Google is rolling out a slightly new redesign for the Android Auto app, specifically for the settings. The biggest change appears to be the “Connect a Car” button that now appears at the top of the settings page.
The screenshots over on Reddit, which is where this story first broke, is not what the redesign will look like, entirely. As that user is running a custom ROM and that makes their Android Auto app look a whole lot different than the rest of us. The only big change here is the changes to the “Connect a Car”.
The “Connect a Car” button has been updated for Android Auto Wireless
Previously, there wasn’t really a button for connecting to a car. It simply told you to plug in your phone to the vehicle, using your USB cable.
Now, with this update, when you tap on the “Connect a Car” button, it will take you to another screen that will tell you to plug it in. Or if you have a vehicle that supports wireless Android Auto, you can tap on that, and it’ll walk you through the steps of setting that up. Which is basically just connecting to Bluetooth, then the setup is basically the same. But there is a “Pair a Car” button available there, which will walk you through the setup process.
It’s a more intuitive setup, rather than just saying to plug in your USB cable.
How do I get this update?
This update is available for those that have Android Auto 5.5.602944 and Google Play Services 20.30.19. I’ve also noticed that on some other versions of Google Play Services, you can get this update too, like my Pixel 4a. Which is now on Play Services 20.30.19, but has this same interface available. But it is rolling out via the Play Services.
It’s a pretty minor update, all things considered. But then again, the settings in Android Auto isn’t something that people really use all that often. In fact, I can’t remember the last time that I had opened the settings in Android Auto before today. Normally, I just plug in my phone and I’m good to go. As the phone will pop up everything you need there, to get going.
If you don’t yet have this change, you should be getting it very soon. You can’t exactly update the Play Services from the Play Store. But it does roll out pretty quickly, so you should have it very soon.
