Android Auto says "It is Offline"?

[cclosterman]

I brought home my new 2017 Ford Escape yesterday and couldn't wait to use Android Auto. But I am having issues. Anytime I ask it to do something it says "It is Offline". I am connected via bluetooth to the sync system, plugged into the usb port and my 4g mobile data is turned on. I am not sure how to troubleshoot this, and would be very unhappy that I couldn't use Android Auto.

Oh.. My phone is a Motorola X Style.

Looking for suggestions to fix/troubleshoot.

 

[dewd_1969]

Do you have a good data connection?

 

[cclosterman]

Yes. My Data connection is strong. Last night it worked after reinstalling everything for the 3rd time. This morning same issue. "Google is offline". Very frustrating. My Husband's HTC one connected no problem . I love my phone and don't want to get a new phone. But I specifically purchased a car with Android Auto. Not being able to use it is annoying.

 

[bjrosen]

Get a Nexus phone.

 

[cclosterman]

Won't get a nexus until they add SD card capability.

 

[Andrew DeFaria]

When you get "Google is offline" do you have a good signal? You see normally I do have a good signal but when I'm getting in my car to drive home from work I'm in an underground parking garage with horrible signal. And/Or I'm still connected to work's WiFi but the phone is not smart enough to recognize that it should disconnect from the WiFi since here in the parking garage there's pretty much no way it can talk to the WiFi. (Note I use Tasker to turn on and off the WiFi when I'm geographically close to work however often the task to turn off WiFi doesn't recognize I'm not at work until I'm miles away). Sometimes just turning off WiFi manually allows the phone to be "online". Other times I have to get out from under the underground parking.

 

[cclosterman]

Andrew thanks for the info, but I do not turn on my WiFi unless I am at work or at home. I'm strickly on LTE when out and about in my car. I have unplugged from android auto and I am able to us "OK google" commands with no problem. I just don't get it?

 

[Andrew DeFaria]

Hmmm... So you're AA never becomes active and is always listed as offline? Try this, sitting on the side of the rode with the car on and not plugged into AA. Do you have signal? Can you cruise the web?

Connect the USB and start AA on your car. Realize that your phone should connect to your car for the phone Bluetooth profile but for the media it should be going through the USB. Can you cruise the web now?

AA tries hard to not let you use other functionality on the phone while connected but there are ways around this. I've been able to hit the "Show Recent Apps" button, pick another app, let's say Calendar, then hit the "Back" button until you get to your home screen on the phone. Check out the data connection in settings. Are you connected. Start Google Chrome or GMail. Can you connect to the internet and browse to places or read your mail?

If you can then it's very suspicious why AA on the head unit of your car says your offline since using your phone directly shows us otherwise.

If you can't then what's stopping you? For example, are you connected via mobile data? What if you're in your driveway and are close enough to connect to your wifi? If you're connected to your wifi and cannot surf the web while also connected to AA that'd be weird.

Assuming you were able to do such internet things before you hooked up AA, what happens if you pull the USB cord and try to surf the web again?

Not sure what you problem may be but these are some steps you can do to perhaps gain some information about what's going on.

Good luck and report back...

 

[cclosterman]

Ok..did some more testing. Sat in the driveway had wifi signal from house and connect AA. Everything works fine on Wifi. When I turn off wifi and use my mobile data (Verizon 4g LTE) full bars AA says it is offline. When I disconnect AA my google now works fine.

I tested my husbands phone, and AA works with Wifi and his mobile data (same as mine Verizon 4G LTE full bars). So It's got to be something with my phone, but I have no clue what. I've done google searches and can't find anything.

 

[Pedrore]

The is a wild shot, but go into the App info for AA, then touch Data usage. Make sure Restrict app background data is off.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[cclosterman]

The is a wild shot, but go into the App info for AA, then touch Data usage. Make sure Restrict app background data is off.

Posted via the Android Central App

Pedrore,
Thanks! Tried that. Restricted background data is off.

 

[Andrew DeFaria]

Ok..did some more testing. Sat in the driveway had wifi signal from house and connect AA. Everything works fine on Wifi. When I turn off wifi and use my mobile data (Verizon 4g LTE) full bars AA says it is offline. When I disconnect AA my google now works fine.

I tested my husbands phone, and AA works with Wifi and his mobile data (same as mine Verizon 4G LTE full bars). So It's got to be something with my phone, but I have no clue what. I've done google searches and can't find anything.

That's odd. I guess you could check your Android version with your husbands. Other than that then perhaps it's a permissions issue? I know sometimes I still get prompted to allow AA to use some such thing. You've tried reinstalling AA and it works sometimes? Have you tried clearing the data and/or cache for AA? I looked at that recently and AA had tons o data - like 240 meg! I think that's from Google Maps and perhaps downloads of offline maps.

Oh and you could check the versions of AA on your phone and your husbands. Having an identical (or maybe just similar) phone, one that works and one that doesn't, is a good thing because you can compare things.

Keep us posted.

Oh and you could post to Google's help forums about AA too.

 

[W K]

I actually was going to ask for help since I'm having the same problem but just figured out the issue - at least for my case but am hoping that this applies to other as well.

You need to turn off the background restriction on 'Google App' app. Strangely 'Android Auto' app data restriction doesn't make any difference and that's the confusing part. My guess is the the voice search part of AA is managed through 'Google App' settings rather than AA settings for some reason.

All the apps that I used within AA - google music and maps seem to be mobile data restricted by 'Google Music' and 'Google Maps' app setting NOT through AA data setting so this behavior is consistent.

Hope this helps.

 

[nicosilber]

Hello in my experience I was not able to search addresses in my AA while offline. I need to be online to search for address and then I was able to navigate without any problem. But with downloaded offline maps it's impossible to search for an address. In mt tablet with downloaded/offline maps I am table to search any address (if its inside the area I downloaded). But once I plug my phone (in airplane mode) to my car and google auto starts it wont find any adress even if that address was inside a downloaded map. Please help

 

[Rathmullan]

Response #8 from Andrew DeFaria is excellent! Thank You Andrew, You solved my problem.
Turned wifi connection off on my Nexus 5X and rebooted the phone (one of those actions may have been redundant) When connected via 3G then Android Auto knew I was "online" and I could use voice commands. So I'm guessing one's phone cannot be connected via wifi if AA is to recognize you as being "online"? Thanks again!

 

[foxbat121]

In Android Auto phone app settings, you can find 'Limit Wi-Fi' option at the top. This is checked by default. So whenever you connected to Android Auto, it will force WiFi to off and phone switches to cell data. I guess some phones are slow to switch over and hence get the error.

Try uncheck this option and see if it helps.

 

[grazy1982]

I just got my S20 plus and trying to set it up on my Kenwood Unit over wireless. I get the offline map issue? I don't see the limit wifi setting and tried everything else? any ideas?

 

[foxbat121]

Wireless Android Auto need to use phone WiFi to connect to Android Auto. So make sure you have cell data connection available for internet connection. Also, there are many known issues with wireless Android Auto on various Samsung phones.

 

[grazy1982]

Wireless Android Auto need to use phone WiFi to connect to Android Auto. So make sure you have cell data connection available for internet connection. Also, there are many known issues with wireless Android Auto on various Samsung phones.

Hi

yes, assumed that to be the case but if connected via USB it must still be using cell data? so not sure what the difference is once out of WiFi range? my old S9 plus worked no problem. on that phone I went into developers options and activated the option for wireless projection though and there was a physical app whereas on the S20 its baked into the settings

 

[foxbat121]

It needs internet access one way or another. If you connect through USB, it can use either WiFi or cell data for internet access but there is an AA setting that automatically turns off WiFi if you connect via USB.