to launch, although some say their phones start charging. Installing the most recent Android Auto updates—the latest build at the time of writing is 12.2 stable—doesn’t resolve the glitch.

Someone explains on Google’s forums that they encounter the same problem with a cable that works fine with an iPhone and CarPlay. After the switch to USB-C, the iPhone 15 can run CarPlay with the same cable used to launch Android Auto with a USB-C mobile device. This is confirmation that the cord meets the requirements for running a phone projection system and supports charging and data transfers.

A Google Community Specialist has already contacted users for additional information, but it’s unclear if an investigation is underway. Meanwhile, users keep looking for ways to resolve the error, as they’re left with a non-working Android Auto connection that doesn’t seem to have a workaround without Google’s help.

If you, too, encounter the same glitch, drop us a line in the comment box. More importantly, if you found a fix for this error, share it with us, and I’ll update the article to let everybody else know that a solution might exist.