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How bad is Android Auto for privacy (feddit.org)
submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by jimmy@feddit.org to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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How bad is Android Auto for privacy on a stock Pixel phone. What can the car and car vendor get access to.

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[-] Ulrich@feddit.org 40 points 2 days ago

Android Auto is just a projection of the information on your phone so, as far as I know, it's as private as your phone is.

Of course there's always the possibility that the vehicle itself is doing a screen capture and processing the information on the display to send back to their servers but...seems unlikely on account of the processing power required for that.

[-] toynbee@lemmy.world 19 points 2 days ago

I was recently very interested to learn that, if I run a VPN on my phone, Auto immediately calls out the VPN as a problem and refuses to connect to my car until it's disconnected.

[-] Auli@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I'm guessing Android Auto wireless. And if so it makes perfect sense. You can't route everything through a VPN when your connecting to a device with a local network.

[-] NarrativeBear@lemmy.world 14 points 2 days ago

I think this has something to do with how networking works.

When connected wireless to my car with a VPN active on my phone, my phone won't connect to my cars WiFi network to initiate the android auto connection.

When connected by USB with VPN active on my phone it's not issue, android auto connects and my VPN is active.

I remember seeing someone smarter explain this a lot better online somewhere then I can at the moment. But simply trying to connect wireless with a VPN active will not work.

[-] 4shtonButcher@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 2 days ago

This. Some convenience features simply don't play well with non-standard setups and that's fine IMHO. Of course wireless android auto cannot work if you manually overruled how your phone should connect to networks

[-] entwine413@lemm.ee 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I've found that if my VPN is disconnected when I first connect to Android Auto, connecting it after the fact won't cause it to freak out.

My VPN automatically turns on when I'm connected to anything but my home network, so if I start my car at home, when I lose wifi and connect to the cell network I don't have issues.

[-] toynbee@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

That's even more concerning!

[-] Stowaway@midwest.social 8 points 2 days ago

Is that android auto or wireless android auto?

[-] Ebby@lemmy.ssba.com 5 points 2 days ago

For me, wireless. Wired still worked through VPN.

[-] mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 days ago

Wireless android auto hasn't worked with VPN's for years. It's because the service is now baked into the OS, preventing it from split tunneling.

Switch to wired and it'll work

[-] Ebby@lemmy.ssba.com 4 points 2 days ago

I can get it to work if I whitelist the android auto app from my VPN.

[-] Auli@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago

Which means it isn't using the VPN.

[-] Ebby@lemmy.ssba.com 2 points 1 day ago

I'm saying split tunnel is very similar to a whitelist and is available to some VPN's. A split tunnel would also bypass the VPN.

Also, while Android auto is a system app now, it is also identifiable by my VPN software and able to be whitelisted.

[-] Stowaway@midwest.social 4 points 2 days ago

Yeah same experience for me. I assumed it was an issue with the routing table, but manually updating it didn't seem to help. I assumed I was just not good enough at networking on android. I'd believe google would try to crap on that too though.

[-] toynbee@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Wireless for me also. Actually pretty sure I've never used wired.

[-] Ebby@lemmy.ssba.com 3 points 2 days ago

I just ran into this too. Had to whitelist the app. Felt dirty and probably is...

[-] Auli@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago

You guys have no idea what a VPN does or how wireless Android Auto works.

[-] Ebby@lemmy.ssba.com 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

https://www.techradar.com/pro/vpn/google-needs-to-stop-blocking-vpns-on-android-auto-heres-how-to-fix-it

Maybe we're just using VPN's differently than you'd expect. For example, I use Blokada, a local VPN for reducing ad/tracking services embedded in apps. I don't actually send my traffic to a remote server.

[-] toynbee@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Yeah, agreed.

[-] vapeloki@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago

Android auto provides notification content to the car. Also of course a virtual screen.

So, there is not much that may be an issue. And you don't habe to share your contact data with your car if you want to do hands free calls. That's a plus

[-] Lonewolfmcquade@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

I'd like to hear more about this. When I went to setup Auto on my vehicle, it demanded that I copy all contact information to the head unit, or it would not proceed with pairing and setup. That's when I just shrugged and disconnected my phone. Bluetooth works just fine for me

[-] vapeloki@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

That may be ab implementation detail of android auto for your car manufacturer. I never needed to sync the contacts in BMW and VW.

I had some troubles with Ford, but there It worked via USB instead of Bluetooth pairing without forced sync.

Edit: I am in Germany, so data protection laws may also be a reason why it works for me

[-] Lonewolfmcquade@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

That makes sense. Mine is a Kenwood aftermarket unit so maybe its a Kenwood thing

[-] makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 days ago

I'm guessing Google sell your driving data to insurers?

[-] toynbee@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago

Per Mozilla, they're already getting that from the car manufacturers.

[-] makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 days ago

Except my car is old, and doesn't share it. So this would enable sharing for older vehicles.

[-] Redex68@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

I mean, if your car is that old I'm guessing it probably doesn't have Android Auto anyways. There's probably a pretty small overlap between those that have it and those that don't sell data.

[-] BeardedBlaze@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

People install aftermarket stereos in their cars. Mostly in older vehicles, because trying to replace it in the new vehicles tends to be a disaster.

[-] Redex68@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Didn't know those supported Android Auto

[-] makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago

Installed a sony screen. I'm tempted, but don't want to share the data.

[-] Manmoth@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 days ago

It requires a Google account so pretty bad.

[-] lemmus@szmer.info 4 points 2 days ago

Well, it doesn't

[-] DieserTypMatthias@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 days ago

You can enable it on GrapheneOS AFAIK.

[-] Manmoth@lemmy.ml 1 points 11 hours ago

If this is the case that's awesome and I had no idea.

[-] helpImTrappedOnline@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Works just fine on grapheneOS

[-] Undertaker@feddit.org -2 points 2 days ago

Yes

this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2025
54 points (98.2% liked)

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