Android auto not working well

digitaldai

digitaldai

Standard Member
Joined
Jan 8, 2023
Messages
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Location
england
Driving
MG4 SE SR
Android Auto only seems to work for a short while, then next journey often screen comes up black or just back to home page. tried two leads and two phones, these worked fine in my leaf for over a year beforehand. Can only think it is the software in the MG4. even when I disconnect the phone sometimes the android auto button stays illuminated and you can click through to a black screen with no phone connected which is odd, pretty sure I am on the latest software as well 1100R13. disappointing. any suggestions except try another lead please!
 
Very occasionally I'll get a black screen (e.g. if I've been driving, I stop at a shop to get some things, then go back to the car within only a few minutes - 5-10) ... before the stop AA will have been working fine, and it's only maybe 1:10 times that this will happen. Mostly AA works fine for me.

I'm on the same software version.
 
digitaldai said:
Android Auto only seems to work for a short while, then next journey often screen comes up black or just back to home page. tried two leads and two phones, these worked fine in my leaf for over a year beforehand. Can only think it is the software in the MG4. even when I disconnect the phone sometimes the android auto button stays illuminated and you can click through to a black screen with no phone connected which is odd, pretty sure I am on the latest software as well 1100R13. disappointing. any suggestions except try another lead please!
Click to expand...
I've had this a few times, usually just unplugging your phone and then plugging it back in again will work. I think there's often a bit of lag with the system getting Android Auto going correctly.
 
Hold the home button for ages, restarts the infotainment, fixed black screen for me, but didn't fix broken voice commands. That's just hit and miss
 
siteguru said:
Very occasionally I'll get a black screen (e.g. if I've been driving, I stop at a shop to get some things, then go back to the car within only a few minutes - 5-10) ... before the stop AA will have been working fine, and it's only maybe 1:10 times that this will happen. Mostly AA works fine for me.

I'm on the same software version.
Click to expand...
Yes sounds similiar, if its working on a long journey keeps working, just if doing a few shorter journeys in a day stops when you get in and out. one thing I realsied I never got to put the code number from the car to my phone, might try to
jebimasta said:
Hold the home button for ages, restarts the infotainment, fixed black screen for me, but didn't fix broken voice commands. That's just hit and miss
Click to expand...
thanks all, hopefully future update will just make it a bit more reliable.
 
nerfmg said:
I've got a trophy and Android auto seems to cut out more often when there is a passenger in the car 😹
Click to expand...
That is really weird!

I’ve only used AA when in the car myself, usually commuting.

I’ve had no mayor issues with AA untill yesterday evening. And it was when my wife was a passenger. Plugged phone in, black screen, disconnected a couple of time and it was the same. Went to the local chippy and sent the wife into the shop, plugged the phone back in and it worked again! Weird! I left it plugged in and it worked fine when my wife came back and the journey home.

The niggles I have with AA:

1. I have about 90GB of music on my phone, the car only picks up about 3/4s of it. When I go to view the files (artists) in alphabetical order I get as far as the letter S then nothing. I can play artists after S with the google voice but it won’t play the album, after one track it shuffles to somthing random, and shuffle is off. So I’ll say ‘play Rush R30 album’, it plays the first track then plays a different artist all together.

2. Phone calls. Everything was working fine till a few days ago. Wether its on Bluetooth only or through AA, I can control everything in contacts etc then when I make the call on the car screen it puts it through the phones speaker and microphone, it’s not using the car speakers or microphone.

any ideas with these ones?

Paul.
 
digitaldai said:
Android Auto only seems to work for a short while, then next journey often screen comes up black or just back to home page. tried two leads and two phones, these worked fine in my leaf for over a year beforehand. Can only think it is the software in the MG4. even when I disconnect the phone sometimes the android auto button stays illuminated and you can click through to a black screen with no phone connected which is odd, pretty sure I am on the latest software as well 1100R13. disappointing. any suggestions except try another lead please!
Click to expand...
The Android Auto system is crap. In the cars that I've had the version has always been years behind and in my ZS EV it's no different. In the last few cars it's always been an old outdated feeling system with a USB connection always required, at least initially. In fact my last car, a Suzuki, required a USB connection but only to initialise Android Auto. It worked reasonably well after that without needing a cable. The annoying thing is that Android Auto has it's favourites amongst mobile phone brands with Samsung being prominent. Such a shame all car manufacturers can't use a robust standard that will just connect and let us get on with using our communication devices as we would like to, totally hands free and cable free. I envy those that can afford to buy cars with new software systems that simply 'work' and do what you need. I've worked with technology at the cutting edge and Android Auto is not there. That reminds me... To continue looking for an alternative.
 
Dougal62 said:
The Android Auto system is crap. In the cars that I've had the version has always been years behind and in my ZS EV it's no different. In the last few cars it's always been an old outdated feeling system with a USB connection always required, at least initially. In fact my last car, a Suzuki, required a USB connection but only to initialise Android Auto. It worked reasonably well after that without needing a cable. The annoying thing is that Android Auto has it's favourites amongst mobile phone brands with Samsung being prominent. Such a shame all car manufacturers can't use a robust standard that will just connect and let us get on with using our communication devices as we would like to, totally hands free and cable free. I envy those that can afford to buy cars with new software systems that simply 'work' and do what you need. I've worked with technology at the cutting edge and Android Auto is not there. That reminds me... To continue looking for an alternative.
Click to expand...
My car has a Google infotainment system, it's so much better than anything I've had before. Works great. Can control most things with a "Hey Google......"
Don't know why most manufacturers don't go down this road, leave the tech to the tech experts
 
I've get to give ANdroid Auto a try on the MG4, but I've found Carplay to be similar, sometimes is works great, including Siri voice commands, but other times it can be deaf and doesn't hear commands at all. I've not had blank screen or anything like that however.

I'm hoping that software updates will improve things, we shall see.
 
digitaldai said:
Android Auto only seems to work for a short while, then next journey often screen comes up black or just back to home page. tried two leads and two phones, these worked fine in my leaf for over a year beforehand. Can only think it is the software in the MG4. even when I disconnect the phone sometimes the android auto button stays illuminated and you can click through to a black screen with no phone connected which is odd, pretty sure I am on the latest software as well 1100R13. disappointing. any suggestions except try another lead please!
Click to expand...
I've had very few issues with AA, works very well with an AA wireless dongle or cable.
siteguru said:
Very occasionally I'll get a black screen (e.g. if I've been driving, I stop at a shop to get some things, then go back to the car within only a few minutes - 5-10) ... before the stop AA will have been working fine, and it's only maybe 1:10 times that this will happen. Mostly AA works fine for me.

I'm on the same software version.
Click to expand...
only time it black screened for us was once when we messed arround with our two phones similar to siteguru's description, I'll note the long press on home to restart the head unit in future.

However, what I have had trouble with is my Pixel 3's USB C socket is prone to fill with pocket fluff and starts to make poor contact with the cable in general use and occasionally a pot hole has disconnected AA whilst on the MG4's shelf - could you be suffering similar? Especially if repeated disconnects / reconnects can cause a black screen? Although I have not had it fail after such a scenario.
 
AA has behaved itself since I posted this, must not like being told off!

The other issue I still haven’t resolved on AA is that guidance audio doesn’t come through when on DAB or FM, Audio dips but nothing is heard. Guidance audio does come through when streaming or listening to audio from memory stick on the usbC port, so I dont think it is a phone problem. Must be an MG software issue I think. Car is an SE.
 
pd2 said:
That is really weird!

I’ve only used AA when in the car myself, usually commuting.

I’ve had no mayor issues with AA untill yesterday evening. And it was when my wife was a passenger. Plugged phone in, black screen, disconnected a couple of time and it was the same. Went to the local chippy and sent the wife into the shop, plugged the phone back in and it worked again! Weird! I left it plugged in and it worked fine when my wife came back and the journey home.

The niggles I have with AA:

1. I have about 90GB of music on my phone, the car only picks up about 3/4s of it. When I go to view the files (artists) in alphabetical order I get as far as the letter S then nothing. I can play artists after S with the google voice but it won’t play the album, after one track it shuffles to somthing random, and shuffle is off. So I’ll say ‘play Rush R30 album’, it plays the first track then plays a different artist all together.

2. Phone calls. Everything was working fine till a few days ago. Wether its on Bluetooth only or through AA, I can control everything in contacts etc then when I make the call on the car screen it puts it through the phones speaker and microphone, it’s not using the car speakers or microphone.

any ideas with these ones?

Paul.
Click to expand...
Bluetooth is weird on this car .it won't import my contacts but if someone rings me says xxxxx is calling .
Cuts in if im listening to the radio.
If I use the keypad to dial a number it'll retain it so if I want to ring someone else I have to delete the number from the screen.
Fortunately my AA is working okay so I use that.
 
Not sure if this is the right thread to ask, but does anyone else (apart from me!), find that when using "Hi MG" and asking it to call a number from the contacts, that it chooses to ring the one immediately preceding it instead?
For example, if I ask it to call "David", it calls "Colin" instead, or "Michael" instead of "Nigel".
 
digitaldai said:
AA has behaved itself since I posted this, must not like being told off!

The other issue I still haven’t resolved on AA is that guidance audio doesn’t come through when on DAB or FM, Audio dips but nothing is heard. Guidance audio does come through when streaming or listening to audio from memory stick on the usbC port, so I dont think it is a phone problem. Must be an MG software issue I think. Car is an SE.
Click to expand...
After reading your original post, it reminded me of my AA niggle that is exactly what you describe here WRT FM/DAB & Guidance. I started a separate thread at that point.

Android Auto - no voice guidance from Google Maps on top of DAB / FM radio

When the audio source is RADIO AND AA is active AND I'm using Google maps for navigation AND G/Maps is UNMUTED AND the VOICE GUIDANCE volume is set to max, I don't hear any directions played over the top of the radio. When Google would be speaking the radio volume noticeably dips but there is no...
www.mgevs.com www.mgevs.com

I have a few things to try from AA and general Android sites
 
I also have found AA problematic.
Sometimes it just won't recognise that the phone is connected, sometimes I get the black screen. It actually got worse with a recent software update, so the dealer has been advised to replace the screen. I'm rather dubious that it's a hardware issue, but let's see.
 
DevonMG4 said:
I've had very few issues with AA, works very well with an AA wireless dongle or cable.

only time it black screened for us was once when we messed arround with our two phones similar to siteguru's description, I'll note the long press on home to restart the head unit in future.

However, what I have had trouble with is my Pixel 3's USB C socket is prone to fill with pocket fluff and starts to make poor contact with the cable in general use and occasionally a pot hole has disconnected AA whilst on the MG4's shelf - could you be suffering similar? Especially if repeated disconnects / reconnects can cause a black screen? Although I have not had it fail after such a scenario.
Click to expand...
It would be great and easy to fix it I was but sadly, no. I think Android Auto has decided (or the car software) that my phone is no longer to be talked to. Plain and simple. I have tried reconnecting from scratch three times now and it's useless. I can truly say Android Auto is one of the worst pieces of software I've ever used - and I've used a lot. Been using computers since the early eighties both for work and as a hobby and the setup is just rubbish but I can only blame the car manufacturers for not providing an easy reliable connection interface software. It's plain to see some manufacturers are not impressed with AA and having their own interface developed... Think I'll see about closing this post as it's going nowhere. Thanks for all the interest. For me it's time to try out alternatives or have no connection at all.
 
Hagerty1967 said:
I also have found AA problematic.
Sometimes it just won't recognise that the phone is connected, sometimes I get the black screen. It actually got worse with a recent software update, so the dealer has been advised to replace the screen. I'm rather dubious that it's a hardware issue, but let's see.
Click to expand...
I had problems with AA disconnecting at random intervals and sometimes no greater than a minute or two. I also saw quite a few black screens. I used the lead that worked with AA in my previous car, so i assumed that the lead was OK.

After weeks of frustration i decided to invest in a high quality data cable and like magic, all my previous issues have gone away.

If you are having random issues it is always worth getting a decent cable from an EU manufacturer.

Thats one issue ticked off my list just another xx to go 🙄
 
Boilerboy said:
I had problems with AA disconnecting at random intervals and sometimes no greater than a minute or two. I also saw quite a few black screens. I used the lead that worked with AA in my previous car, so i assumed that the lead was OK.

After weeks of frustration i decided to invest in a high quality data cable and like magic, all my previous issues have gone away.

If you are having random issues it is always worth getting a decent cable from an EU manufacturer.

Thats one issue ticked off my list just another xx to go 🙄
Click to expand...
Been there... All my leads are tried and tested. I am a former supervisor of an electronics workshop. No I believe the problem is software handshake and Android Auto is notorious for being picky. I also believe the manufacturers don't do enough research into what works and what doesn't and stick in a bog standard that averagely works across all cars and some phones. BMW Mini is a typical example of lack of interest. Even their series three Mini still only had support for Apple Carplay even though most mobile phones were by that time running Android. It is simply deplorable that car manufacturers do not keep such crucial software up to date and compatible across the board. That's off to those that have decided to abandon Android Auto.
 

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