Why Android Auto Should Go The Icon Route And Do Away With App Lists [Opinion]

Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are quite similar in what they are designed to do but still have plenty of differences. Google's software uses 'Cards' to display information, for example. Cards pop up when relevant information becomes available.

But Cards are not the problem. The issue I have with Android Auto is with lists. Especially with how third-party apps are listed. Let me explain.

Those who are familiar with iOS and using an iPhone will feel right at home with CarPlay as Apple uses a similar springboard in its dashboard software. The icon layout is easy to navigate and apps can be quickly found and accessed.

The only thing that could potentially be changed in CarPlay is to allow apps to be reorganized. Apple allows you to move icons around in iOS but not in CarPlay, where they are fixed and arranged alphabetically.

But the icon layout still works a lot better than what Android Auto has going on, in my opinion. Currently, if you want to launch a third-party app in Android Auto, you have to click the 'Audio' icon (only Audio apps are accessible) which shows you a list of apps. You then swipe or click through the list, which is also arranged alphabetically.

The list displays only three apps at a time. So if the app you are looking for is alphabetically listed towards the end, you could find yourself having to scroll through the list with multiple taps. This could bring the six-tap limit in Android Auto into play at some point. As of today, there aren't enough apps to require more than six taps but what happens when there are?

If you look at the app lister, you can see how Google can improve the layout by allowing more apps to be displayed per page. If they plan to stick with the list layout, maybe they could make it a double-columned list. But better yet, just switch to an icon layout.

What do you guys think? Do you like the list layout for third-party apps in Android Auto or would like to see some changes? Let us know in the comments below.