- Google has made a small but useful tweak to Android Auto
- Driving status can now be determined via Bluetooth
- This reduces the chances of silencing notifications by mistake.
If you’re a regular Android Auto user, you may have noticed that there’s a pretty complicated set of rules around automatically blocking notifications while driving, but it looks like Google has now fixed one of the most frustrating issues.
As spotted by Android Authority, the option to automatically enable Do Not Disturb in Android Auto when motion is detected appears to have been changed. This setting was known to accidentally silence alerts on passengers’ and drivers’ phones.
Now, the old option of having Do Not Disturb turn on automatically when the phone is connected to a car dashboard via Bluetooth has been added back. That’s a much more reliable indicator of whether someone is driving and whether this mode should be enabled.
It makes sense that you wouldn’t necessarily want a flurry of alerts to distract you while you’re behind the wheel, but it’s also important to give users control over this, and not allow Do Not Disturb to be enabled without manual interactions.
Check for updates
Google hasn’t actually said anything officially about this, so we don’t have the full story, but according to Android Authority, the update is starting to roll out to several Android devices. Version 26.05.32 of Google Play Services is the update to take into account.
On a Pixel phone, you can check if you’ve received the update by opening Settings, then tapping Modes and Driving. If you select while drivingYou will see that the Bluetooth option is back, if your version of Google Play Services is updated.
Samsung phones actually do this better, because they also make the phone check that it’s connected to an Android Auto dashboard, not just a Bluetooth device. Hopefully Google adds a little more granular control here in the future.
The next notable Android update is Android 17 and it should arrive later this year with multiple updates included. However, so far there have been no signs that Android Auto will receive any significant updates.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to receive news, reviews and opinions from our experts in your feeds. Be sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form and receive regular updates from us on WhatsApp also.
