Intermittent problems with Android Auto

[nem]

So ive had the car for a little while now and since day 1 ive had intermittent problems with Android Auto disconnecting/crashing.
Im actually not quite sure whether the problem is with the infotainment system or my phone (Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra)..

So what happens is that the music will sometimes stutter (and if im looking at google maps i will see that this stutters as well), this is very intermittent but it kinda seems like it happens more at the start of a drive and less so after ive driven a while?
Apart from the stuttering i sometimes also see AA crashing (dissapears from infotainment, AA icon on infotainmentscreen goes grey) It usually picks up again after 10-60 secs but a couple of times ive gotten a message box on the infotainment telling me that it could not find any android auto to connect to.

I did some googling around the problem about a week ago and one tip that i picked up was to make sure that android auto was not being affected by battery saving. I went through all the settings on the phone and let AA use all the battery it wants as well as setting it to never sleep/deep sleep.
I also tried removing the phone case as i thought maybe it was dampening the signal too much, but there's been no change.
I spoke to my uncle who drives an MG4 (i think) and hes had a lot of issues with AA there but a recent software update on the car fixed it for him i think..

Ive used spotify on my phone with BT connection in my old car (no AA) and never had any issues there, so if its the phone then i think its the AA software stack and not BT itself at least..

I wonder, do anyone else here with an MGS5 experience the same issues? Any tips or tricks i can do to make this work more consistently?

 

[Chris154]

I've had the same issue with Pixels and AA wired/wireless and have recently sent log reports to Google with regards to stuttering music and people on the other end of the phone not being able to hear me after a couple of minutes on the phone, I can still hear them.

Ive had this issue for a few years on/off now with different phones and different cars, but it happening with my new MGS5 I've decided to try push them to fix it. It's very annoying.

I've tried changing a few settings in the developer mode after reading stuff online, but doesn't seem to help. The only way that seems to resolve the music stuttering is turning the phone off and on again once I'm in the car and let it reconnect.

It's especially annoying as my built in sim doesn't seem to be working (does everyone else's constantly drop out losing all signal?) and my built in Amazon music struggling to open and when it does saying no connection. Even though I live in a built up area. I need tog etc MG to look at this really see if it's a faulty sim unit.

Is there anyway to delete/add more apps to the built in apps on the car as I don't use Spotify, but do use Tidal and YouTube Music.

 

[pmca]

I have a Pixel 9a and what helped me with audio stuttering was disabling multimedia audio in the MG bluetooth settings in the phone, somehow this conflicts with the wifi connection for android auto.
But the wired connection is always more stable.

 

[nem]

I have also had the call issue where the one in the other end cant hear me but i can hear them.. Then again its worked fine other times so i guess its part of the main problem that the connection drops or something..

I have a Pixel 9a and what helped me with audio stuttering was disabling multimedia audio in the MG bluetooth settings in the phone, somehow this conflicts with the wifi connection for android auto.
But the wired connection is always more stable.

I looked at the BT settings on my Samsung, specifically the ones for the car, but i dont have this there. I can set "Calls", "Sound" and contacts but these are all on/off settings. I can also define the type of sound device to "headphones", "speaker" or "Other" and its already set to other. I think this adjust max volume or EQ.. not sure..

 

[pmca]

I have also had the call issue where the one in the other end cant hear me but i can hear them.. Then again its worked fine other times so i guess its part of the main problem that the connection drops or something..


I looked at the BT settings on my Samsung, specifically the ones for the car, but i dont have this there. I can set "Calls", "Sound" and contacts but these are all on/off settings. I can also define the type of sound device to "headphones", "speaker" or "Other" and its already set to other. I think this adjust max volume or EQ.. not sure..

Media audio In the MG bt connection, in your case it should be sound?

It's especially annoying as my built in sim doesn't seem to be working (does everyone else's constantly drop out losing all signal?) and my built in Amazon music struggling to open and when it does saying no connection. Even though I live in a built up area. I need tog etc MG to look at this really see if it's a faulty sim unit.

The built in SIM have a low data plan (1GB per month I think?) so I don't recommend using it for media in the car as you will need it for the remote connection for the MG iSmart app.
Use your phone as hotspot and connect the car wifi to it, you should have a much more stable connection in the built-in apps.

 

[nem]

Media audio In the MG bt connection, in your case it should be sound?

Yeah i think so. I notice that i didnt actually say what they were set to, but only contacts is enabled. Sound and calls are disabled.

 

[Chris154]

Thanks @pmca that worked for my audio. Been in the car twice since turning media off in my settings and the audio has been perfect. Just now the phone calls they can't hear me at all, tried turning phone calls off as well, see if they would go through wifi but it turned it back on automatically.
Thanks also for the info about the build in sim