You can finally open Google Maps on your phone while Android Auto is running [U]

Android Auto has long carried a frustrating restriction that prevents Google Maps from being opened on the connected phone, but it appears that is finally changing.

Update 7/1: After rolling out in February, Google seems to have re-launched support for opening the Maps app on your phone alongside running it on Android Auto. This functionality has been in place for many for the past several months, but for others, it disappeared shortly after it first arrived back in February.

This time, the change seems more widespread and, hopefully, permanent, as many Android Auto users on Reddit are reporting that things are working for them just within the past few days.

Our original coverage from February follows.

Some Android Auto users have noticed in the past couple of days that recent updates to Google Maps for Android as well as the Android Auto app have unlocked support for using Maps on phones while Android Auto is running. The change is a big change for the platform, where Maps on the phone has always brought up an error message saying that the app cannot be opened while Android Auto is running.

That’s obviously been frustrating, as Android Auto’s version of Maps is limited compared to the one on the phone. For instance, the phone app supports shows more data about destinations, as well as user-created lists of locations, where the Android Auto version does not.

This change doesn’t seem to have rolled out particularly widely, but a handful of users report that Google Maps can now be opened while Android Auto is running in a Reddit thread. The change may be tied to Google Maps v11.67.0701, and seems to work independently of the Android Auto app version. But despite having that version of Maps installed, some still report seeing the app blocked from opening, suggesting this may be a bug. Given it’s the first time this has happened, though, we’re inclined to believe this is intentional.

In trying to replicate the functionality, we were able to open Maps while Android Auto was running, we were able to do so without any issue on Maps v11.67.0702 on a Pixel 7 Pro.

But, your results may vary, so let us know in the comments below if you’re able to open Maps while running Android Auto on your device.