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Google appears to be working on more Android Auto updates, including potential support for Cast and a redesign of the music player to go with Material 3 Expressive.
About APK Insight: In this “APK Insight” post, we’ve decompiled the latest version of an application that Google uploaded to the Play Store. When we decompile these files (called APKs, in the case of Android apps), we’re able to see various lines of code within that hint at possible future features. Keep in mind that Google may or may not ever ship these features, and our interpretation of what they are may be imperfect. We’ll try to enable those that are closer to being finished, however, to show you how they’ll look in case that they do ship. With that in mind, read on.
After launching support for Cast on Android Automotive last year – starting with Rivian which, as we first reported, does use Android Automotive – Google appears to be bringing similar functionality to Android Auto.
In Android Auto 15.9.655104, just released in the beta track, we noticed added strings that suggest Google Cast is coming to the experience. The strings added are around the Media Router framework and explicitly mention Google Cast in relation to a car.
Of note, a lot of these strings appear to be fairly generic, so it’s possible that Google isn’t directly bringing Cast to Android Auto, but it’s hard to see any other reason these strings would appear in the app. Given the functionality already exists in Android Automotive and that Google has teased video support on Android Auto in the pipeline, it certainly makes sense for Cast to be added as well.
Beyond this, a hidden UI change in Android Auto 15.9 shows that Google is working on a Material 3 Expressive update to the media player on Android Auto.
The folks over at Android Authority managed to enable this one, finding a new Material 3 Expressive progress bar and refreshed button designs that appear both in the full music app and the music control widget on the Android Auto dashboard. Google started to hint at tweaks back in May, but it’s clearly advanced since then.
As per usual, though, there’s absolutely no indication as to when these changes might roll out, if at all.
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Android Auto is an extension of the Android plat…
Ben is a Senior Editor for 9to5Google.
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