Years old Android Auto 'records itself' issue with 'Ok Google' send text command fixed

If you talk about software in general, products being buggy and updates to fix those issues introducing new problems isn’t a new phenomenon.

This is true for Google as well, which offers plethora of software products. Although I must admit the Mountain View, California-based company’s track record with pushing out bug fixes isn’t as bad as some other big players out there.

However, as is the case with almost everything, there are exceptions. And one such exception is the focus of this news story today.

We are talking about an Android Auto issue which was brought to light way back in the beginning of the year 2017. It got a quick response with a Gold Product Expert member on the company’s official forum confirming it’s a known issue with the Android Auto team.

I can confirm that this is indeed a bug and Android Auto team is aware of it

Sadly, while complaints continued to pour in, there was no update from the company on the matter for almost two years. YES – you heard it right, ALMOST TWO YEARS. But things changed this past December, when a Google employee posted the following message there:

Hey folks,

I realize that the “best answer” for this thread is pretty old, so I wanted to give you an update…

We (the Android Auto team) are definitely aware of the issue, and (along with USB connectivity issues) it is amongst the absolute highest priority issues that we’re working on. This is a complex issue that has a lot of “moving parts”, and we’re working together with the Assistant team to get to the bottom of it – in such a way that it fixes the cars that see the problem, but doesn’t inadvertently break something else in the cars that don’t.

I don’t have any timelines to share, but rest assured, we’re actively working on it!

The good news didn’t stop there, as last week, another Google employee – also a member of the Android Auto team at Google – confirmed the issue has finally been fixed.

Hi everyone! Good news! We have a new beta version of Google app to address the issue. Please feel free to join the Google app beta program and let us know how it goes

What’s the issue?

Well, the issue reportedly got introduced when Android Auto switched to ‘Ok Google’ hot word detection. Reports say the in-car infotainment system records its own messages like ‘What is your message’ along with the user’s response or message and sends them to the recipient.

Here’s how a complainant explained the whole problem:

Ever since AA switched to hot word detection of ‘ok Google’, I no longer hear chirps when sending a text or replying to a text.
1. Ok Google send a text, etc
2. Google says…’What is your message’ or something like that.
3. I say….’Hello John Smith how are you’.
4. Google says… ‘What is your message hello John Smith how are you’

Records my message with the words that Google said in step 2 at the beginning of my text message.

Sometimes it does this, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it only hears the word ‘message’ or ‘your message’ asking with my voice.

When it confirms to send the message or change it, I opt to change it. Then it adds more of the words from step two sometimes twice to the message.

Sometimes it gets it right and I’m asked to send the message or change it. It can’t hear me at all say send it. Sometimes I scream it and nothing. The display on my Android auto moves as if it can hear my voice indicating it’s recording but then I get an automated message saying it can’t hear me and to use my display when it’s safe to do so.

This happens on new text messages from scratch or a reply to the last text message

The Google Product Forum thread where this complaint was posted now has close to 700 comments, which indicates it’s a widespread problem affecting a lot of Android Auto users. It’s good to see the issue has been patched internally.

If you want, you can enroll in Google app beta program to test out the fix. We really hope the public roll out would begin very soon as some of the existing beta program participants confirmed the fix works.

Follow @PiunikaWeb

PiunikaWeb is a unique initiative that mainly focuses on investigative journalism. This means we do a lot of hard work to come up with news stories that are either ‘exclusive,’ ‘breaking,’ or ‘curated’ in nature. Perhaps that’s the reason our work has been picked by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and more. Do take a tour of our website to get a feel of our work. And if you like what we do, stay connected with us on Twitter (@PiunikaWeb) and other social media channels to receive timely updates on stories we publish.