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Photo: Bogdan Popa/autoevolution
The closer we get to this year’s I/O – Google’s developer conference – the more obvious it becomes that the company is cooking something big on the Android Auto front. Version 16.8 has just received the go-ahead for production devices, and the changes hiding under the hood are substantial.
The first thing you must remember is that Android Auto 16.8 is rolling out through the Google Play Store in stages. This means that not all users are getting it today, and the wait for the update can extend to several weeks.
Because Google enables the update for each device when it’s ready, the easiest way to skip the wait – if you’re willing to accept the risk of a somewhat higher likelihood of bugs – is to download and install the new update manually.
The first thing you must do is to download the Android Auto 16.8 APK installer on your device. Next, you must navigate to its location on your device, tap the file to initiate the update, and follow the on-screen wizard to complete the process. It should normally take only a few seconds to be completed.
As for the big new feature that’s almost here, this one is support for widgets. We’ve known for a while that Google was working on widgets for Android Auto, but the release of Android Auto 16.8 beta included evidence that this feature is now a lot more polished, as if it’s prepared for the production rollout.
Google hasn’t yet enabled the widgets, but the feature is there, and it’s working. Compared to the initial versions, when Google was referring to this feature as “Earth,” all menus and the rest of the UI include the correct references – widgets – with Google also offering a search box and categories to configure widgets.
The final objective is to allow all phone widgets to become available in the car without any developer work.
Widgets are becoming the next big thing in the car. CarPlay has already received the same feature with the release of iOS 26 last fall, but Google wants to do things a bit differently. The company wants widgets to be displayed alongside the rest of the Android Auto UI – which could be quite a challenge on small infotainment units – whereas Apple has created a dedicated widget screen for CarPlay.
Without a doubt, the weather widget will be the most popular choice for Android Auto users, especially because the forecast and the current temperature have gone missing since the latest major redesign. Google is only showing a weather card on portrait screens, but otherwise, there’s no way to re-enable the weather information on the Coolwalk screen on landscape displays.
The full new build released today is Android Auto 16.8.6618.