Android Auto is glitchy in Android 11

You might not want to rush to install Android 11 if you depend on your phone for in-car music and navigation. Android Police points to reports on Google’s forums and Reddit of serious bugs in Android Auto. There are numerous audio problems, including intermittent music, calls that don’t route through the stereo and missing notification sounds. Google acknowledged that the Calendar app was missing for some users and is only coming back with an Android Auto 5.6 app rolling out to users.

There have also been at least two instances where Android Auto ‘soft-bricked’ phones like the Pixel 3 XL, forcing users to reboot or factory reset the devices to recover them.

Reddit users mtb_junkie and Yewtsan have suggested that disabling Bluetooth device scanning on the phone should help in at least some circumstances.

It’s not uncommon for brand new Android releases to have flaws, and we noted in our Android 11 review that the new OS appears to be buggy on the whole. The Android Auto issues appear to be particularly acute, though, and could be problematic if you depend on your phone to get around town. You may want to wait for the Auto app update and revisions to Android 11 itself before jumping in.