C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Android Auto is no longer working on older versions of Android.
- Users are noticing that the minimum OS requirement is now being enforced.
- Google recently changed the requirement to Android 9 or higher.
If you’re an Android Auto user with an old phone running on Android 8 or older, you may have had a rude awakening today. Android Auto users are noticing that their phones no longer support the feature.
In the past, all you needed was a phone running Android 6 or newer. However, that changed in July 2022, when the minimum requirement was raised to Android 8. The most recent change happened this July when the bar was set to Android 9 or higher.
Despite setting a new requirement, many Android 8 users were still able to use Android Auto — until now. It appears Google is now enforcing the rule as Android 8 users are being greeted by a notification that says, “This phone no longer supports Android Auto.” It’s possible that Google initially held off on enforcing the requirement to give people time to make the necessary upgrade.
It’s unknown why the minimum requirement needed to move up given that the feature works perfectly on older software. The only big difference between Android 8 and Android 9 on this front is that Android Auto is baked into the newer OS, allowing for a streamlined experience.
For those who still have Android Auto, we recently found evidence that Google may be working on adding support for third-party dialer apps. However, the number of supported apps may be limited.
