Last month, Google launched its new premium flagships — the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, and these are the first phones to launch with Android 12. Android 12 brings a series of new features to the Pixel 6 family, but according to a report from 9to5Google, the Pixel 6 devices lack the Android Auto app in the launcher.
According to the report, the Android Auto app does not appear in the Pixel 6’s app launcher. However, users can access Android Auto settings in the system’s Settings app of their Pixel 6 handset. Google appears to have integrated Android Auto into the system settings in Android 12. Here’s how you can access Android Auto in Pixel 6:
Android Auto Appears in Pixel 6 Settings
As said before, there is no app icon for Android Auto in Pixel 6’s launcher, but the phone’s owners can access it by searching “Android Auto” in the system Settings app. Clicking the first result takes you to the menu, while the App info page will also be surfaced. From the App info page, you can tap “Additional settings in the app” to access more Android Auto settings. Additionally, you can also access it by going to Settings » Connected devices » Connection preferences » Android Auto.
In simple words, what this means is, the Android Auto app is now just a background service, which gets updated and drives the UI that appears in your car. Also, the removal of the app from the launcher could mean that all phones launching on Android 12 will have this app removed. Some past reports suggested that Google was originally working towards this in Android 10, but it did not complete due to the delay of Driving Mode.
