Andy Walker / Android Authority
TL;DR Your in-car Android Auto screen could soon display more app columns, making app discovery easier and faster.
We were able to surface up to seven app columns in a layout that previously supported a maximum of five columns.
The number of app columns you see on your Android Auto screen will depend on the size of your in-car display.
Android Auto’s app drawer can sometimes seem a bit cramped. Depending on your car’s display size, you’ll typically see four or five app columns in the app drawer. That means if you’ve got lots of Android Auto apps installed, finding a specific app would often involve scrolling through multiple pages, which is not ideal when you’re trying to focus on the road. It’s just natural that the more apps that are displayed at a glance on the screen, the less time you have to spend scrolling to find an app. Looks like Google knows this all too well and is working on a change that will help reduce the hunt for apps on your car screen.
While digging around in the Android Auto app (version 15.0.653204-release), we discovered that Google could soon expand the number of apps you can see at a glance.
Current Android Auto app drawer Current Android Auto app drawer
With a bit of tinkering, we were able to display an updated grid layout that can display up to seven app columns instead of five, which is the maximum number of app columns that can be viewed on an Android Auto screen right now.
Expanded Android Auto app drawer Expanded Android Auto app drawer
While the number of columns you see on your Android Auto screen will depend on the size of your in-car display, we were able to surface up to seven columns with quick controls (music and call shortcuts) enabled. So previously, if your Android Auto head unit displayed five columns, it may soon be able to show six or seven columns instead.
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