{"id":226185,"date":"2026-03-21T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/21\/android-auto-bug-forcing-some-pixel-users-to-unlock-their-phones-before-connecting\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T19:15:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T23:15:09","slug":"android-auto-bug-forcing-some-pixel-users-to-unlock-their-phones-before-connecting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/21\/android-auto-bug-forcing-some-pixel-users-to-unlock-their-phones-before-connecting\/","title":{"rendered":"Android Auto bug forcing some Pixel users to unlock their phones before connecting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.xda-developers.com\/android-auto-bug-forcing-some-pixel-users-to-unlock-phones-before-connecting\/\">Android Auto bug forcing some Pixel users to unlock their phones before connecting<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.xda-developers.com\/android-auto-bug-forcing-some-pixel-users-to-unlock-phones-before-connecting\/\">https:\/\/www.xda-developers.com\/android-auto-bug-forcing-some-pixel-users-to-unlock-phones-before-connecting\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Publish Date: <a href=\"publish_date]\">2026-03-21 11:00:00<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source Domain: <a href=\"www.xda-developers.com\">www.xda-developers.com<\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"title icon i-list\">Summary<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>\n                                        A March Android Auto update has made some Pixel devices require unlocking to start Android Auto over USB.\n                        <\/li>\n<li>\n                                        Android Advanced Protection can reset USB protection and block Android Auto for affected Pixel phones.\n                        <\/li>\n<li>\n                                        Google has acknowledged the issue; the timing of the fix is unclear.\n                        <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It looks like a recent Android Auto update is causing issues for some Pixel users.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s unclear how widespread this problem is, but recent posts on the Android Auto support page indicate that several users are unable to seamlessly connect their Pixel smartphones to the in-car infotainment system via a USB cable (via autoevolution and Android Police).<\/p>\n<p>Usually, you can just plug your phone into a USB port connected to your vehicle, and Android Auto instantly launches. Following a recent March update, Pixel owners now need to unlock their device to get the Android Auto projection system up and running (the bug doesn&#8217;t seem to affect wireless Android Auto).<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;After a recent update (March 2026), I now have to unlock my phone for my car unit to start Android Auto. The &#8216;Start Android Auto while locked&#8217; slider is in the on position. The Bluetooth connection in my car is configured as a Trusted device in Extend Unlock,&#8221; reads a post from a user in Google&#8217;s community forums. <\/p>\n<p>Several Pixel devices, including the Pixel 8, Pixel 9a, Pixel 9 Pro XL, and more, are mentioned in the Android Auto support post, so it&#8217;s unclear how many devices are affected by the problem. For what it&#8217;s worth, my Pixel 10 Pro still seems to connect instantly to Android Auto with my Ioniq 5.<\/p>\n<p>  &#8230;<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.xda-developers.com\/android-auto-bug-forcing-some-pixel-users-to-unlock-phones-before-connecting\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Android Auto bug forcing some Pixel users to unlock their phones before connecting https:\/\/www.xda-developers.com\/android-auto-bug-forcing-some-pixel-users-to-unlock-phones-before-connecting\/ Publish&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":226186,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static0.xdaimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/wm\/2026\/03\/android-auto.jpg?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[70,72],"class_list":["post-226185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-android","tag-google","tag-pixel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226185"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226185"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226187,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226185\/revisions\/226187"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}