Waze is many people’s (myself included) favorite car navigation app, but when you least expect it, it can give you trouble in Android Auto: it doesn’t offer data, it doesn’t does not update information, it disappears from the application menu, it does not open, it freezes… these are just some of the mishaps that can happen to you. If Waze isn’t working on Android Auto, here’s what you can try to fix.
Pay attention to connectivity
To connect your phone to the car console, there are two options: wired or wireless. If you choose this second option, make sure that you have activated Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on your phoneare already the connections that the two devices use to understand each other.
It is worth remembering how to do this: from the main screen of your phone, swipe up and down and make sure that both connections are activated. Similarly, you can also enable them from the settings.
What about mobile data?
To offer you its services, Waze uses GPS and data connection, so it shows you both maps and real-time traffic information. What does it mean? That you need a sufficient data package for its use and that mobile data must be active for communication with its servers to be established.
Also check the above from the quick settings screen (that the “Mobile data” icon is enabled) or from your phone settings.
El clásico: have you tried turning it off and on again?
It cannot be missing from the lists of possible solutions because although it is old advice, it is effective and should always be one of our first attempts: Turning the phone off and on can fix minor issuessince the device closes processes and reopens them from scratch, eliminating small runtime failures to allow them to run successfully.
In the same way, take advantage of these seconds of impasse between switching off and on again to reset your car’s infotainment system. You can do this either by turning off your car’s ‘Start’ (in an older car like mine, by removing the key) or also directly, using the button on the console itself.
Discover Waze servers
The problem with Waze may not be with your devices and the software installed on them, but with how the service itself works. You can check the status of Waze servers on websites like Down Detector. If you detect that the problem is with Waze, you will have to wait for them to fix it, in which case in the meantime you can use alternative navigation apps that are compatible with Android Auto.
Is everything up to date?
An outdated version of an application may prevent (some of) its functions from working properly or simply that a specific version has a problem and therefore the development team has already released a new version to fix it. And it could happen to you with Waze (if only that app is giving you trouble) as well as with Android Auto.
So when in doubt, check that Waze is updated on your phone. All you have to do is go to the Google Play Store, tap on your profile picture (icon in the top right corner) to bring up a menu and in it, select “Manage Apps & Device”. Here you have two options: in the “Summary” tab, tap on “Available updates” and see if Waze appears in the list, in which case you will have to click on “Update”. The other way is to enter “Manage” and click on “Available updates”, where Waze might appear with a pending update.
Maybe what’s not updating is Android Auto and the procedure to follow would be exactly the same.
empty the cache
The cache stores temporary files so that applications run faster, but sometimes any of this data is corrupted or has errorsso you can fix it by clearing app cache and data.
To clear the cache, enter the ‘settings‘ from your phone and in ‘Apps‘ You will see the list with all installed apps. Search for Waze (you can also do the same in Android Auto if you detect the error is widespread across console) and once inside go to ‘Storage‘. At the bottom you will see options for ‘Clear data’ and ‘empty the cache‘.
Enable Waze in Android Auto
Did Waze disappear from the Android Auto screen? In this case, the Waze Shortcut may have been disabled in your phone’s Android Auto settings.
On your phone, enter the ‘settings‘>’ connected devices‘ > ‘Android-Auto‘. Once inside, go to ‘Customize app menu‘ and there it checks that Waze is checked. If not, mark it.
The latest version is giving me problems
The opposite case can also occur: that Waze in Android Auto worked for you before and after the update it no longer works. You have several options: revert to the latest version approved by Google Play or find and install a previous version. There’s the option that the failure is widespread and where you want to roll back is in Android Auto.
The first thing to do is uninstall the app. How to do it? In ‘settings‘>’Apps‘, search for ‘Waze’ and once inside, scroll down to find the ‘ iconuninstall‘. You can now install it again by searching for it in the Google Play Store in case the latest approved version is worth it. If not, you will have to resort to APK repositories such as APK Mirror or UpToDown to find an older version.
Android Auto is installed by default on your phone and when you go to ‘Settings’ > ‘Applications’ > ‘Android Auto’ you will not be able to uninstall it, but what you can do is uninstall your updates, so that it reverts to the initial installed version. In this case, you will need to disable automatic updates.
Home | Montage with photo by Eva Rodríguez de Luis and image by OpenClipart-Vectors on Pixabay
In Xataka Android | Android Auto not working: main problems and solutions
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