this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2025
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I have equally bad experiences with both Android Auto and Apple Carplay. I don't really want either and am fine with what I've got (only 1/3 of the cars I own even has Carplay/Android Auto). I mostly dislike how it's been implemented with "safety controls" that require the phone to be plugged into the infotainment center in some cars and the requirement that I only connect it while at a stop with the car in park. If someone is driving with me and they want to change to their phone I have to pull over and that's stupid.
The infotainment centers themselves with their stupid touch screens and lack of buttons are where my real problems start, and the end with the tracking BS and telemetry data. You can keep the new cars. I don't want them.
That’s nothing to do with android auto/car play and entirely down to the manufacturer of your car being an asshat.
Is it a Mazda? Mazda is one of the worst about this. I think they’ve gotten better in their latest cars, but that doesn’t fix the existing ones.
It's a Honda. But that's exactly the point I'm trying to make here. With both car play and Android Auto I have issues but they're down to how the manufacturer chose to implement each. Car manufacturers deliberately hamstrung these features and still didn't get what they wanted.
Dacia's implementation isn't bad. The only safety limits in there are the ones imposed by Android Auto.
But I totally agree with you, when your car/android auto/phone combo acts dumb, finger pointing to who is at fault hardly matters, because it doesn't work and that's all that matters (except for knowing which manufacturer to avoid the next time).
You just need a wireless Android Auto dongle. I have an older Honda without wireless AA. I got an "AAWireless" adapter that physically plugs in, then I connect my phone via Bluetooth and WiFi while I wireless charge it. The cool part is that it also removes the safety stuff that prevents you from typing while car is in motion and taking "safety breaks" while scrolling on head unit. I highly discourage distracted driving (just don't be an idiot).
We have a wireless Android Auto dongle. And it takes an age to auto connect. Not to mention the problems with it still wanting us to pull over and put the car in park to switch, something I thought would be circumvented when I bought it but somehow is not. Usually it's the person in the passenger seat trying to change something and not being able to. I'm not advocating for distracted driving. I'm pointing out that someone else in the vehicle who's not driving can't interact to change certain things even though it's perfectly safe for them to do so.
If your dongle has a configuration app, I'd look in there for options to sidestep the safety pause bullshit. I couldn't agree with you more! The head unit can't tell if its the driver or passenger tapping it, so why on Earth would it force the vehicle to be stopped or in PARK?!? Idiotic babysitting for no reason isn't safer.