Technological development from various sides has impacted the improvement of Android Auto's in-car features in 2025. In this article, we will show the top features added to Android Auto to enhance the car experience and provide an amazing experience while you are travelling.
Important: Avoid using your mobiles or streaming Videos on your car screen while driving. It's not legal as it may cause accidents and disturb other people on the road. Be careful and use Android Auto for any purpose while parking your car.
Why Android Auto features?
Using smartphones while driving for communication, entertainment, even for navigation distracts you and may even lead to major accidents. Therefore Apple & Google introduced Apple CarPlay and Android Auto features in which you can access your phone on the car’s inbuilt infotainment system. But what differentiates it from your Android phone? What features does it bring you? Here is what you should know.
Android Auto boasts about more than 400 car models being compatible with it. It has a similar shape to Apple CarPlay with a bit of Android phone’s functionality. You may message, listen to a song, or even get directions to a place from where you are by just dictating to your phone what you want.
Android compatible cars come with compatible knobs and voice controls. So that you don’t have to gaze at your phone and keep your hand busy with it. For example, if you want to start navigation, press and hold the voice controls on the steering wheel, or you may simply say “OK Google”
Google Maps
We all know that Android Auto is from Google. So, it has Google Maps on it, which has a huge database of locations compared to Apple Maps, and it further gives you the fastest route as well as real-time traffic alerts. What is important to note is that Android Auto is not limited only to Google Maps; it has also given you a chance to have a third-party map like Waze, which is popular these days. As well as you can find traffic alerts and EV charging station alerts through EV Charging apps too.
Calls
Nowadays, Automatic calling apps are very popular. You can command Google Assistant to dial a contact in your phone book on your behalf. And the conversation will happen through your car’s speakers. Therefore, the calling experience in your car is smarter with Android Auto as it does not distract you from focusing on the road. You needn’t touch the Android Auto display anymore, you can make any emergency call while driving safely.
Messages
Android Auto takes the course of reading, replying and composing texts for you. All you need to do is just dictate and say the message you want to type or read. Like iMessage on iPhones, you can use Android messaging apps.
This can be used either by Bluetooth or via a Lightning cable plugged into the infotainment system. But most of the cars, for now, are not supported in an untethered way. You don’t need to type or pick up your phone with your hands to send a message, as you can easily command it to the Google Assistant.
YouTube Music: YouTube is one of the best video streaming apps that nowadays at peak. In addition, YouTube Music has become another top alternative for Spotify to find favorite songs with official videos and albums. But YouTube on Android Auto not directly supported, but you can use some official and unofficial solutions to play YouTube on Android Auto.
VLC: VLC is not a streaming music app, but it's the most popular Music Player for Android. You can play any audio file you want for free. While you are in your car and you need to open some tracks without videos, just give the voice command and play any track on Android Auto.
Tidal: Tidal is another music streaming app popular among Android users, which consists of 80 million of songs with high-quality tracks. As well as it pays better royalties than comparing to other music apps, such as Pandora.
Whatsapp : The most popular app in the social media platform for sending messages is WhatsApp. Not only texts but also it offers Video and voice message options. Both Android and CarPlay users download WhatsApp on Android Auto to ease their communication.
TomTom Go: TomTomGo is also a popular app that was not developed by Google. The main feature of this app is that it consists of different settings for a wide range of vehicles.
Car Media: Car Media is the latest app that comes as a new update this year. This Car Media App integrated with Android Auto and plays a major role as a central hub for providing media options. As well as that, it does not provide access to apps such as Spotify and YouTube Music. Still, people listen to radio stations too, so this app will be a gift for them.
Other features:
1. Voice control availability with Google Assistant
As mentioned before, Google Assistant will help you to make a phone call, send a message, or read out the weather forecast with Voice Control. This has become a convenient way of communication while driving, as texting or calling with your mobile while driving is dangerous. You can keep your focus on the road while Google Assistant does everything according to your commands. You can activate it by saying “Hey Google”, or else tap the microphone button at the head unit.
2. Monitoring smart home gadgets
If you have smart home gadgets that automate and monitor your home, Android Auto can integrate with them. You could use Google Assistant with Android Auto to check and control your smart home devices while you are driving. However, you have to install smart home devices that are compatible with Google Assistant to get the most of this.
Even with a smart garage door controller that supports Google Assistant, you could open your garage door remotely from your car without anyone else's help.
3. On- Screen weather updates
If you have turned on the weather option, Android Auto can show you the latest weather updates on screen. Or else, just ask “ how is the weather” from the Google Assistant.
4. Big icons for easy touch
It's easy for you to touch the screen while driving because it displays bigger icons. Easy focus and easy touching.
5. Turn to turn navigation
Android Auto is compatible with easy navigation while you are using it. So, you do not need to worry about the road, your map will guide you from turn to turn. Most navigation apps like Google Maps, Samsung Maps, and Waze are compatible with this.
6. Realtime phone calls and updates
If your signal strengths are strong while you are on the road, you don’t need to worry about your calls and messages, as they deliver in real-time.
7. Music and audio playback
Music while driving is something to wake you up, as you may feel bored if you drive alone. Android Auto supports a variety of music-playing apps, including Spotify and YouTube Music, and you can even listen to podcasts while driving.
8. Ability to customize the app menu
Most importantly, Android Auto provides its users the ability to customize their app menu. You can even add more apps to Android Auto by referring Android Auto-compatible apps on Google Playstore.
These features are really helpful for the drivers for their safety. Because they do not have to touch the phone or look at the phone while driving, and on the other hand, they do not miss their real-time updates on the phone.
Google usually does not let its users install video streaming apps like YouTube, Netflix, or Hulu on Android Auto, as you can be distracted by these video streaming apps. However, if you wish to add any app to Android Auto, which is not allowed by Google by default, you can simply install the WheelPal app, which can help you add any app to Android Auto.
New App categories
The next ever biggest update that could happen in 2025 in the Android Automation world is it support for new app categories. In 2024 Google announced a beta programme that brings apps for browsing, playing music, and games as new categories to Android Auto. That means shortly, Android Auto will support YouTube streaming, Netflix, and many more streaming platforms by default.
Games on Android Auto
This is another amazing update for Android users because the basic games on Android Auto have already launched. And the important thing is it's not possible while your car is moving. It's unlocked after you park your car.
If you do not have Android Auto yet, you can experience the Android Auto experience with the InCar Android Auto simulator app.
If you do not have Android Auto yet, you can experience the Android Auto experience with the InCar Android Auto simulator app.
Also, there are some Android Auto hacks to customize the compatible app list and enhance the existing features. Read everything about Android Auto, news, hacks, tips, and many more on follow Android Auto official page and GitHub for new updates, for any modifications and customizations.
