Adam Barney / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google appears to be working on adding support for third-party dialer apps to Android Auto.
- We’ve found evidence of upcoming external dialer support in the latest Android Auto release.
Android Auto currently supports calling from Google’s Phone app. You cannot access third-party dialer apps, even if they are set as your smartphone’s default phone app. As a result, there is no way to use alternative apps like Truecaller, ACR Phone, or Drupe on your car screen. But that could change soon.
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Google has added a new flag to the latest Android Auto release (version 13.0) that reveals support for upcoming third-party dialer apps. These flags not only mention support for external dialers, but also make it clear that Google uses allow lists to enable external dialers in Android Auto. This means only selected dialer apps will be available from the car’s infotainment screen, and Google will require developers to adapt their apps to support Android Auto.
Google provides detailed guidelines to help developers optimize their apps for Android Auto with several app building templates to make the interface easier to use while driving. This guideline also mentions the category of calling apps and lists templates related to such apps.
However, this category is not available to all developers, as it states: “The Calls category for apps created with the Android for Cars app library is currently only available to beta partners.” This further reveals that only a small portion of the dialer apps available on the Play Store will appear on your car’s infotainment screen. But it’s still a good move, and I’m looking forward to seeing which apps make the cut.
