Android Auto is a lot more customizable than you might think. 6 tips to try ASAP

You can change Android Auto for a personalized experience.

Applications, interface and operation are subject to change.

Changes are easy to find and only take a minute.

Android Auto is one of the easiest ways to make your car smarter, but you might not realize that the platform offers customization options to make it your own. Whether it's the way the system looks, changes to how it works, or the notifications it sends, you can fine-tune Android Auto to your specific needs in several ways, making it even more useful.

Here's a look at seven ways to customize Android Auto. Some of these options are in your phone's settings app, some are in the Android Auto app settings, and some are hidden behind developer mode, but they're all easy to find and only take a minute to change.

1. Customize your app launcher

Tired of seeing apps you never use in Android Auto? You can delete the ones you don't want and prioritize the ones you do, so you don't have to scroll every time to find them.

Go to Settings, find Android Auto and find Customize Launcher. You will have the option to check or uncheck the apps you want to display, or set a custom order rather than alphabetical.

2. Choose day or night mode permanently

I generally like dark mode on all apps on my phone, and it's the first option I look for when I download a new tool. Usually, Android Auto switches to day or night mode depending on the time of day, your car's ambient lighting, or even your headlights.

If you prefer a way, you can switch between Android Auto's day/night mode. You can choose day or night at any time, or choose “Phone Controlled,” which follows your phone’s settings.

3. Set custom routines and shortcuts

ZDNET's Maria Diaz took a deep dive into what might be the most useful customization in Android Auto: Routines and Shortcuts. You can also add a shortcut to your launcher to call a contact or run a Gemini command, meaning you can do just about anything.

You can set a shortcut to text someone that you're coming home from work and turn down your thermostat when you get close to home. You can even combine these steps so that a "leave the house" shortcut, for example, runs the robot vacuum, raises the thermostat, locks the doors, and turns off all the lights.

4. Refine SMS notifications

Android Auto gives you a surprising level of control over how you're notified of messages. You can enable or disable SMS notifications. However, you can also choose whether you want to hide or show group conversations, whether or not to show the first line of a message, whether a chime sounds, whether Gemini can see your messages, and whether you want Gemini to summarize long messages.

5. Change the location of media controls

Go to the Android Auto app's settings and you'll see an "Advanced" section that lets you choose whether you want media closer to you or for navigation. By default, the navigation media controls are on the driver's side, but you can move them closer if you use this setup more often.

6. Adapt your car to your phone

If you're tired of the stock geometric background on your screen, you can make Android Auto look more like an extension of your phone. This setting can be found on your phone in the View section of Android Auto settings or in the Android Auto settings on your car's screen.

Either way, when you enable the setting, it will instantly grab your phone's home screen background and set it as the backdrop for your car's app grid. This feature doesn't work with live or animated wallpapers, but it works with almost all others.

7. Stop Startup Chaos

The fact that Android Auto picks up where you left off is both one of my favorite features and one of my least favorite. There are times when I dive back into my favorite podcasts as I pull out of the driveway, and there are times when I frantically hit the pause button before my kids hear things I don't want them to hear in those same podcasts.

You can stop the startup chaos by turning off “Start music automatically” in the settings or enabling it so that the audio starts automatically.