The new Android Auto is here with a new look 2026

Android Auto is getting a design upgrade, but the new design seems to be disliked by many. Google is incorporating the new Material You design into the device's Music Player to provide a more unified experience that will match our phone's wallpaper. The problem is that this replaces the dynamic background from the album covers being played and users see it as a visual degradation and rightly so.

Now Android Auto's music player app, which is common regardless of the mobile app playing the music, instead of using the colors of the currently playing album, pulls the colors from the mobile wallpaper, leaving a very static feeling. This change was intended to bring uniformity throughout the GUI, but it removed one of the most distinctive visual elements of the music player.

Reddit user Adil15101 shared a side-by-side image comparing the old and new layout. The older interface featured live backgrounds tied to music, while the new one opts for softer, wallpaper-based palettes that don't always match the vibe of what we're listening to. The new design decision comes after the wider adoption of Material You in Android Auto.

Above: What Android Auto was like before Below: How it is now with Material You
Source: Reddit

So, I have a black and white background wallpaper on my phone, it makes everything black and white and blurry. While this provides visual continuity, it is not what everyone wants. Most of us put a photo on the background of our mobile, not because it is aesthetically beautiful, but more often than not because it shows our favorite people and situations. For example, I have a black and white photo of my daughter. This does not mean I want everything to be black and white on my mobile phone and in my car.

At the same time we have the album cover display on a much smaller surface, which leaves a lot of dead space in the music application, i.e. a large surface where absolutely nothing is displayed. At the same time, the situation is worse in cars with a vertical screen orientation.

Reddit user flcinusa noted that the already reduced album art looks "comically tiny" on their screen. While repositioning the search bar can reduce accidental taps, it creates weird gaps and visual imbalance.

Material You is a big leap forward in Android Auto's GUI, which has traditionally been based around usability and features. Google is preparing new features such as air conditioning integration, Gemini voice assistant integration and radio control directly from Android Auto.

But for those of us who listen to music in the car, this upgrade is not the best that Google could do and at this stage it is more of a downgrade.

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