C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
TL;DR Android Auto users are reporting that the media window now looks washed out.
The change makes it difficult to see the white text in the window.
It appears the issue may be connected to the new light theme.
About a month ago, some Android Auto users encountered a problem that caused the whole display to look washed out. While the lack of contrast has since been addressed, users are now experiencing a similar but slightly different issue. This issue specifically affects the media player window.
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Multiple Android Auto users are reporting on Reddit that the media player has recently lost its color. While the rest of the display is fine, the media player window now looks washed out. Not only does the lack of contrast look bad, but it also makes it difficult to read any white text in the window. Given that the song title, artist name, and icons are all white, this can be a big problem.
Just a few days ago, we conducted an APK teardown of Android Auto and found that Google was working on reactivating the old media player background. So, instead of using Material You theming, these backgrounds would show a blurred version of the album art. We also noticed that this reversal seemingly came with a bug that applied a light-color filter on the window, giving it a washed-out appearance. It appears the most recent update may have introduced this bug.
Fortunately, it appears there is a way to fix the issue. Before we get to the fix, let’s touch quickly on Android Auto’s light theme.
Google has been working on reintroducing the light theme to Android Auto. This theme is designed to apply to all UI, not just the navigation app. The company was preparing for its arrival when it rolled out a beta for Android Auto 15.0 in mid-August, by renaming “Day/Night mode for maps” to “Theme.” However, this change disappeared when the stable version of the update rolled out.
One internet sleuth has discovered that the bug may be connected to this incoming light theme. According to the user, this light filter is only applied when Android Auto starts in Day mode. Which means the media player should go back to normal if you start Android Auto in Night mode. The user says they were able to reproduce the issue every time when switching to Day mode. The problem seems unrelated to the light theme simply because it doesn’t come with the UI changes.
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