I use two phones with Android Auto – here’s how I switch between them easily

If you’ve struggled with connection issues on Android Auto, you already know how difficult it is to keep one phone connected, let alone two.

I share my car with my fiancée, and we both use Android Auto on our respective devices: her Galaxy S10 Plus and my Galaxy S24 FE. But when it’s time for one of us to drive the car and the other’s phone is connected instead of the driver’s, it can be a bit irritating.

But, how does it work, does it work, and if so, is it worth implementing in your car? I discuss in detail below.

If you are the sole driver of your car, you may wonder what I’m talking about. So let me give you a brief glimpse of my life.

I use a cheap Android Auto dongle in my car. It’s affordable and reliable, but importantly, it allows me to run the service cable-free. Wireless Android Auto requires a connection to the phone on two fronts: Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Direct. This means that whichever phone connects to the dongle’s Bluetooth and Wi-Fi first is the first to connect to the car mirroring service, and the race is usually won by the last device to connect.

To break this cycle, we need to temporarily disable Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on the phone we don’t want to connect to Android Auto, and enable them on the phone we do.

I’ve gotten around this problem before by manually disabling these radios, but it’s not the easiest process, and requires annoying jumping between settings menus and quick tiles. My car also doesn’t have a priority feature, which would have solved my problem.

This is where NFC tags come into play.

Solution: NFC tags and automation come to the rescue

NFC tags are a surprisingly underutilized and affordable piece of technology. They use near-field communication smarts to transmit data to phones placed nearby.

These tags come in handy for various use cases; They may store simple information, such as a website address or email address. For this purpose, I am using them as switches to turn on or off settings on our phones.

My Android Auto solution requires two tags stuck somewhere on the car’s dashboard, one to enable the settings and the other to disable them. But how do I trigger these actions? Well, since we both have Samsung phones, I use Modes and Routines on my device, and Bixby Routines on her device.

• Open to activate and create a new Bixby Routine Settings > Advanced Features > toggle on Bixby Routine > Bixby Routine.
• To create a new routine on a new Samsung phone, open Settings > Modes & Routines. tap daily routine Tab to the bottom of the screen, then tap + Button to create a new routine.

What about the actual routine? The routine action stack of Tag 1, which connects the phone to Android Auto, is as follows:

If:

Then:

• WiFi: But
• Place: But
• Bluetooth: But
• Wait before taking next action: 2-3 seconds
• Connect to Bluetooth device: my aa dongle
• mobile data: But
• Get Android Auto Status

Tag 2, which disconnects the phone from Android Auto, involves the following setup:

If:

Then:

• Disconnect from Bluetooth device: my aa dongle
• WiFi: Close
• Place: Close
• Wait before taking next action: 15-45 seconds
• Place: But
• mobile data: But

In particular, the dance and wait between turning off location and turning it on again is critical for my phone. Without it, my S24 FE would reconnect to Android Auto before the S10 would. However, with location disabled, this does not happen, and the solution works as expected.

So, now that you understand the basics of the solution, how do we start the process in the car?

Well, you have to stick these two NFC tags somewhere in the car. I choose to place these just below the display, giving each phone enough room to hoist itself over them.

Next, if I want my phone to connect to Android Auto, I’ll move my device to Tag 1 and my fiancée’s to Tag 2. If she wants her phone to be connected, we will do the opposite. And because NFC is nearly instantaneous, routines get started quickly. Although it takes a few seconds to activate, it’s enabled by manually jumping through the Settings menu.

I think this is the last question. Is it just a waste of time, or does it actually speed up connecting and disconnecting two phones with Android Auto?

The obvious solution to the two-phone, one Android Auto problem is to forgo wireless connectivity, use a cable, and switch between the two devices as needed. I could do that, but I’ve waxed lyrical about the benefits of wireless Android Auto in the past; I’m not about to give up those wireless benefits.

This project will require NFC tags and a Samsung phone, but it’s not a bad idea to purchase a few of these. Even though they may have faded into the technical realm, they are still incredibly useful for use cases beyond my needs here. I’m sure anyone could build something similar with Automate, Tasker, or another automation tool, but I haven’t tried it myself. Samsung’s software makes this trick very easy.

But, I haven’t really answered the question, have I? While I’ll likely continue tinkering with it, this solution works in my car, but given how much the Android Auto experience can vary across vehicle and phone models, I can’t say for sure it’ll work for you. The only way to know is to try it yourself.

Let me know if you’ve tried this project or considered any other solutions for switching phones on Android Auto.