Android Auto is an excellent platform, but as it has evolved, it has also removed some of its features. Over the past week, it has become clear that Google is ready to say goodbye to the Android Auto for Phone Screens experience as a whole.
Android Auto for Phone Monitors ‘Will Stop Working Soon’
Over the past week, reports on Reddit and reviews in the Google Play Store have shed light on a message that appears in Android Auto for phone screens.
Android Auto for phone screens will soon stop working
The straightforward message is displayed in front and in the middle of Android Auto for the phone screens app and unfortunately provides no other details. The experience seems to close for good soon, but there is no set date for when it will expire.
This does not come as a big surprise as Google already shut down the experience in 2021 on newer Android phones. From Android 12, the Android Auto phone screen app was no longer available for installation and would not even boot properly if installed. Google had effectively cut off the experience for newer devices, but left it open to older versions of the platform.
Now the same thing is happening on Android 11 and other older versions of Android. We have confirmed, as shown in the image below, that the message appears on a TCL 30 V running Android 11. The message is displayed every time the app is opened, even though it was previously swiped away. From what we can tell, it started popping up about a week ago for those on older versions of Android.
In a statement, Google confirmed that Android Auto for phone screens is gets settled but refused to share any information about when the app will stop working. The opinion follows, with emphasis on our own.
For those people who use Android Auto in supported vehicles, that experience will not go away – and in fact, we recently announced an upcoming major UI enhancement at Google I / O. For those who use the experience on the phone (Android Auto mobile app), they will be transferred to Google Assistant driving mode, which is our next development of the mobile driving experience. We have no further details to share at this time.
What is the compensation?
With the end of this Android Auto phone experience, many are certainly wondering what the replacement will be. Unfortunately, there really is not a full replacement on the table. Unless you’re willing to spend the money on a new vehicle equipped with Android Auto, or a device that adds it to an existing vehicle, you’re pretty much unlucky.
But Google has a different experience designed to be used in the car. Google Assistant Driving Mode came with Android 12 and offers a driving-optimized experience for Google Maps and Assistant, both of which are also integrated with media apps. It’s a completely different experience, but one such able to deal with many of the same things.
Android Auto for phone screens was still just a stop-gap
And really, this experience was only meant as a stop-gap. The experience originally debuted when Android Auto was still relatively uncommon in new vehicles, and the separate app exists literally solely because Google Assistant Driving mode was delayed in the first place.
There was always a ticking clock on Android Auto for phone screens, and while we’re certainly sad to see it disappear soon, it’s not a big shock that Google is finally ready to pull the plug.
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