Following closely on the heels of Apple – that recently introduced wallpapers to the CarPlay platform – Google is on the verge of introducing wallpapers for Android Auto and make it slightly less regular for users. Currently, there is no option of changing the wallpaper on Android Auto, but curtesy new strings identified in the Android Auto v5.8, Google has laid down the groundwork to allow support for wallpapers.
There is nothing overly exciting in the strings found in the Android Auto v5.8 except that Google could give users some options to customize the appearance of the display – users will have a few pre-set options to choose from. There is no information on whether you will be able to save a picture from your phone as wallpaper.
It should be noted that these details are acquired through an APK teardown which can reveal many features that may or may not make its real in the final releases. Therefore, Android Auto users may want to take this insight with a grain of salt for now – especially until something concrete is known from Google.
The collection of preset wallpapers found in the strings include dark and moody designs which are named – Black, Blobs, Mountains, Droplets, Dusk, Warp, and Wave (pictured below). These wallpapers will add some color to the background and we expect to hear the announcement of the feature soon.
Alongside wallpaper support, it turns out, Google is also ready to include custom shortcut for Google Assistant command in Android Auto. Hints of such a feature were first seen in the Android Auto v5.7. According to XDA report, the option to “add a shortcut to call a contact or trigger an Assistant action” could be activated in Settings > Customize Launcher.
