Android Automotive Will Be Getting Lots Of New Apps, Starting Next Month

Developing an amazing Android app is already quite challenging, so it’s no surprise that many developers don’t go the extra mile and design their app to work on cars running Android as well. After all, designing an app for Android Automotive requires a lot of extra care given road safety concerns. That, plus the smaller user base, has made the Google Play Store for cars with Google built-in a bit barren compared to the Play Store for handsets, but the app situation is going to get better next month.

That’s because Google has quietly announced that its car ready mobile apps program will launch next month. The company revealed this program at its I/O developer conference last year. The goal is to expand the number of apps available to download from the Google Play Store in cars that run Android Automotive OS. Google has basically been scouring the Play Store for mobile apps that are large-screen compatible and evaluating them to see if they’re safe to use in cars while they’re parked.

There are plenty of Android apps that are considered large-screen compatible — that is, they’re optimized for Chromebooks and tablets — but not all of them will be eligible for the car ready mobile apps program. For starters, apps that only support ARM devices won’t be eligible, as many cars use x86 chips. More importantly, Google says that it’s only considering apps that fall under the video, gaming, and browser categories in this initial run of the program. These apps have to meet all of Google’s quality guidelines for these categories to be considered for the program.

Apps that don’t meet every guideline for their category may still be eligible for the program when run in Android Automotive’s new compatibility mode. Compatibility mode is a new software feature available on select vehicles that provides a system back affordance for apps that don’t have a visible back button, renders apps in a designated safe area, scales apps so they’re more visible at a distance, and blocks app activities when the car enters driving mode.

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority

Although we don’t know what apps have been selected for the car ready mobile apps program, we won’t have to wait long to find out. Google recently updated its developer page for the program to mention that it’s going live sometime next month. Eligible apps will be available to download starting February 2025 from the Google Play Store in cars that run Android Automotive. At I/O, Google said that the car ready mobile apps program would also support Android Auto, but the page only mentions that Android Auto will add support for these apps “at a later date.”

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Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority

It should be interesting to see which apps end up in the program when it goes live next month. There are a lot of existing video and gaming apps that would work well on the head unit of many Android Automotive devices. The example that Google gave during its announcement, AMC+, is but one of many streaming services that users might enjoy while their car is charging. Google said that it has plans to expand the program to other app categories in the future, and I’m curious what those will be.

I’m also curious to see which cars will actually be able to install these apps. Google didn’t mention this during its original announcement, but its developer page reveal that apps distributed through the car ready mobile apps program will only be available on cars that “have been certified by Google to meet the program requirements.” There are already a “variety of Cars with Google built-in” that have been certified, with more to come as Google works with OEMs to certify new and existing devices.

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