Possible to have ALL audio go to my BT car, like phone does?

[t_wysocki]

I have a new Mazda MX5 and I've paired its BT to my S10. The phone calls come in and are handled nicely by the car audio system. Unfortunately, all navigation, assistant, and other sounds from the phone are mute unless I specifically select the BT input for audio. I would like to use my car's audio sources, not my phone's, for music but I really want nav and assistant to be audible in the same way as my phone calls: override the car audio. I end up not connecting BT just for phone and not for audio so that I can hear other sounds it makes. I even have Android Auto on the car but I hate it. Have to always remember to take time to plug in the USB-C connector and then enable it on the phone and car. PITA!

I understand that there are different BT profiles that are used to communicate phone vs other audio to the car. But is there any way I can switch my nav and assistant to use the phone profile to connect with so that ALL my phone audio is played by the car?

 

[hallux]

This is an issue with the car, not with the phone. You'll have to check your car manual to see if it's possible to do what you want.

That said - I THINK when I rented a vehicle with Android Auto it did do what you hope yours will do. That was a Chevy Impala (or Malibu? I don't recall, it was a year ago). I did have to connect it for Android Auto though.

 

[dpomerance]

This is a much more complicated question than you might imagine. First of all forget Android Auto it sucks. On the BT setting make sure that Audio is checked. Now here comes the complication. You will now play Audible books, music, map commands all will come through the car IF and it is a big if, your car is set to audio input and not on radio. If you are listening to the radio, your map audio will not come through the car even though the phone thinks it is sending it to the car. It won't come through anywhere. Your phone will work fine, but your maps won't come through. You need turn off audio in your BT settings and the map commands will now come through the phone and the telephone calls will come through the car. I know this sounds complicated but it is a PIA and has been that way through many iterations. I rent many cars of all brands and it is always the same. If the car is on radio, the only piece of the phone that will be heard is the telephone call unless you turn off the audio switch on the BT setting page.

 

[Adam Frix]

First of all forget Android Auto it sucks.

In what way does it "suck"?

I, and millions of others, have found otherwise.

I would encourage the OP use Android Auto. It makes life MUCH easier.

 

[dpomerance]

The graphics are very poor as compared to the car's built in display and the Google maps does a better job of directions and turn cues and stuff like that. Plus which it locks up your car and prevent you from doing things you want to do and doesn't play well with Audible when you are trying to listen to stuff. You don't get your forward reverse and stop play easily. Just much harder to navigate and operate. Very poorly designed user interface. The interface looks like it was drawn by a kid with crayons. No sharp graphics at all and no world view. Just stick figure drawings.

 

[dpomerance]

Guess I have to buy the kind of car you have, Adam! I have AA on my Mazda, but I have to also have it installed on my phone AND I have to have the phone connected via USB. All this gets me is that I can see Google Maps on my dashboard (and squint at the stupid low contrast display). I'd just like to have a way to get my nav/assistant sound coming from the phone to the car speakers and override the car audio source that's already playing (without having to change the source on my head unit).

Unfortunately you cannot get anything from the phone to play over the car except for actual telephone calls unless you have the car source set to audio. It you are playing the radio in the car you have to turn off the phone's BT setting on audio and the phone speakers will come alive again.

 

[Adam Frix]

The graphics are very poor as compared to the car's built in display

I don't understand what that means. You're using the car's built in display for AA.

 

[dpomerance]

It means that when using the car's built-in GPS or Google Maps on the phone, the graphics are substantially better than when using AA from the phone plugged into the car.

 

[Adam Frix]

It means that when using the car's built-in GPS or Google Maps on the phone, the graphics are substantially better than when using AA from the phone plugged into the car.

I dispute that, wholeheartedly. From experience.

It's more likely that the AA implementation in your car is substandard.

 

[mustang7757]

[I cleaned up the thread a little let's focus on helping OP ]

 

[t_wysocki]

After a couple of months of using Android Auto, I have to agree with dpomerance, AA really does suck! At least in the Mazda implementation of it. I'm not sure how different AA is from car to car. Besides the hassle of having to connect BT wire, the maps are almost worthless while driving. They use the same low contrast colors as the phone display and scrolling and other features are disabled while rolling. I live in an area with mountains and few roads and when I zoom out a bit, google decides to remove small roads from the display (assuming I'm in a big city where it would appear cluttered).

For now, I'll use the suggestion to just connect the phone BT but not audio. I just put my phone in a charging holder on the dash and use it without AA.

 

[dpomerance]

Thank you L Wysocki. At least there are 2 of us in the world willing to admit that Google, good as it is in most things, MISSED THE HELL OUT OF THE MARK ON ANDROID AUTO.

 

[Mike Dee]

Not having any issues that you mention with Android Auto throughout the thread.

 

[dpomerance]

Mike just a simple demonstration, less than 3 minutes, to show you the broadbrush view of what we are talking about. Open google maps on your phone or tablet and look at the display and pay attention to the graphics on the map especially if you have world view activated. Now plug into your car and activate Android Auto. Compare the two displays. This is just simplistic. If you try to do anything exotic with your phone, like rewind your book on tape, see what it takes. I rest my case.

 

[hallux]

@dpomerance
This might be on to something.

At least in the Mazda implementation of it.

You don't say what vehicle you have, but the infotainment systems in different vehicles could lead to different experiences as far as display quality and audio integration.

 

[dpomerance]

My primary vehicle is a 2019 Audi but I travel for work extensively and rent many different cars usually current vintage. Always works the same on all of them. The buttonology might be a little different but Android Auto is basically lousy in all of them so I've just given up on it.