I’ve always preferred CarPlay to Android Auto, but Google’s in-car platform outperforms Apple’s offering in many ways, including customization options and third-party apps and app stores.
The platform also offers many developer options that not everyone knows about, including improving the reliability of your phone’s USB connection to Android Auto with a simple tweak, or in this case, a feature I recently came across that lets you improve the resolution of Android Auto on your car’s screen.
Make your Android Auto screen less blurry
It’s crazy, I didn’t know this feature existed until recently
Have you ever looked at your car’s infotainment screen with Android Auto running and thought it looks a little blurry? As for my Ioniq 5, it’s not something I’ve really taken note of, but with other cars I’ve driven, it’s definitely a thought that has crossed my mind.
I always assumed that was just what the screen looked like and that its panel must be low resolution. While this may be true in some cases, especially with older vehicles, there is actually a hidden resolution setting you can change to make your vehicle’s Android Auto display noticeably cleaner and clearer. I’m actually shocked at how much difference adjusting this setting makes with my Android Auto screen.
First of all, you need to enable Android Auto Developer Options using the following steps:
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Open it Settings app on your Android phone.
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Go to Connected devices (this is the second option).
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Press Android Auto (on my Pixel 10 Pro I also have to press Connection preferences First of all).
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Scroll down and tap Version until Developer Settings are enabled (you will receive an update that you only have three clicks left when you are close).
Now it’s time to access the Android Auto developer settings:
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To do this, press the three point button at the top of the screen under the Android automatic settings you are already there.
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Now tap on Developer Settings.
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Scroll down to Video Resolution and select one of the options: 800 x 480, 1280 x 720, 1920 x 1080, 1440 x 2560, and 2160 x 3840 pixels.
Depending on which Android smartphone you’re using, these steps will be slightly different (in my case, my daily phone is a Pixel 10 Pro). That said, they should be very similar.
Make sure you select the correct resolution
If you have an older vehicle, increasing the resolution may make the display worse.
If you have an older vehicle, dialing the resolution up to 4K will look pretty bad (it will look bad even on new vehicles in most cases). You might even experience a completely black screen in certain situations. If this happens, just change the resolution and you should see your Android Auto home screen again. It’s worth noting that, in my case, I had to set the resolution and then unplug and plug my Pixel 10 Pro back into my vehicle for the resolution to change.
In my case, I increased the display resolution from 1920 x 720 to 1920 x 1080, the resolution I believe to be the main infotainment screen on my Ioniq 5 (Hyundai has never disclosed the screen resolution as far as I know). I immediately noticed that it looked noticeably sharper, whether it was my home screen’s custom pixel art background, app icons, or Waze’s map. If you’re unsure of the resolution of your infotainment screen, it’s worth researching your vehicle model. In most cases, if your car is from the last few years, it’s probably 1920 x 720 or 1920 x 1080 resolution.
It’s not exactly a hidden feature, but if you want to clean up your Android Auto home screen even more, you can get rid of apps you don’t use. To do this, go to Android Auto > Customize Launcher > Display. You will then see a list of apps on your dashboard. You can uncheck the ones you don’t want and drag and drop them to rearrange their location.
