Android notifications over Bluetooth & Android Auto question

[uscpsycho]

Prior to this car, whenever I streamed music from my phone over bluetooth, if I received a notification from an app that notification sound would play over bluetooth. But in this car if I'm streaming music over bluetooth and receive a notification the notification sound is not played. Is everyone else experiencing the same thing? It's very annoying. Any suggestions for how to get my notifications to play over Bluetooth?

I was excited to have a car with Android Auto until I started using it. I don't like how Waze works on the car screen. But even if I'm not using Waze on the car, the Android Auto connection is altering the way Waze looks on my phone. Is there a way to use Android Auto and have Waze completely excluded so it's not affected by Android Auto?

 

[wkuballa]

I use the USB connection most of the time. I think the smartphone integration is nearly perfect. Once plugged in, the phone gets charged. Most of the time I am using Google Maps when I am driving, even when I know the way inside-out. Google Maps takes traffic information into account and diverts me if there is e.g., an accident on the route. When I get a phone call, I can simply accept the call for a hands-free phone conversation. When I get a text message, Android Auto reads the message to me and I can dictate a response. I don't even have to look at the screen, let alone take my hands of the steering wheel. And I can ask Google Assistant anything I want and it would tell me the answer.

Notifications can be en-/dis-abled in the "Settings" menu of Android Auto.

 

[uscpsycho]

I think Waze is way better than Google Maps, and I also use it even when I know where I'm going. Waze traffic avoidance is better and the UI for selecting alternate routes is way better than Maps' implementation. You won't ever convince me that Google Maps is better than Waze so don't try

Anyway, I would rather not use Android Auto so as to not hamper Waze than use Android Auto if Waze must be affected. So my question remains, is there a way to use Android Auto and still be able to run Waze on the phone without it being altered? I hope so.

My question about notifications is when I'm not using Android Auto. With Android Auto off, I am not hearing my notifications over bluetooth. This has never happened before, I have always heard my notifications over bluetooth. This is extremely frustrating because when I'm driving I'm highly dependent on audible notification alerts.

 

[wkuballa]

I am not trying to make a point for Google Maps. After all, picking an app is always a personal choice. However, I think a couple of background infos may be interesting:

* Google bought Waze in 2013. Ever since, features from Google Maps made its way into Waze and vice versa. I can imagine that Google is going to merge these two products into one product at some point in the not so distant future.

* Especially interesting for eGolf owners: Google Maps knows about EV charging stations.

 

[uscpsycho]

People have been hoping for Waze and Google Maps to merge for a long time. I don't think it's ever going to happen.

Anyway, this problem persists and it is frustrating as all hell. Every time I receive a notification, the music or audio book I am listening to is momentarily paused, then I get a "mute" icon flashed on the screen, then the audio resumes. So I am missing every notification from every app. This has never happened in any car before. This is with an Android phone without Android Auto or Mirrorlink or anything else running and that's how I want it for now.

Anyone know how the heck to fix this? Yes, I have my notification volume turned all the way up but the car is literally muting all audio when a notification sounds. Or at least I assume that's what the mute icon means. I don't know how to post a photo here but the icon is a speaker symbol with a line through it.

 

[uscpsycho]

Seems like this has been a problem for a long time.

3 years ago - https://www.reddit.com/r/Volkswagen/comments/3s69zn/very_annoying_issue_bluetooth_audio_muting/

2 years ago - https://www.reddit.com/r/GolfGTI/comments/5ggfbh/mk7_how_can_i_stop_my_bluetooth_connection_from/

Is this just something we have to live with? I hate it!

 

[ZeroMoon17]

I have this same issue in both my GTI, and my e-Golf. I've also noticed it in other cars while I'm driving (Hyundai Sonata PHEV, Prius Prime, Toyota Sequoia w/ Sony XAV-V10BT stero system installed) so I assume its an android issue not a car issue.

 

[uscpsycho]

Here's why I don't think it's an Android issue. When I listen to any other non-car bluetooth device, this isn't an issue. When connected to a BT speaker dock or BT headphones or BT receiver, this doesn't happen. Normally the streaming audio pauses, then the notification sounds, then the music restarts.

What seems to be happening is that Android pauses the audio so that a notification can sound, but the car is treating "pause" as "mute" so then nothing else is heard until Android un-pauses. If this is happening with other car makes, then maybe there is some common component being used that has the dumb behavior baked into it.

As evidence of this, Audible has an option for how to handle notifications - it can either pause the book to play the notification or it can reduce the book audio volume and play the notification on top of it. This works as you would expect when the phone isn't connected to the car. But when the phone is connected to the car and you get a notification with the pause option selected, here is what happens: the book pauses, the mute icon appears, no notification is heard, the mute icon disappears and the book resumes. When the other option is selected, the book audio volume is lowered and the notification is heard over the book. So to the car, pause = mute.

Yesterday I tried again with Android Auto and the exact same thing happens. To the best of my knowledge, when AA is being used, all the data transfers via USB rather than BT. So maybe this isn't even a BT issue, maybe this is just a bad interface design. Or a buggy API. Who knows.

My last car didn't have BT or USB or even an audio input jack. I retrofitted the car with a BT receiver from GROM and I never had this issue with lost notifications.

 

[Sparklebeard]

This might sound obvious, so please forgive me if you've tried this, but what happens if you press the volume up button on the steering wheel while the mute icon is displayed?

With CarPlay, I know that if I hit volume down while Siri is speaking, it will change the volume of the notifications independently of the volume of whatever music I'm playing. I wonder if its changing to the 'notification' audio mode for the notifications, but the volume is muted on that audio 'channel'.

Same deal if I press the volume buttons while a map navigation is playing through CarPlay, it changes the volume of the notification instead of the music.

Probably not the case here, but might be worth trying?