Android Auto Keeps Disconnecting

Many users face the problem of the android auto keeps disconnecting. It’s so annoying for car users. This problem is faced in both types of connection by the users, the wireless connection and the USB connection. The worst thing is that this issue is faced in almost every model of phone or car (so, don’t think that your phone or car is trash probably). Most of the time relaunching the android auto, re-plugging the USB cable, or either restarting the phone or car does the job to fix the issue.

But these solutions are not idle to solve the issue, what if you are driving in heavy traffic? You can’t use any of these solutions, these solutions can cause you serious damage in a situation like this. So, in this article, I am gonna show you some of the best solutions to fix the problem. Make sure to read this article thoroughly.

Android auto

Android Auto is an application that mirrors your Android phone into your car’s system. It was built by Google to assist you while you are driving. It helps you assist with very well-known Google Assistance. You just have to say “Ok Google” to get several tasks done. At this time more than 400 car models support android auto (Don’t worry, even if your car model doesn’t have it, you can easily add android auto to it) Many cars now come with already installed android auto functionality. The functionality may be available in your car by way of a wired connection or wireless connection. With android auto, you can focus on driving and control your phone at the same time by using the voice command or the car’s touchscreen.

Why does android auto keep disconnecting

The issue of android auto keeps disconnecting can be caused by several reasons, but the reason I have listed below can be the main cause :

Battery optimization feature: The battery optimization feature does not let some processes occur (or kill them) to save the phone’s battery. So, the battery optimization feature can be the one causing this issue. Try switching off the battery optimization feature and then try to connect. I have mentioned the process to switch it off step by step in the article below just follow it.
Outdated application: By outdated application, I meant your android auto app, google play services, phone’s OS, or the unit’s firmware. Android auto may be disconnecting due to the android auto app, google play services, phone’s OS or the unit’s firmware being outdated. The outdated application can cause incompatibility with others. We suggest you keep them updated.
Improper configuration or the developer option: In USB-type connections, improper USB debugging or developer option control can be the major cause of app disconnecting. They control phon’s many settings so, if any of these settings are in a misconfigured state then it will cause android auto connection issues.
Mock location: Many of you might not know but there is a mock location feature on our phones. If the mock location feature is on then it might be causing the issue of disconnecting. Try turning off the feature and then try connecting. The steps to turn off the mock location feature are written below in the article.
Corrupted installation of the android auto app, corrupt cache, or corrupt data: There might be some issues while installing the android auto application, or a recent update of the app has corrupted the cache and data somehow can be causing the disconnection issue.

Things you should know before solutions

Many users have suggested disabling the “Auto Rotate” feature of your phone when using android auto
The problem can be your phone too so, many people have recommended replacing it
Several people have suggested uninstalling the troublesome applications on your phone (Example – Spotify)
Make sure to check that the android auto app is enabled on the car’s entertainment unit
Enabling the “Do not disturb” mode on your phone can help a lot, according to many users
Please check the capability of the android auto with your car, highly told to make sure of it (by users)
“High-Speed USB 3.1” is the best choice for connecting, when using a USB connection to connect the android auto and car’s head unit
People say that make sure to enable the “Data Transfer Mode” when connecting with your car’s entertainment unit
It is recommended to delete all the “Data” and “Settings” from your car’s entertainment unit and establish a new connection to solve the issue
Installing “A Wireless Dongle” is recommended by many users, may work and may not
Select the “USB tethering” to fix the issue

Solutions- Now you know the major reasons behind the disconnection issue, besides these issues there may be other issues too, which are causing the disconnection error. Let’s head to the solutions below.

Try another USB cable or clean the USB ports

Before moving to the tougher solutions first let us try our bare minimum, the disconnection issue may just be solved by cleaning the USB ports or by just changing your USB cable. The reason behind this error can be dirt stuck in the USB ports or the phone’s stock cable. The dirt may be acting as a barrier to the connection. Or it is that your USB cable is not working properly, time to buy a new one (I can’t change my phone right now, the USB cable is dead). Follow the instructions written below to clean the USB ports:

Search for a sharp pointing object such as a needle, toothpick or just fold a paper like it. (I use a needle and highly recommend you all to use it)
Remove dirt from the USB contact pins of the phone or the cable. (Be gentle while cleaning, do not damage them)
Check by reconnecting to ensure that android auto is connecting completely fine
If it did not work try using the phone’s stock cable to connect the phone and check if the problem is now solved or not
If all this did not work for you then try using special cables like a data rate USB 3.1 cable or a special high-speed cable (kind of similar to an Anker cable)
If the problem is now fixed and you only face it during car bumps or some kind of shock then keep the phone on a soft place to absorb the sudden shock (like a cushion or something)

Restart your smartphone

I used to do this whenever I faced an issue when I was a kid (lol, I still do this). The idea of Restarting your smartphone will come to your mind after you have tried changing your network mode. It is a simple process and it often solves the tiny glitches in your phone. Follow the steps mentioned below to perform this action:

All you gotta do is press and hold your phone’s power button until it shows the options of Restart or Reboot and Power Off
Click on the Restart or reboot option and wait until your smartphone restarts.
When the phone’s restarting is finished, open android auto and check if the issue is resolved or not

Disable Battery optimization

As I said, our smartphones have an in-built feature that, to enhance the phone’s battery performance, restricts some processes or even sometimes disables some applications without letting us know. Turning off the battery optimization feature can help you with the disconnecting issue therefore follow these steps written below to disable the battery optimization:

Open your smartphone’s Settings
Click on the Battery option
Click on the “Manage Battery” option and then click on the “Battery Optimization” option from the list
Now, search and tap on the “Android Auto” app in the battery optimization list of application
Click on “Don’t Optimize”
Now, restart the “Android Auto” app and check if the issue is fixed or not

Outdated Android auto application

Apps get outdated very often because the developers try to improve them each day to make them better and better. The android auto-installed by you might have been outdated and the old version of the application may not be compatible so, updating it can be your best course of action. The procedure to update android is listed below step by step:

Open the Google Plays tore on your phone
On the search bar search “Android Auto”
Tap on the android auto from the list of the apps
You will see the “Update” option if a new version of the app is available, tap on it
When the app is finished updating, open it and check if the issue is resolved or not

Update the phone’s Firmware

Keeping your smartphone’s OS up to date is the best thing for it. I mean, that whenever a new version of the OS launches it also contains the solutions to bugs in the previous version of the OS. There are many issues with applications that get fixed by just updating your phone’s OS. The steps to update your phone’s OS is given below:

First, open your device’s “Settings”
Scroll to the “About Phone” option and tap on it or your phone may have the “System Update” option in the settings menu (Just like mine)
Select the “MIUI Version” option from the about phone’s menu
Tap on the “Check for updates” option, if there is one available install it by tapping on the “Download Now” option and then tap on “Install Now”

After successfully updating the OS, check if you are still facing the issue or not

If there is no new version available for the update then you are already using the latest version of the OS

Update Google play services

The app mentioned above is not available on the Google Play store so, there is no choice besides updating manually. (and why is it not available on the Google play store though? If any of you know, please tell me) Updating an app manually can be quite tough so follow the instruction below to update google play services thoroughly:

Open Google and search “Google Play services” or search on the Google search box available on your phone’s desktop screen.
Click on the “Google play services” from the search results.
The play store app will automatically launch, choose the Google Play Services
If the update option shows then tap on it and download the most recent update for your phone.

Remove cache of the android auto app

To save some time your phone stores some temporary amount of data to quickly access it when you open an app. It eliminates the time to recall the necessary information again thus, making loading an app faster. The place where your device keeps this temporary data is known as cache files. Removing these cache files can help to solve the problem so, follow the instructions below to delete the cache from your phone:

Open your phone’s “Setting”
Then click on “More Settings” from the settings menu or search “Manage apps” options (the process can vary depending on one’s phone.
Click on the “Applications” option
Then select the “Installed” option
Search for the “Android Auto” and tap on it
Then tap on the “Storage”
You will get the “Clear cache” option there, tap on it and the cache will be cleared, and then look again if the issue is resolved or not

Enable USB debugging

When getting hold of the car’s head unit via a USB cable, make sure to enable the USB debugging on your device. Enabling the USB debugging mode can help you resolve the issue if you are using a USB connection to connect the car and the android auto app. The steps to enable the USB debugging are:

First, open the “Settings” of your smartphone
Then move to the “About Phone” option and tap on it
Now, you have to choose the “All Specs” options from the about phone menu
Click on the “MIUI version” option multiple times until you see a pop-up message, indicating “You are now a developer” (This is how you enter the developer option on your phone)
Go back to the setting menu and now select the “Additional Settings” from the menu
Choose the “Developer Options” in the additional setting’s panel. You will find the developer option at the bottom of the screen
Scroll down and toggle on the USB debugging feature, while your device is still connected to the USB
Check if you are still facing the disconnecting issue or not

Switch on the default USB Configuration

You need to switch the networking option to default USB debugging. The steps to enable default USB configuration are as:

First, open your device’s “Settings” and go to the “Additional settings” or “More settings” option from the settings menu
Scroll down and tap on the “Developer options” from the menu
Then toggle on the “Default USB configuration” option, and a new menu will appear
From the new pop-upped menu tap on the “File Transfer” option, (if your android auto is not functioning as normal then switch the USB configuration to “Charging Only”
Now, all you gotta do is to check if the problem is dealt with or not

Double check Bluetooth connectivity

There might be something wrong with the Bluetooth connection between your phone and the car’s entertainment unit. Re-establishing the Bluetooth connection between them may fix the issue. Follow the steps written below to perform this task:

Open your phone’s settings and then click on the “Bluetooth” option or open the “Bluetooth” option from your phone’s control center
All the paired devices will appear in front of you, tap on the Bluetooth device name of your car’s entertaining unit.
The “Unpair” option will appear in front of you, click on it
You have unpaired the car’s entertaining unit now, click on the “Available Devices” option
Your car’s entertaining unit name will be on the available devices list, tap on it and select the ‘Pair” option. (Do not forget to turn on the car’s head unit Bluetooth, when you are performing these steps)
Check if the issue is now fixed or not.

Disable mock location

To turn off the mock location feature follow the following steps:

Open your phone’s “Settings” option
Then access the “More settings” or “Additional Settings” option
Scroll down to the bottom and you will see the “Developer Options” there, tap on it. (can’t access the developer option? I have shown how to access it in “Enable USB debugging”, just some solutions above)
Tap on the “Select mock location” option from the menu.
And then click on the “No app” option.
Look if you are still facing the disconnection issue or if it has been fixed.

Match date and time of the phone and car’s head unit

If the date and time of your phone and car differ then this may be the reason for the disconnecting issue you are facing. Syncing both’s time may help you fix the issue. Follow the steps below to match your car’s and phone’s date and time

Steps to set a date and time on the phone are:

Open your phone’s “Settings” option
Tap on the “Date & Time” option from the settings menu
Firstly, turn off the Automatic Date & Time and Automatic Time Zone by toggling them off (switch them on the left side)
Then manually set the real Date and Time on your phone

Steps to set a date and time for the car are:

First, open the car’s unit settings
Click on the clock adjustment option
Then set the car unit’s date and time

Check if the issue is finally fixed or not

Make adjustments to GPS settings

Follow the steps below to perform this action:

First, open your smartphone’s “Settings” option
Click on the “Location” option from the menu list
Look for the “Location Services” option in the list and tap on it
Click on the “Google Location Accuracy” option
Then toggle on the “Improve Location Accuracy” option
Look if the issue is gone or not.

Turn off the Wi-Fi switching feature

Some of you might have faced your phone’s switch to the best available Wi-Fi option or it even switches to the mobile data if the Wi-Fi signal is weak. This feature is known as Wi-Fi switching. Some of our phones are configured in such a manner that it switches to the best available network. The android auto app may be failing to fetch the data from the server because of Wi-Fi switching causing the disconnection problem. So, you can check, if trying disabling the Wi-Fi switching feature solves the problem. The instruction to turn off Wi-Fi switching are:

As usual, open the “Settings” of your phone
Tap on the “Wi-Fi” option and then click on the Wi-Fi preferences
Then toggle off the “Intelligently Select the Best Wi-FI”
Check if the issue is fixed now or not
If you are still facing the issue then disable “Switch to Mobile Data When Wi-Fi internet Connection is Slow” or “Switch to mobile data automatically” from the Wi-Fi preferences
Again check that you have fixed the problem or not

Switch off the Auto Rotate feature

Disabling the auto-rotate feature of your phone may help you, want to know how? As written in its name the auto-rotate feature rotates your phone’s screen when the phone’s orientation is changed (when the phone is tilted to some extent, either horizontally or vertically) and this sudden action may not be good for android auto, I mean the android auto may not be able to handle the phone orientations change suddenly. The reason behind the change of phone’s orientation can be a car bump or a person. Steps to turn off the auto-rotate feature are:

Open the ‘Control center” or “Quick settings” menu of your phone (swipe downwards or upwards for it)
Tap on the Auto-rotate feature to on it (it is blue when on).
If you can’t find the auto-rotate feature in “Control center”/”Quick settings” then open your phone’s “Settings” option
Tap on the “Display and Brightness” option
Toggle on the “Rotation lock” feature, (swipe the toggle to the right to on it)
Open the Android auto app and check if the issue is fixed or not

App Overlay allowance

App overlay is an android feature that allows an app to surface its content to the phone’s screen over another app. Some of the apps require the app overlay permission, it is a must for them and if they don’t get it, they behave strangely. The cause behind the issue can be because the android auto app does not have the app allowance permission. Follow the instructions to allow app overlay permission to android auto:

Launch the “Settings” option of your phone
Type “Display over other apps” in the search bar
Click on the “Display over other apps” when it shows as the result from the search bar
Search for the “Android Auto” app from the list and tap on it
Turn it on by toggling it to the right side
Look if the issue is now fixed or not

Disable the wireless projection of the android auto

This issue will arise when you are connecting the car and phone through a USB. The wireless projection feature is gonna cause trouble or to simply put it will get in the way of the android auto’s full capacity to use the USB connection. It is recommended to turn off the wireless projection feature when using a USB connection. Follow the instructions written below to disable the wireless projection:

Open the Android Auto app on your phone
Go to the settings of the android auto app
Turn off the wireless projection feature by toggling to the left side
Re-launch the android auto app and check if there is still the connecting issue not

Update the car entertainment unit’s software to the latest build

Like I showed you how to update the phone’s OS to the latest build above now, I am gonna show you how you can update your car’s head unit’s software to the latest build. I already told you all the disadvantages of the outdated software above in the update of the phone’s Firmware section. Alright, follow the following steps to update the car entertainment unit’s software:

Download the firmware of the latest version first from the respective car manufacturer’s site
Make a copy of the downloads into a USB drive (use an empty USB drive)
Connect the USB drive which has the firmware’s latest build into the car’s entertainment unit
Then switch on the entertainment unit of your car
A message will be visible instantly on your car’s entertainment unit. The message is going to be about the update process. It will ask you to confirm the update process. Click on the “Start” option to start the process of updating.
Wait for it to install and once the process is complete, restart the entertainment unit
Check if the problem has been dealt with or not.

Put your phone on do not disturb mode when using the android auto

The reason behind the android auto keeps disconnecting can be the continued notifications and phone calls. These things may be causing an interruption in the process. So, try putting your phone on do not disturb mode when using android auto. The steps to enable the do not disturb feature are as follows:

Open the ‘Control center” or “Quick settings” menu of your phone (swipe from the bottom or top of your phone’s screen to the opposite side to access it)
Click on the “do Not Disturb” option on it, (it will be blue once enabled)
If you can’t find the do not disturb feature in “Control center”/”Quick settings” then open your phone’s “Settings” option
Click on the “Do not disturb” option
Toggle on the “Turn on manually” option
Verify whether this worked or not. (If it did, try to find out the application which was the main cause of these notifications interruption and deal with the application)

Adjust the car’s entertainment unit’s settings

Some small glitches can also cause disconnection. These glitches can easily be fixed by just rebooting the system of your car’s entertainment unit. Follow the instruction to perform this action:

Enable the car’s entertainment unit
Go to “Settings” from the menu options
Click on the “Smartphone Connections” option from the settings menu list
Now, set up the connection of the android auto app on your phone
Check if the issue is fixed or not

Turn on the stay awake option

This solution may work if the reason causing the disconnection is that your phone’s screen keeps sleeping. Follow the guide below to turn on the stay awake option:

Firstly, open your phone’s “Settings”
Tap on “More settings”, and scroll down to access the Developer options. (If you can’t access the developer option then read the Enable USB debugging steps, I have shown how to access the developer options in it)
Turn on the “Stay awake” feature by toggling it to the right (now, your phone’s screen will not sleep while charging)
Verify if the problem is resolved or not.

Reinstall the android auto app

There might be some problem in the download package which can either be fixed by updating the android auto or reinstalling it. The reinstallation will fix the errors of the application. (if it has any errors) follow the instruction to reinstall android auto:

Open “Google play store” on your phone
On the search bar, search android auto
Tap on the android auto from the menu
Two options are going to appear in front of your (1st uninstall and 2nd update)
Tap on the “Uninstall” option and wait for it
After the ‘Uninstall is finished, the only option will be to install, tap on it
After installation check, if you are still facing the issue or not

Final words

Android auto keeps disconnecting is a common problem, no need to panic about it. The issue gets fixed with little effort however after all this solution you are still facing the problem then I suggest you contact android auto official support, they will help you. If this app is not really working for you then you can use alternative apps like ”Samsung MirrorLink”, they function the same and almost provide the same features. Don’t forget about the things you should know before solutions, follow the steps thoroughly to solve the problem easily.

Jean Acker

My self Jean Acker, an SEO specialist. MS from the reputed college MIT. I am an innovative person, as well as have a sound interface with tech. Honestly, I easily supervise my meditations as well as my experimentation with Android and iOS.