How to set up Android Auto in my car.

[roaddetective]

So, when I press the app button in my car, I get 3 choices, one of them being Android Auto. I have the Android Auto app on my Samsung phone as well. Tried connecting the phone to the car via a lead straight into the cars USB port. Can't get them to link, why? When I try pressing the Android Auto symbol on the cars screen, nothing happens. My old brain must be missing something. I just want to use Google maps instead of the cars own map system. I am guessing I have to pay a Skoda dealer to activate Smartlink on my car first. 

[PetrolDave]

21 minutes ago, roaddetective said:

 I am guessing I have to pay a Skoda dealer to activate Smartlink on my car first. 

... and make sure to request that they activate Android Auto too.

[langers2k]

I'd expect Smartlink to be activated from factory on a 2018 model.

 

If it does need activation, there is a pretty obvious error message:

[roaddetective]

2 hours ago, langers2k said:

I'd expect Smartlink to be activated from factory on a 2018 model.

 

If it does need activation, there is a pretty obvious error message:

I certainly get the After Smart Link Activation photo come up, but if I press any of the 3 icons, nothing happens. 

[HappySam]

Try connecting from the phone. You might need to search for Android Auto in settings, they seem to have removed the dedicated app. Select "Connect a Car"

 

Things that I've found problematic:

Cable - try a different one. Connections seem quite sensitive to the cable.

Insertion - ensure the cable is inserted squarely into the car's usb port. It isn't a tight fit.

Detection - quickly unplug and re-plug the phone end of the cable.

 

Also worth searching online for you phone model and Android Auto. Some phones can be a bit problematic / temperamental.

Edited 11 October, 2023 by HappySam

[roaddetective]

36 minutes ago, HappySam said:

Try connecting from the phone. You might need to search for Android Auto in settings, they seem to have removed the dedicated app. Select "Connect a Car"

 

Things that I've found problematic:

Cable - try a different one. Connections seem quite sensitive to the cable.

Insertion - ensure the cable is inserted squarely into the car's usb port. It isn't a tight fit.

Detection - quickly unplug and re-plug the phone end of the cable.

My phone is already connected to the car via Bluetooth already, as all my phone services show and work on the car. So it is open to other devises.  My phone is a Samsung S20. The cable is a recent purchase from a phone store, so might not be the best quality I suppose. Will look for a better quality cable another day. I have Android Auto in Settings on the phone and see the connect to my car icon, but it just wants to connect to the car again, as it is already connected. So tried to connect Android Auto via Bluetooth and via cable, nothing works. Sometimes technology is a pain in the ar@e. 

[HappySam]

8 minutes ago, roaddetective said:

My phone is already connected to the car via Bluetooth already, as all my phone services show and work on the car. So it is open to other devises.  My phone is a Samsung S20. The cable is a recent purchase from a phone store, so might not be the best quality I suppose. Will look for a better quality cable another day. I have Android Auto in Settings on the phone and see the connect to my car icon, but it just wants to connect to the car again, as it is already connected. So tried to connect Android Auto via Bluetooth and via cable, nothing works. Sometimes technology is a pain in the ar@e. 

 

When you go into Connected cars in AA on the phone do you see your car? Also, is the "Add new cars to AA" option enabled? If yes to both, my only other suggestion is to clear AA data on the phone and try starting again.

 

Wireless AA works over wifi not Bluetooth and isn't supported on our cars.

[MarkyG82]

Clear the Bluetooth connection too. Don't connect via Bluetooth at all and just connect the phone. It should trigger AA and pop up on the phone to complete the setup. I'm surprised the S20 has the separate app and not built in. It's a modern enough phone for that.

[roaddetective]

13 minutes ago, MarkyG82 said:

Clear the Bluetooth connection too. Don't connect via Bluetooth at all and just connect the phone. It should trigger AA and pop up on the phone to complete the setup. I'm surprised the S20 has the separate app and not built in. It's a modern enough phone for that.

It does have AA built into my phone. 

 

24 minutes ago, MarkyG82 said:

Clear the Bluetooth connection too. Don't connect via Bluetooth at all and just connect the phone. It should trigger AA and pop up on the phone to complete the setup. I'm surprised the S20 has the separate app and not built in. It's a modern enough phone for that.

When I connect the cable, nothing pops up  on the phone and when you press the AA icon on the cars system, nothing happens. When I get the AA app up on the phone with the cable connected, it says connect to a car, press that and it then shows a cable as an option. But on that screen, nothing else happens. I think the first thing to do is buy a better quality cable. It's a mystery to me at the moment. 

[MarkyG82]

Try going into connection settings and look for cable data connection or something similar. Sounds like you have it set to power only. Often a notification pops up when connecting a cable (generally, not just for AA)

[MarkyG82]

25 minutes ago, roaddetective said:

It does have AA built into my phone. 

 

 . ...When I get the AA app up on the phone 

 

This is a contradiction. With AA built in there is no app to open.

I'm not criticising. Just trying to understand the issue so we can better help solve.

[roaddetective]

2 minutes ago, MarkyG82 said:

 

This is a contradiction. With AA built in there is no app to open.

I'm not criticising. Just trying to understand the issue so we can better help solve.

I should not have said app, as there is no normal app showing on the phone. But when I go into settings and then apps, I see the AA app in the list there. Then I press on in-app notification settings and the screen with connect a car comes up. Can't find anything to do with a cable data connection in connections either. 

[MarkyG82]

Sounds like a cable is the next thing to try then.

Keep us posted.

[roaddetective]

3 minutes ago, MarkyG82 said:

Sounds like a cable is the next thing to try then.

Keep us posted.

Sure will, thanks for your help so far. 

[johnkitchen]

I had a similar issue.

After pressing every button known to man, it turned out to be the cable.

The connect is still not very reliable.

 

 

[HappySam]

23 hours ago, MarkyG82 said:

 

This is a contradiction. With AA built in there is no app to open.

I'm not criticising. Just trying to understand the issue so we can better help solve.

 

Android Auto was a separate app until a couple of months ago. Now its just a tab in Connected Devices in Settings (at least on Samsung Galaxy's it is). Looks exactly the same though 🤷‍♀️

[MarkyG82]

On pure android it's been built in for a number of years.

[roaddetective]

On 11/10/2023 at 17:19, HappySam said:

Try connecting from the phone. You might need to search for Android Auto in settings, they seem to have removed the dedicated app. Select "Connect a Car"

 

Things that I've found problematic:

Cable - try a different one. Connections seem quite sensitive to the cable.

Insertion - ensure the cable is inserted squarely into the car's usb port. It isn't a tight fit.

Detection - quickly unplug and re-plug the phone end of the cable.

 

Also worth searching online for you phone model and Android Auto. Some phones can be a bit problematic / temperamental.

Give that man a cigar. Cheers all you guys who tried to help me get this working. But I tried as suggested by HappySam to buy a better quality cable. Just been down to the phone shop and bought a genuine Samsung cable. Connected the phone to the USB socket in the car with the Samsung cable and bingo, it all worked, after of course I pressed okay to a couple of onscreen questions. So if anyone else has the same problem, it might just need a quality cable to get it all working.