Android Auto it has no official web browser and is not expectedWell, although Google has opened the ban on the types of apps available, that category is still closed for now. However, unofficial apps come to the rescue again.
Android Auto’s limitations haven’t stopped developers from building apps to build those types of apps that Google doesn’t allow. There is for watching TNT, YouTube and also for have a web browser in the car in which you can open any web page at your own risk and expense.
Any website in Android Auto
Android Auto does not have a web browser for the same reason that there are no apps for watching YouTube or other videos: for security. Now, if you want to use this kind of app with your parked car, you always have the option to use unofficial nominations, which you won’t find on Google Play.
This is exactly the case with Automatic web view, an app that is a few years old and was created taking advantage of an unofficial Android Auto SDK that Google didn’t like very much. Neither the SDK nor the original WebViewAuto project is already available on GitHub, but the APK survives on this fork and you can download it from here. It occupies a little more than 3 MB.
You will need to install the Web View Auto APK on your mobile and go to Android Auto options to enable developer options. Then in these options you have to activate Unknown sources. At this point, you can connect your mobile to the car.
If all went well, you will see the WebViewAuto icon among the apps ready to launch in Android Auto. When opening the application, the the browser will display the Duck Duck Go website, with a very rough interface with a top button bar.
The first button displays the menu where you can go back or view favorite sites, the second activates the keyboard, the third is the delete key on the keyboard, followed by the accept button when entering a website and the equivalent of the Enter key.
Android Auto doesn’t have a keyboard for obvious reasons – instead, most interactions with the system are done with voice commands – but dictating a website can be quite problematic. WebViewAuto includes its own keyboard superimposed on the screen. It is a bit difficult to look at, but functional.
The keyboard will be used both to write addresses and to add text in any other section of a website – for example, Google searches or website login. It’s a little slow to write something long, but it will help you get out of a tough spot.
Better yet, if typing on the Android Auto screen bothers you, you can use WebViewAuto on mobile to write text. To do this, open the app, write what you want to write and tap Send text. Make sure beforehand, of course, that the text field you want to send it to is selected.
You can also use the app on your mobile to submit a web address or configure the pages that are in the favorites, for faster access from the Android Auto interface.
WebViewAuto sometimes fails, but since it is an application that it has not been updated for four yearsIt is surprising that this continues to work. It’s not the same as having Google Chrome on Android Auto, but it gets the job done.