You can unblock video streaming on your dashboard, but should you? Gabriel Nica/Shutterstock Android Auto was designed to make your driving sessions simple and easy, but not everyone wants simplicity. If you’ve ever wished you could stream YouTube through your dashboard or mirror your phone’s screen to your car’s screen, you’re…
You don’t want to receive more calls than necessary while driving. Andrey Baidak/Shutterstock An unknown phone number appearing on your dashboard creates an annoying choice: should you ignore a call that might be important or answer a call that might be spam? Google’s Call Screen gives you another option by having…
There are several things you should check. Design Topuria/Shutterstock If you already have a perfectly working cable that supports Android Auto, upgrading to a 5Gbps cable won’t make Spotify sound like it would if you had rebuilt the stereo. Yes, a broken or poorly constructed cable can cause dropouts, disconnections, and…
Its customization options are almost endless. Gabriel Nica/Shutterstock Android Auto is arguably one of the most useful tools available to drivers today, but most people only use it with the default settings, missing out on some really cool features. You connect your phone, the interface loads, and you accept whatever Google…
Bluetooth handles pairing and reconnection, Wi-Fi does the rest. Adrianhancu/Getty Images Wireless CarPlay uses both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, but not for the same job. Bluetooth helps your iPhone and car find, pair and reconnect, while Wi-Fi keeps the CarPlay session active. Apple says this includes audio, video, and control data from…
One connects to your phone and the other doesn’t. The Bold Office/Shutterstock Android Auto and Android Automotive sound like two names for the same product, which really doesn’t help anyone. Fortunately, the difference is quite simple. The one most drivers are familiar with is Android Auto. The experience is powered by…
Shout “HEY SIRI!” even louder doesn’t solve the problem, surprisingly. Andrey Baidak/Shutterstock CarPlay happily runs Maps and plays music, then suddenly Siri stops listening. Maybe he hears you but doesn’t respond. Or he responds in a subdued tone, and you start to think that the voice assistant made the decision to…
Right now, it’s not exactly a smooth experience. Gabriel Nica/Shutterstock YouTube has always been a curious middle child on Android Auto. The streaming app isn’t as feature-rich in a car as it is on a desktop or smartphone, and if you wanted to watch a baseball game while parked, you were…
The differences between iPhone and Android also appear when you connect them to your car. Roman Vyshnikov/Shutterstock Most automakers have thrown their support behind Android Auto and Apple CarPlay over the past decade, meaning it’s easy to continue using your phone’s apps and services while you drive. These two mirroring services…
To wire or not to wire? Hadrian/Shutterstock If you drive with an iPhone next to you every day, one of the biggest quality of life improvements you can make to your car is using Apple CarPlay. This is a feature that has been included in iPhones since 2014 and allows you…