The Best Android Auto Apps You’re Probably Not Using

One of the best interfaces for your car’s infotainment screen is Android Auto. You can use the same media, navigation, and entertainment apps without worrying about syncing progress between your car and your phone. To get started with Android Auto, all you need is a compatible vehicle and a smartphone with Android 9.0 or newer. Depending on what your car supports, you simply connect your phone using a data cable or via Bluetooth.

Most of what you will be doing on Android Auto will likely be navigation or music playback through services like Google Maps and Spotify. That’s not all the platforms can handle, though. There are dozens of free Android Auto apps you can find use for — some may already be services you use on a daily basis that you didn’t realize have Android Auto support built-in. 

If you’re curious to see what else you can accomplish with Android Auto in your vehicle, here are some apps worth trying. All of them are free to use and elevate your driving experience in one way or another.

Perhaps the only thing more infuriating than driving bumper to bumper in traffic is successfully trying to find a parking spot that’s convenient. If this is something you struggle with, SpotHero is an app you should definitely consider installing. It works by listing available parking locations nearby, including locations like airports or garages. You can enter specific dates and times, and the app will fetch you the best parking spaces around the area. For locations that support it, you can then reserve the parking spot and pay via Google Pay.

SpotHero works in all major cities in the U.S. and supports Android Auto. Being able to scan through unfamiliar areas to find affordable parking is a convenience everyone will appreciate. SpotHero also displays the best parking locations around ongoing events like concerts. The app has a 4.4-star rating on the Google Play Store and has over a million installs.

A lot of us enjoy listening to music during our commutes. Apps like Spotify and YouTube Music have Android Auto support that makes playback control easier. Plus, you can always summon Google Assistant or Gemini to skip through tracks or play specific ones using voice commands. However, if you’re an avid audiobook listener, then you’d be glad to know that Audible supports Android Auto too. There are plenty of cheaper alternatives to Audible, but it remains the gold standard if you’re looking for a large library that you can enjoy on practically every platform available.

Audible has you covered even if your vehicle doesn’t support Android Auto. On the mobile app, you can navigate to Profile > Settings > Player and enable the “Automatic Car Mode” toggle. It automatically switches to a larger, more simplified interface with playback controls when you connect to your car via Bluetooth.

Android Auto can be as useful as you want it to be — you just need to get acquainted with the right apps. There are plenty of Android Auto tips and tricks that can elevate the experience, like personalizing the experience with a different wallpaper or trying out more powerful alternatives to popular services. Just when you think you’ve maxed out the functionality that your car’s infotainment screen can provide, there’s Vivaldi Browser.

The app unlocks a way for you to surf the web through a web browser that’s designed to work with Android Auto. It comes with an ad blocker built-in and a few other privacy-oriented features that let you access virtually any website on your car’s infotainment display. If you have any specific streaming platforms that don’t have Android Auto support natively, you can use Vivaldi Browser to watch content when you’re safely parked. 

You also get a decent bit of customizability with the browser. For instance, you can swap between light and dark modes, change the background of the start page, and capture screenshots if you happen to find something interesting. Vivaldi gets you the usual lot of features you find in other web browsers, like the ability to bookmark pages, view recently closed tabs, or switch to a friendly reader view that gets rid of clutter on web pages.

We’ve all found ourselves seated in parking lots or outside a friend’s home waiting for them to come out. GameSnacks is a service by Google that’s designed to accommodate you during these situations. It’s a collection of simple games that you can play on your car’s infotainment screen.

You have titles like “Classic Solitaire” and match-three games like “Fruit Cube Blast.” There is a healthy catalog of classic games to choose from, and there are even a few multiplayer games you can enjoy if you’re accompanied by a passenger. GameSnacks is great for killing time, but only when you’re parked safely — playing games while driving a vehicle is obviously a no-go. By the way, since these games are based on HTML5, you can also play them on a browser on any device.