Can All Android Phones Use Android Auto?

Unless you've put some custom software on your phone, you should be good to go.

Gabriel Nica/Shutterstock Android Auto lets you use the essential apps on your phone via your car's dashboard. Much like Apple's CarPlay, you're able to use Android Auto to send messages, take calls, play music, and help navigate you from A to B. It's quickly replaced the patchwork quilt approach taken by car manufacturers in the past, supplanting in-built car infotainment systems that often quickly become outdated and unsupported.

Android Auto is essentially a mirroring app for your phone, and most modern Android smartphones built over the last decade include support for it. A group of 28 different car manufacturers pledged to support it in their cars, too.a Compatibility isn't guaranteed, however, and there are a few exceptions that you'll need to be aware of, along with some common issues that can stop it from working.

If your phone is running Android 9, you won't have it pre-installed, but you can install it from the Google Play Store. This will allow you to use Android Auto with your car over a wired USB connection. According to Google, over 500 vehicles now come with Android Auto support , but this can be dependent on the age of the car, so you'll need to double-check your car's specs to make sure your phone is compatible.

Those specs should allow you to use Android Auto by connecting your phone to your car using a USB cable, but support for using Android Auto wirelessly means you'll need a slightly newer phone. Wireless Android Auto is only available for phones running Android 11 or later, so models released in the last five to six years are most likely to support it. You'll also need a phone that includes support for Wi-Fi connections using the 5 GHz band, meaning support for Wi-Fi 5 or later. That's quite likely for any modern phone from this era, but make sure to double-check.

In reality, the picture is more complex. Unlike iPhones, which only receive software updates from Apple, the Android ecosystem is more fractured. The freedom to install your own version of Android means that instant plug-and-play support for Android Auto isn't guaranteed. The phones that work best with Android Auto will be those with native Android releases installed, meaning you've not installed a custom ROM on the device.

How supported Android Auto is otherwise will depend on the device you're using and the flavor of Android that's installed. For instance, GrapheneOS, the privacy-focused alternative based on Android's Open Source Project code, doesn't include Android Auto by default, according to its extensive user guide . If you want to install it yourself, you'll need to grant it a series of permissions before it'll work, including allowing it access to sandboxed Google Play services.

CalyxOS, another third-party operating system based on Android, also supports Android Auto with release 6.4.2 and later , but requires it to be enabled first. Other de-Googled phones running custom ROMs or lacking Google Play services are similarly likely to lack Android Auto support by default.

Roman Vyshnikov/Shutterstock Android Auto isn't a perfect system in a perfect world.