Android Auto fails to launch when the device in charge of powering the connectivity to the car is a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, and users who encountered the glitch believe Google is the only one that could come up with a fix.
Many have already reached out to either Samsung or the manufacturer of their cars, but in both cases, they were told that the issue resides in Android Auto. Changing cables, updating Android Auto to the latest version or downgrading it to an earlier release, and clearing the cache and the data, all are generic fixes that failed to produce an improvement in this case.
Last week when I spotted the first reports of Android Auto connectivity problems with a Galaxy S23, the bug also came with an error message that provided users with more information on what was happening. “USB device not supported,” the message read, more or less suggesting that the mobile phone wasn’t correctly detected by the head unit, possibly due to a faulty cable or USB connection.
Most users who ended up struggling with the same glitch lately claim they’re no longer seeing any error message, as Android Auto just fails to launch. The device does charge, meaning that the USB connection is up and running, only that Android Auto doesn’t show up on the screen.
Changing the USB connection mode doesn’t help either.
Ironically, the issues encountered by Galaxy S23 Ultra buyers are identical to the ones that hit Android Auto when the Galaxy S22 Ultra was launched. Last year, Samsung customers ended up struggling with the same problems after buying the company’s latest flagship, and unfortunately, some of them are still unable to run Android Auto today.
At this point, neither Samsung nor Google acknowledged the bug, with a Community Specialist from the search giant requesting phone logs that would help the Android Auto dev team look further into their reports. Clearly, there’s something wrong with new Samsung phones, and given their hefty price tags, with a top-of-the-range version reaching $1,600, buyers’ frustration isn’t necessarily surprising. Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is considered the best Android phone today.
No workaround is known to exist at this point, so if you just purchased Samsung’s latest and greatest mobile phone, your best option is to just head over to Google’s forums and chime in, hoping that your phone logs and information could eventually help the company deal with the bug.
