TLDR Background next few paragraphs...scroll down to "START HERE" if you just want to read about the infotainment update...
I have a late 2018 Honda Accord (the new body style). I'd routinely connect the Accord infotainment to my Galaxy s10 hot spot during the course of 2019 an tap on the virtual "system update" button on the infotainment screen. Never had an update. Android Auto (AA) always worked so I was fine. My phone always stayed plugged in wherever I drove because I depended on AA for everything...navigation, streaming my music, phone calls, texting, etc.
November 2019 I switched to an iPhone 11 because my kids are both now using iPhones. Apple CarPlay (AC) worked fine for the first month and then starting disconnecting after a few seconds - it would just go back to the main infotainment screen. After a week of that craziness it just wouldn't work at all. Discovered it wouldn't work on my work-provided iPhone 8 either so took in the car to the Honda dealer and they said they installed a software update to the infotainment. WTF is the "system update" button good for? Whatever, AC worked again. But only for about a month before it did the same thing...plugged in the phone and it wouldn't even show the AC button to tap on the infotainment. Took my Galaxy s10 out of the drawer in January and AA came up just fine, so I switched back to the s10.
The s10 seemed kind of laggy, and the Android Auto interface was laggy too. It would often open up to the map screen where the map part was all black. My music app would be playing, but otherwise the entire AA interface was frozen. Unplugging/re-plugging the the USB cable would fix the issue about half the time. Luckily this was when the s20 was opened up for pre-order, so I did that and used my s10 as a trade-in.
START HERE (if you skipped the background above)...
The Galaxy s20 is faster than hell, much better than my s10 was even when the s10 was new. No lag, no weird app shutdowns, solid as a new iPhone. However, the AA interface would still have issues. About 2-3 times out of 10 when I plug in my phone the AA interface opens up to a black screen and pressing on the virtual home button doesn't do anything. I have to unplug-replug the USB cable and that would usually get it working properly.
So much to my surprise, I'm driving home from work yesterday (April 7th) and a Honda infotainment message box briefly appears on top of the AA interface stating a system update is ready to install. When I got home and put the car into park, I tapped on the system update button. A box appeared stating that a 29 MB update was ready to install. I didn't think to take a picture of it and I can't remember the software version. I had to tap one of two buttons: install now (may require reboot), or install when vehicle shuts down. I don't understand how a software update can install when the vehicle is off, but I tapped that one and turned off the car.
Got back into the car this morning to go to work. The infotainment screen was slow to load up (uh, oh) and when I could finally tap the ok button there was a spinning circle for a minute. But it disappeared and a box popped up stating system update completed. I plugged in my phone and AA open right up. The system is definitely faster now. No problem switching in between apps, saying hey google brought up Google Assistant very quickly even when loud music was playing (this would be iffy previously). I know it has only been one use, but so far it seems like Honda finally got their infotainment system working normally. FINALLY.
I don't know how a system update downloaded, as I never have my phone hot spot on while I'm in the car. In fact, I hadn't even connected my car's wifi to the hotspot on this s20 since I had purchased it. Oh well, just glad it happened! Highly recommend any Honda owners with the new infotainment system do a system update check for this new software.
I have a late 2018 Honda Accord (the new body style). I'd routinely connect the Accord infotainment to my Galaxy s10 hot spot during the course of 2019 an tap on the virtual "system update" button on the infotainment screen. Never had an update. Android Auto (AA) always worked so I was fine. My phone always stayed plugged in wherever I drove because I depended on AA for everything...navigation, streaming my music, phone calls, texting, etc.
November 2019 I switched to an iPhone 11 because my kids are both now using iPhones. Apple CarPlay (AC) worked fine for the first month and then starting disconnecting after a few seconds - it would just go back to the main infotainment screen. After a week of that craziness it just wouldn't work at all. Discovered it wouldn't work on my work-provided iPhone 8 either so took in the car to the Honda dealer and they said they installed a software update to the infotainment. WTF is the "system update" button good for? Whatever, AC worked again. But only for about a month before it did the same thing...plugged in the phone and it wouldn't even show the AC button to tap on the infotainment. Took my Galaxy s10 out of the drawer in January and AA came up just fine, so I switched back to the s10.
The s10 seemed kind of laggy, and the Android Auto interface was laggy too. It would often open up to the map screen where the map part was all black. My music app would be playing, but otherwise the entire AA interface was frozen. Unplugging/re-plugging the the USB cable would fix the issue about half the time. Luckily this was when the s20 was opened up for pre-order, so I did that and used my s10 as a trade-in.
START HERE (if you skipped the background above)...
The Galaxy s20 is faster than hell, much better than my s10 was even when the s10 was new. No lag, no weird app shutdowns, solid as a new iPhone. However, the AA interface would still have issues. About 2-3 times out of 10 when I plug in my phone the AA interface opens up to a black screen and pressing on the virtual home button doesn't do anything. I have to unplug-replug the USB cable and that would usually get it working properly.
So much to my surprise, I'm driving home from work yesterday (April 7th) and a Honda infotainment message box briefly appears on top of the AA interface stating a system update is ready to install. When I got home and put the car into park, I tapped on the system update button. A box appeared stating that a 29 MB update was ready to install. I didn't think to take a picture of it and I can't remember the software version. I had to tap one of two buttons: install now (may require reboot), or install when vehicle shuts down. I don't understand how a software update can install when the vehicle is off, but I tapped that one and turned off the car.
Got back into the car this morning to go to work. The infotainment screen was slow to load up (uh, oh) and when I could finally tap the ok button there was a spinning circle for a minute. But it disappeared and a box popped up stating system update completed. I plugged in my phone and AA open right up. The system is definitely faster now. No problem switching in between apps, saying hey google brought up Google Assistant very quickly even when loud music was playing (this would be iffy previously). I know it has only been one use, but so far it seems like Honda finally got their infotainment system working normally. FINALLY.
I don't know how a system update downloaded, as I never have my phone hot spot on while I'm in the car. In fact, I hadn't even connected my car's wifi to the hotspot on this s20 since I had purchased it. Oh well, just glad it happened! Highly recommend any Honda owners with the new infotainment system do a system update check for this new software.
Last edited:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram