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ZDNET's key takeaways
- It's possible to use Android Auto outside your car.
- The minimalistic design is less distracting than a phone.
- You can control media, check messages, ask AI, and more.
Do you have an old phone or tablet sitting around in your junk drawer? You may be able to turn it into the perfect distraction-free smart home hub -- with the help of Android Auto. Inspired by posts on XDA and How-To Geek, I recently installed Android Auto on an old phone. I'm enjoying it so much! It's not only useful, but it might actually be my new favorite use of Android Auto. Here's how it works.
How to use Android Auto outside your car
The premise is simple -- you install an app on your old device to serve as the receiver (or head unit) and another app on your current device to broadcast Android Auto to that receiver. When you're connected, you'll have a small Android Auto dashboard at your fingertips.
Also: 3 Android Auto automations that make my drives much easier - and how I set them up
There are several app options, including Headunit Revived and Headunit Reloaded, but I went with Revived because it was the cheaper option at $3.99. There are absolutely no setup directions or other instructions, so getting things going was a little challenging even though I consider myself reasonably tech savvy. After several attempts at following the How-To Geek instructions, however, I was up and running.
Why you need Android Auto in your home
At this point, you probably have the same question I had at first: Why? Android Auto is just a projection of your phone, which is useful in the car, but your phone is at the ready when you're home. In short, it brings the biggest strengths of Android Auto -- a hands-free focus and a glanceable dashboard -- and puts them in other places you want to be distraction-free.
I'll readily admit that my phone is my biggest productivity killer and I let it distract me far too often. Whether it's a social media alert received as I'm working on something, a notification when I open up the next episode of my background podcast, or a few rounds of a mobile game when I go to send a quick text. Any time I pull out my phone, there are dozens of potential distractions fighting for my attention.
Also: Got a spare PC? How I turned mine into an open-source smart home hub for free
Having a mini Android Auto dashboard beside me eliminated the need to constantly pull out my phone. It has my Spotify for music or podcasts, I can use Gemini to ask a quick question or send a message, I can easily see incoming messages and decide if they warrant an immediate response, and more. Best, all of this is packaged in a minimalistic display.
The screen is always on, so I'm not having to constantly unlock my phone for a small task, and it's easy to switch between apps.
One of the biggest benefits: Because your old phone is only serving as a launcher and projection from your main phone, the hardware doesn't really matter. Even if your old device has a slower processor or an older version of Android, it should be able to handle things just fine.
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