- Google announced that music apps in Android Auto will get major design upgrades
- Developers will be able to have more flexibility when designing their app experiences across dashboards with Android Auto
- Improvements include more content layout templates, better visual headers, and smoother navigation features
The experience of listening to your favorite songs in your car could soon be transformed, as Google gives Android Auto app developers more flexibility when designing their apps to improve layout and enable easier navigation.
Last week, Google announced a major AI-powered upgrade to Android Auto. Android Auto 17.0 beta is now available, and at its I/O 2026 developer event, Google teased some of the changes coming this year, including revamping several of the most popular music apps, including Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Gaana, PocketFM and TuneIn.
An update to the Car App Library will give app developers more options for how they want content search and playback to appear in Android Auto. Until now, developers have faced layout design restrictions due to security concerns, and this upgrade gives developers more freedom to design their apps to provide minimal distraction experiences across different dashboard types that support Android Auto.
The company will increase the adaptability of templates to give developers more options for content layout, which includes new headers to enhance visual elements, as well as “spotlight sections that can be placed in scrollable areas to highlight specific content, and grid element variations to support different content types and modes”.
Google details the changes in a post on its developer blog, adding that it will also “introduce new components and template features to help developers build even more engaging experiences”.
“For media apps, we’re introducing an adaptive mini-player to allow users to browse while still easily managing playback,” the post says, adding “Finally, we’re adding more component types, including Chip and CondensedItem to increase the ways content can be displayed and interacted with.”
Some developers have already started using Android Auto’s new layout options to revamp their car app experiences, and Google is inviting more developers to join its early access beta program and start using the new templates, or Car Library App templates.
