Hyundai, Kia, & Genesis Owners who Use GrapheneOS and Android Auto

Carlito

I just purchased a new (to me) Genesis, and am having a devil of a time getting my GOS phone connected via Android Auto. While the car does recognize that a phone is there, and will connect via Bluetooth, it absolutely refuses to connect to Android Auto. Am I missing something or doing something incorrectly?

What I have tried so far:

Connecting via a usb cable
Connecting wirelessly
Whitelisting my VPN (Proton)
Turning off my VPN completely

Does anyone here drive a relatively recent Hyundai, Kia, or Genesis (the software for Android Auto integration should be the same for all 3)? If so, have you gotten your car to work with Android Auto & GrapheneOS?

Edit: on the phone screen, it does show that Android Auto is trying to connect, and will give a message to continue AA setup on the car's screen. However, inevitably I will receive a message on the car's screen that AA was unable to connect.

userofgos

Carlito welcome to GrapheneOS! Have you read the AA Usage guide on the GrapheneOS website and followed the instructions there? See partial quote below and the link for the full documentation: https://grapheneos.org/usage#android-auto

In order to work, Android Auto has to be granted baseline permissions for wired or wireless Android Auto. Wired Android Auto requires far less access than wireless Android Auto does. Baseline permissions are controlled by the "Allow permissions for wired/wireless Android Auto" toggles.

For some cars, baseline permissions for wireless Android Auto are needed even when using wired Android Auto. Therefore, if wired Android Auto is unable to connect to the car with only wired permissions granted, try granting wireless permissions instead.

Some cars are picky about the permissions needed, I drive a 2018 Hyundai and it requires both wireless permissions and wired permissions in order to function even though it only supports Wired connection for full AA.

Johnnyloans

Carlito

I have used android auto in a 2023 Hyundai Santa fe and 2024 Toyota rav4 recently. I just plug in my phone and it connects.

Android auto:

wired permission
network & notifications permission

Google play services:

network & phone permission

Even if the vpn is set for only traffic to 10.1.1.0/24 for example, android auto will refuse to run saying it has no network connectivity and to turn off a vpn or something. You'd have to whitelist/blacklist apps or turn off the vpn.

Carlito

userofgos
Thank you for the reminder to check permissions. I verified that they were checked and also gave permission for AA to access the phone, and tried again. The result was the same. At this point, I cannot think of anything else to try.

earthsojourn

I have a 22 Kia EV6, and wired Android Auto works for me (the first gen EV6 does not have Wireless Android Auto).

That said, while traveling, I rented a Buick Encore and could not get it to work reliably. The main difference seemed to be it was always trying to use Wireless Android Auto exclusively, even though I was plugged in, did not have WiFi enabled, and did not want it to (since I use VPN).

Once home, I noticed in the Android Auto settings under Apps -> Sandboxed Google Play, there are separate toggles for both Wired & Wireless Android Auto permissions. You might try toggling those to see if you can find a combination that works.

Wireless Android Auto will only work if you have your VPN disabled, which is a non-starter for me.

I did have an issue where randomly my EV6 would disconnect, and there were users reporting issues on the Kia EV6 forum where they had similar problems when not using really high quality USB data cables. So you might try replacing the cable you are using.

Carlito

earthsojourn
Thank you for your reply. I will play around with those settings.

Novalissoide

Carlito And enable device Location if it was toggled off.

Carlito

Novalissoide
I double-checked; it is toggled on. Thank you for the reminder.

Carlito

Update: I have successfully paired my phone via Bluetooth to the car, and have successfully imported all of my contacts. However, Android Auto is still proving to be very elusive. The quest for easy use of my infotainment screen continues....

Carlito

Update number 2:

I dug up an old Android phone of mine (running Android 13). Again, while I was able to successfully pair the phone via Bluetooth, import contacts, and make a call over Bluetooth, Android Auto would stubbornly not connect. I decided to ask CoPilot, and the answer given is that given the troubleshooting I have done, it is likely the software in the car. Sooo......off to the dealership I go.

Remember when cars and phones were simple?

floracapsule

I have a kia telluride. Only wired is available for me and it works well. Did you download Android auto through sandboxed google play? Settings-apps-sandboxed google play

You don't want to get it through the regular google play store.

Perhaps this is your issue? Good luck.

Carlito

floracapsule
Thank you for replying. However, I most definitely downloaded Android Auto from the GrapheneOS store, and am running it via Sandboxed Google Play. Up until now, I have never logged into the Play store on my GOS phone.

It is looking like it is a vehicle issue, as I am also unable to pair a phone running stock Android (see above update).