- Edited
I recently decided to start using a VPN; once I did, Android Auto immediately stopped working. Most Google searches indicated that "split tunneling" had to be enabled, so that's what I did. However, much to my dismay, that did not solve the problem. It turns out that I had only had part of the solution. The missing piece of information was to turn off the kill switch in the VPN. Once I did that, AA started behaving normally again. In case others are experiencing the same issue, I have created a brief tutorial on how to do both items.
*please note, I am using ProtonVPN; if you are using a different VPN, the steps may be slightly different, but the general idea is the same.
To enable split tunneling:
- Tap the icon of your VPN to open it
- Tap on, "settings"
- Scroll down to, "split tunneling", which is located in the "features" section and tap on it
- Tap on the switch to enable split tunneling
- Tap on, "excluded apps"
- Scroll down to the bottom, and tap on, "show system apps"
- Tap on the +sign next to Android Auto, then tap on, "save"
- You will see a prompt saying, "new settings will apply next time you connect"; tap on, "reconnect now"
- You have successfully whitelisted Android Auto to work with your VPN
To turn off the kill switch:
- Tap the VPN icon to open it
- Tap on, "settings"
- Under the, "features" section, tap on, "kill switch"
- Tap on, "open Android settings"
- Click on the, "settings" icon
- Turn OFF the, "block connections without VPN" switch
Once you have done both, you should be able to use Android Auto with your VPN running. I hope this is able to help someone who is having this particular issue.