Android Auto no longer works if your smartphone is running Android 8.0 or earlier. This represents less than 5% of the installed base.
It’s going to be time for some Android users to make a choice between their smartphone and their car interface. For a few months, Google had already confirmed, the oldest Android smartphones would no longer be able to use Android Auto.
According to a Reddit user, it’s now done. He tried to launch Android Auto from an LG V30 running Android 8.0. He then received an error message which leaves little room for doubt:
This phone no longer supports Android Auto. Your phone needs the latest version of Android to support Android Auto
A limit to Android 9.0
According to Google’s official support page, you need to have a smartphone running Android 9.0 to run Android Auto wired. For wireless, you will need to upgrade to Android 11.0, unless you have a Google or Samsung smartphone running Android 10, or a Galaxy S8, S8+ or Note 8 running Android 9.0.
Once a year, Google publishes a graph summarizing the official distribution of the different versions of Android. Indeed, unlike the iPhone which has a very high adoption rate of the latest version of iOS, recent versions of Android are rarely welcomed with open arms.
The latest graph dates back to May 2024 and if we do a simple addition, smartphones running Android 8.0 or older represent only 4.6% of the fleet. Google therefore waited a more than reasonable time before ending support for this old version of Android.
???? To not miss any news from 01net, follow us on Google News and WhatsApp.
