Android Auto is defined to recover some updates in the coming months, and Google has just teased another with some modifications of how media applications can resemble and operate.
Multimedia applications on Android Auto have largely used the same basic layout for years now. There is not much variance between applications, which is both a good and a bad thing. On the one hand, consistency means that it is really easy to know where to go behind the wheel, reducing distractions. On the other hand, this means that applications are struggling to adapt to their specific needs sometimes.
At the 2025 IS / S this week, Google presented Two new modifications made to multimedia applications on Android Auto.
The first change is at the navigation interface in multimedia applications. The new “Cctioneditemtemplate” will allow applications to display different sections in the navigation user interface, with the example of Google showing “recent search” above a list of albums.
The other change is the “mediaplaybacktemplate”, which is used as the “Now Playing” screen. It seems that Google will grant developers more flexibility in the layout here, with the indicated demo putting the media controls in the lower right corner instead of the center, and in a different order of the habit – although it can become the norm at a given moment. The user interface is not radically different or more difficult to understand, but it is a different arrangement of what we usually see on Android Auto, which is actually a little refreshing.
Google also allows developers to create “richer and more complete experiences” for media applications using the “car application library”. This could facilitate navigation on certain applications, as most multimedia applications on Android Auto are shells of their smartphone counterpart in terms of features. This category is just in beta version for the moment.
We do not know when we will see these changes start to appear in Android Auto applications, but that’s something to hope.
Google said This Spotify, Amazon Music and Youtube music will adopt these new upgrades.
Learn more about Android Auto:
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