{"id":749264,"date":"2026-06-20T17:57:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T17:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/749264\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T17:57:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T17:57:14","slug":"3-hidden-android-auto-settings-that-stopped-my-cars-display-from-sometimes-cutting-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/749264\/","title":{"rendered":"3 hidden Android Auto settings that stopped my car’s display from sometimes cutting out"},"content":{"rendered":"

You’ve optimized your Android Auto experience<\/a> to the max, and you’ve even solved all your disconnection issues<\/a>. Awesome, right? Then you’re chilling out, and while on a lengthy drive, out of the corner of your eye, you notice that your in-car infotainment system seems to be occasionally flashing in a weird way, distracting you from the road yet again.<\/p>\n

Don’t worry, there likely isn’t an Android Auto connection issue or a serious problem with your vehicle’s display. All you need to do is change a few very basic settings, and your drives will be distraction-free all over again.<\/p>\n

All the steps to change these settings are related to the Pixel 10 Pro<\/a> running Android 17. They’re likely slightly different on other Android devices.<\/p>\n

Lock your display to Night or Light mode<\/p>\n

You should just set Android Auto to dark mode and then never change it<\/p>\n

If you notice your vehicle’s display sometimes flashing oddly, the issue is likely linked to its ambient light sensor. By default, Android Auto lets your car determine whether to use light or dark mode based on the available light inside the vehicle. This means that when you pass under a bridge, run into a bunch of clouds, or get caught in a weird sun shower where the weather seems to be shifting from light to super dark on a whim, your car’s display is constantly switching between light and dark mode, resulting in it frequently flickering as it changes over.<\/p>\n

While this might not bother some people, I find it super distracting when I’m driving, especially early in the morning or at dusk, when my Ioniq 5’s ambient light sensor seems to go a little haywire. To solve this issue, open the Settings app on your Android device. Next, navigate to Connected Devices > Connection Preferences > Android Auto > Day\/Night Mode for Maps (you can also find this option directly in the Android Auto Settings app on your infotainment screen. Now, lock the display mode to Night and Day. In my case, I prefer Night mode because it’s easier on the eyes and still very visible in brighter conditions (I generally keep all my devices in dark\/night mode).<\/p>\n

Sideloaded Android Auto apps can often cause launcher issues<\/p>\n

Turning on Unknown Sources solved the problem for me<\/p>\n

\"Android<\/p>\n

While Google has Android Auto locked down pretty tightly, it’s pretty easy to sideload apps on the platform, especially if you use a storefront like Android Auto Apps Downloader (AAAD)<\/a>. However, sideloaded Android apps are often glitchy, and since I started using them more frequently, I’ve noticed that my initial Android Auto app connection takes longer and sometimes flashes. On top of that, sometimes my car’s infotainment system screen flashes when I launch sideloaded Android Auto apps after making the initial connection.<\/p>\n

I’m not 100% sure what the issue is, but it seems to be related to Android Auto checking for the sideloaded app’s Play Store verified signature<\/a> before launching it. The apps still launch even though that signature doesn’t exist, but the process sometimes results in a weird flash on the screen. To get around this, I navigate to Android Auto’s Developer Settings and turn on Unknown Sources.<\/p>\n

To do this, go to Connected Devices > Connection Preferences > Android Auto > Three-lines > Developer Settings > Unknown Sources. Turning this setting on also lets you bypass installing Android Auto apps via AAAD (which is often glitchy) and grab APK files directly from GitHub. At least so far, this has solved my Android Auto display-flashing issues, both during initial setup and when I launch apps.<\/p>\n

To access Unknown Sources, you need to have already enabled Android’s Developer Settings and Android Auto’s Developer Settings, which are required to install sideloaded apps. To do that, follow the steps in this guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Force Android Auto to match your display’s resolution<\/p>\n

The platform has a not very well-known resolution setting<\/p>\n

\"Android<\/p>\n

If Android Auto has for some reason set your phone’s display at the incorrect resolution. This can result in screen flashes during the initial connection process as your device figures out the correct resolution, and again when the infotainment platform is up and running, especially when certain apps are launched. While this problem is pretty rare, I’ve seen it happen with several Android devices.<\/p>\n

To solve the problem, you’ll need to uncover a hidden Android Auto resolution setting. To do this, you’ll need to navigate to Connected Devices > Connection Preferences > Android Auto > Three-lines > Developer Settings > Video Resolution. Of course, like turning on Unknown Sources, you’ll need to have already enabled Android’s and Android Auto’s Developer Settings. My suggestion is to set the resolution to 1280 x 720 or 1920 x 1080 pixels, as these are the most common resolutions for in-car displays. For example, in my case, my Ioniq 5 features a 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution screen.<\/p>\n


\n \"Fermata<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\t\t
\n\t\t\tThis useful sideloaded Android Auto app lets me watch YouTube, browse the web, and more
\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

If you’re looking for a reliable app that lets you browse the web and watch YouTube in your car, Fermata Auto is the best I’ve found.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You’ve optimized your Android Auto experience to the max, and you’ve even solved all your disconnection issues. Awesome,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":749265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[64,63,105],"class_list":["post-749264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=749264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/749265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=749264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=749264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=749264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}