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The stable version of Android Auto 11 is now available for download if you’re a tester. It’s not as much of a major upgrade as Android Auto 10. Weirdly, the number just jumped to Android Auto 11, but there are no major new features to report.
The last time Google announced a major Android Auto bump was from Android Auto 9.9 to Android Auto 10. It added many new features, and most people got the new Coolwalk user interface.
There were also many bugs with the launch. The interface kept randomly freezing up; there were navigation failures, random disconnections, and more. After making such major UI changes, Google began focusing on minor iterative updates with every version of Android Auto 10.0. All versions of Android Auto 10 brought minor tweaks.
You could use Google Maps on both your phone and the car’s dashboard; there were design revamps, you could use apps like WhatsApp or Waze with Coolwalk, you could make WhatsApp calls, they added new Split Screen layouts, the ability to directly disconnect your car from the notification center, new wallpapers, and more eventually over several months.
The first build of Android Auto 11 has the version number 11.0.1347. It’s part of the Beta program at the moment. Sign up for the Beta on the Google Play Store and enter the Beta program to get it the official way.
We noticed nothing different on Android Auto 11 compared to the previous Android Auto 10.9 version. Google doesn’t roll out Android Auto updates to add new features, but they’re focusing on a more reliable and stable experience. Frustratingly, Google doesn’t include a changelog for the Beta. We don’t know which bugs Google addressed with this update; it’s another stability update.
On-device navigation and connecting to your car’s dashboard are very important to people, and a buggy experience is dangerous. Google is focused on improving the stability of Android Auto, and we hope previous bugs, like the entire interface freezing up, have been fixed with newer versions.
Google could launch more features gradually over the next few months. The disconnect button from notifications isn’t available for everyone yet. Installing Android Auto 11 won’t give you the feature, and Google controls it on the server side.
There’s also a new feature in the works that you can use to display your smartphone wallpaper as the background for Android Auto. You can technically use custom wallpapers in the car. You can only set a few pre-loaded images now, and it’s unclear when Google will release this feature.
Since Android Auto 11 brings nothing of note, there’s no point in downloading the Beta version if you’re a regular user. We don’t endorse installing the Beta for general use since it’s prone to several bugs and inconsistencies. The stable version should go live for the public after about ten days or two weeks since that’s how long versions normally stay in Beta. The updates also come out region-wise to ensure a better quality rollout.
If you’re a developer or tester and want to download Android Auto 11 right now, you can grab an APK from a reliable webpage such as APK Mirror. This website has two versions, and the APK is about 40MB. You have to allow the installation of apps from third-party sources. You also have to uninstall the current Android Auto version on your device.
