Even the most prestigious car brands are beginning to replace their systems with Android Auto; That’s what most drivers prefer, rather than having to learn a new interface. The great advantage of Android Auto is that it is very familiar to anyone who has an Android phone, and that extends to the apps.
Knowing this, Google announced several important changes during the last Google I/O focused on those strengths, with more apps compatible with Android Auto thanks to a new program that will automatically certify the apps that are already present on Google Play to be able to use them in the car.
However, allowing more apps to run opens the door to another problem: many They are not adapted to car screens and they can be a distraction. In a recent Android Auto update, Google implemented a way to recognize unavailable apps while driving; and today, with the release of Android Auto 12.2, it has made it even easier.
The big news in Android Auto 12.2 is a new way to distinguish apps that can only be used with the car stationary; If the system recognizes that we are moving, they cannot be executed to avoid distractions on the road. With the latest update, The icons of these apps will be displayed in gray, with desaturated colors; On the other hand, the apps that we can use while driving will be displayed in the usual colors.
Until now, apps that couldn’t be used on the move had a “P” superimposed on them, but Google hopes that the gray icons will be just as good an indicator and will fit better with the aesthetics of Android Auto. If we click on an app with a gray icon, a pop-up message will appear indicating that not available while driving; The only way to recover these apps will be to stop, and then the icons will return to their usual color.
This is the main change in Android Auto 12.2, but it probably won’t be the only one. As usual, Google has not followed its own rules and has not updated the list of new features with this update (an obligation for the rest of the developers). However, it is very likely that the rest of the changes in the system will focus on solve the ‘bugs’ discovered and in improving stability, in addition to preparing it for the aforementioned change that will allow the use of more mobile apps within Android Auto.
Android Auto 12.2 is already arriving as an update to the first users; In addition, the .apk package is now available for download on sites like APKMirror if we can’t wait for our phone to update.
