Questions from an Android Auto rookie

[gweaver71]

Greetings all!
Just installed a Pioneer AVH-4100NEX. I've got Android Auto installed, and it seems to work with my T-Mobile Note 4, but I have a couple of questions/problems.
1) Pandora is supposed to work with AA, but when I access music, my only options are Amazon Music and Google Music. Pandora is installed on my phone and it streams fine with bluetooth, so how do I get AA to see it?
On a side note, Amazon Music says I have no playlists, which is not correct, as I've linked to a number of Amazon created playlists.

2) Is it possible to use AA to access music stored on my phone? I've got a bunch of songs/playlists on my phone, but I haven't been able to figure out how to access them using AA.

At this point, I can either play music using Bluetooth (stream Pandora or play music from phone) or use AA for navigation, but I can't seem to get nav plus music, which is what I bought the head unit for.

FWIW, I have cables for both AA (straight USB) and MirrorLink (using the Samsung HDMI/USB dongle). I'll admit I didn't connect a 3.5mm audio plug to the AUX input, so I don't know if that's a possible workaround for playing songs stored on my phone while AA is running.

Thank you for any help and suggestions.
G

 

[Phil Nickinson]

Pandora should work just fine. Maybe try uninstalling and reinstalling. (Did you sideload, per chance? You can't use sideloaded apps with Android Auto. ... Not sure what's up with Amazon, though.

There are a few AA apps that can access local music — but not many. (Google Play Music isn't one of them.)

 

[Cant Miss]

There are a few AA apps that can access local music — but not many. (Google Play Music isn't one of them.)

Google Play Music works fine for local music here. Have my tunes in a folder named Music. Can create playlists using these tunes from within PM as well.

 

[gweaver71]

So I followed up on Phil Nickinson's comment- deleted and redownloaded Pandora from Play Store, works fine. As an experiment, I connected the AUX cable to the phone, selected it under the 'input'(?) screen and then switched back to Nav- turns out I CAN use the music player on the phone to play music while using AA. Will have to play around more- see if I can load music and playlists on an SD card and use that as a source through AA.
I guess I'm just only scratching the surface of what the 4100 can do. Looks like I'll continue to play around and explore all my options.
Thanks for the suggestions and insights.
G