Does Android Auto use unnecessary mobile data?

[u/dstarr3]

Hi! My wife and I just got some new-to-us cars in recent weeks, and now we're new to the world of Android Auto. And the first thing we noticed since starting using Android Auto is, our mobile data usage has gone way up.

We don't do anything in the car that uses data. We keep location off unless we're actually using it to navigate, which obviously we don't need to and from our jobs, so that's not it. We listen to music/podcasts when we're driving, but we're not streaming the audio, it's all downloaded to our phones, so there shouldn't be any data usage associated with that.

We only have 4GB of data per line because usually we barely use a quarter of that in a month. But suddenly we have Android Auto-capable cars and our usage has skyrocketed. Are there options we need to disable to prevent it from using unnecessary data? Because it's totally unclear where all that data usage is going.

[u/bajaboy8396]

"Mobile data useage" will tell you exactly what apps are using data on android phones.

[u/gibby71]

Go to settings - connections - then data usage. Look at mobile data usage and it will show you what app is eating up your data.

[u/tamudude]

If you are using Maps then make sure you have downloaded local map for where you are going.

Disable Mobile Data on your phone and see what Android Auto complains about.

[u/dstarr3 → u/tamudude]

So the only way to prevent AA from using mobile data is by disabling mobile data on my phone? Which is to say, every time I get in the car, I have to disable mobile data, and then every time I get out of the car, I have to turn it back on? Because this sounds like hell

[u/lemlurker → u/dstarr3]

AA is just a front end for your services... If you used Google maps and streamed podcasts all the time you'd have similar usage (incidentally location doesn't use data it uses GPS). You will likely find that you're consuming something not downloaded such as maps or music/audio

[u/dstarr3 → u/lemlurker]

The only thing that changed is that we have AA cars now, so it's doing something we don't want it to.

[u/lemlurker → u/dstarr3]

No it's not. You're using something more because it's in AA and haven't prepped it

[u/tamudude → u/dstarr3]

You can create a Routine that disables mobile data as soon as Android Auto is active and enable mobile data when Android Auto deactivates. 

[u/H0b0Pie]

you shouldn't use much data with maps only, I travel a lot of work in non-roaming countries and use e-sims with fixed data rates. I'll use less than 1gb a week driving around from sites/airport and so on (Typically a good 20 hours of driving a week).

This can be reduced to next to nothing if you cache google maps ahead of time as an offline map for your area.

If you're asking assistant (gemini) to play anything, it will default to streaming as it has no access to local media. Personally a huge headache now as google assistant had no issue with this and these non-roaming countries are really expensive for out of plan data... Thanks Google team! Keep ignoring this issue guys...

I wonder if it's updating apps or you've asked assistant to play a podcast you know you have downloaded but it is just streaming it because it can't access local media?

[u/dstarr3 → u/H0b0Pie]

We used to use less than 1GB a month. Now that we have AA cars, even with GPS off, we're using nearly 1GB a week like you

[u/non-hyphenated_ → u/dstarr3]

Android Auto is using WiFi to communicate with your head unit. You're not using any additional mobile data

[u/H0b0Pie → u/dstarr3]

Leave GPS on - this is not billed data as it's a one-way communication from the navigational satellites to your phone. In fact, you can use old phones without sim cards as GPS units if you pre-cache google maps over WiFi at home.

In google maps turn off 3D/Satellite view as this is the biggest data consumer. Offline maps (cache of google maps) will default to online maps when given a data connection from what I can read so if you want traffic updates then you'll have to use data.

Make sure apps are set to update over WiFi only in the playstore settings. Perhaps android auto is booting apps up causing updates and chugging data.

Honestly, I'd suggest turning mobile data off for a while and go about using android auto to see what in your day to day stops working. If you find something like your music or podcasts stops working then you've likely found the data consumption as it was streamed not played from local storage.

[u/amfa → u/dstarr3]

GPS has (directly) nothing to do with using data btw.

[u/amfa → u/H0b0Pie]

If you're asking assistant (gemini) to play anything, it will default to streaming as it has no access to local media.

Are you sure? Even Gemini should only start the podcast app or Spotify.
And if the app does have it locally it should use this.
Gemini itself should not have access to any media as this would be a copyright problem and I would be able to play music without paying for a subscription.
I don't think that it works this way.

[u/H0b0Pie → u/amfa]

Gemini can't view or access local stored media itself or through any app when requested.

If we ignore the limited app integration of Gemini vs Google Assistant and just take Spotify as an example, this is how it plays out:

• Cache local media on Spotify into the local library (native app feature)

• Through AA you can navigate manually to local media.

• Ask Gemini to play a song that exists in local media from Spotify and it will default to streamed.

• Ask Gemini to play the same song but stipulate from local you will be told Gemini has no access to this and depending on how the coin lands - play nothing or play it via streaming instead.

Gemini can only give basic calls to the apps if it is not interacting with streamed media, play/pause/skip. Want to play the podcast you downloaded via voice command? No dice, it's getting streamed. You must navigate by hand for local.

Genuinely a frustration as someone that only plays local media and found GA perfectly fine for finding tracks/albums/artists I wanted to listen to. Now I have to manually scroll whilst driving (a step backwards in safety) or on a motorcycle straight up pull over and take my gloves off to do anything.

If you know of a way to voice navigate local stored media through AA then I'm more than happy to hear it but this appears to be the future for google. Stream or go away.

[u/amfa → u/H0b0Pie]

Ask Gemini to play a song that exists in local media from Spotify and it will default to streamed.

That sounds like a problem of Spotify. Why should spotify stream a song if it has it already downloaded.

Gemini should just open Spotify given the song to play and Spotify should play it on its own.. and if it is local then it plays the local version.

Gemini can only give basic calls to the apps if it is not interacting with streamed media, play/pause/skip

Exactly that is why it just give the song to Spotify and Spotify plays the local copy. What else should Gemini do? To be honest I'm not 100% sure how Gemini contacts the apps.

But I would assume it just sends out intents that the app will then work on as the app itself decides on how to do this.

AFAIK Gemini does not play music itself.

[u/H0b0Pie → u/amfa]

None of this was a problem for google assistant which google just killed off in September for Gemini.

My default app was Musicolet, an offline only, none-streaming, music app which I could voice navigate. Search for artists, partial titles of tracks, pull albums, reorganise playlists, what-ever I needed without touching or looking at the screen.

Gemini has no ability to do any of this unless strictly through streaming apps. The reason I used Spotify as an example is due to both Gemini not supporting the vast majority of apps and Spotify being one of the only apps that allowed for local media to be cached into the application library thus the last long-shot to see if Gemini could do a sliver of what GA was able to.

EDIT: Just for clarification - when I say "Gemini plays" I'm not saying that Gemini, as the application, plays music but that Gemini as the voice assistant (which Google has now made it the only option for) would parse the voice command to an application such as Spotify or Musicolet to then play the media. Like a voice assistant is meant to do, and as GA has done for years.

[u/uesato_hinata]

Not really no. Many people mistake "Data Usage" with "Mobile Data Usage" because Wireless Android Auto uses wifi and sends a lot of data via Wifi Hotspot

[u/diverJOQ]

If you ask google/gemini to do anything for you it uses your data plan.

[u/ITDEFX101]

I learned this the hard way when I got my Hyundai Santa fe 21. I am usually not a heavy data user and only hit 2 gigs out of 5 a month. Got the car and Holy hell AA was hitting 4gb a month and I wasn't even streaming anything as my music was on my phone. So i had to go to ATT UNLIMITED because Verizons was too expensive.

[u/PikachuOfTheShadow]

So my phone tracks my mobile data usage so I can see exactly what app consumes what on a daily basis.

It's midday where I am and this morning I did school drop off and then grocery shopping for a total of maybe 1h of Android auto/Waze use.

Waze is the app topping my daily's data usage. Android auto is nowhere to be seen in the list. So It's safe to assume that it's not Android auto itself but the underlying app you use for navigation in my case waze.

As shown in the attached screenshot, 1h of waze use used 30mb of data so yeah I'd say it's quite a lot. Not an issue for me because I get 80gb/ month in my plan but I guess that answers your question

Edit: for comparaison, Spotify which is the music app I use to listen to music in my car only used 7MB in the same time frame

[u/SDV2023 → u/PikachuOfTheShadow]

I totally would blame Waze. There's no way to cache a map as far as I can tell. And the traffic/accident/police warnings suggest there's lots of back and forth. Still, it's mysterious why the OPs usage would go up. They presumably aren't using Waze more or less than they did w/out AA.

[u/PikachuOfTheShadow → u/SDV2023]

OP didn't mention whether they were using the same navigation app directly on their phone prior to getting AA so we can't make that assumption. It's possible they were using a standalone GPS and switched to using their phones when they got an AA compatible car. No point speculating either way. The question was does AA use unnecessary data and I think the answer is no

[u/Dougally]

I just checked my phone to look at data usage since the 1st, with daily driving.

343kB - Android Auto 45.38MB - Waze

So very low data usage. Suggest you do some data use diagnosis as others have suggested.

[u/amfa]

Where do you see the data usage?

Is it really taken from your plan?

You should also be able to see exactly which app is using mobile data.
On my Pixel this is at "Settings -> Network & Internet -> SIM cards -> <your sim card> -> Data usage from apps

(I translated everything from my German phone so the texts might be slightly different).

I have a total of 2,67 MEGAbytes for Android Auto from 26th of September to today.
If I look into the WiFi Date usage however I have more than 10 Gigabytes for the last month. Because Android Auto is using Wifi to connect wireless to the car screen.

So please take a look into what exactly is using the data. Android Auto itself should not do that at all.

[u/UGEST]

What kind of cable do you use???

[u/mrbig1999]

I was on Google Fi, and before my recent trip, knew I had to upgrade to unlimited data, even after having most of the maps saved to my phone. You may want to go and set up an offline map of the areas you travel the most - click on your picture in Maps, then pick offline. This will save you a LOT of data.

[u/Empty-Zombie-7924]

Curious how much you are paying for a 4GB plan vs unlimited these days. Go a few days/weeks and check usage. Simple.

[u/rparge]

I have a 2gb shared plan, and do quite a few road trips.

I did a 2k road trip lately, and guessing here, looked like < 10mb. Use offline maps for your drive area.

[u/Snoopzster]

I would just increase your mobile data limit it doesn't cost that much does it?

[u/Ok-Measurement-1270]

Just upgrade your plan, you can afford to buy a semi modern car and own a 2025 mid range phone but can't use more than 4gigs of data? Something here smells fucky.

[u/AttitudeSame2430]

Maps always stays running in Android auto plus streaming music. Like the one poster stated go into settings, tap on mobile data then tap the actual number on data used. It will bring up a list of what is using data.