Android Auto question

Since my subscription expired and I refuse to pay $16 a month to Toyota, I have been giving Android Auto a try. I have tried it in the past and didn't care for it, but found the new version quite intuitive; I actually liked it better than the stock Toyota stuff. Nevertheless, I had to factory reset my phone last week and every since I can only get the old version of Android Auto. I can't figure out how to update (yes, I tried the app store update feature). Not only do I have the old version, it connects without issue only about half the time when I get in the truck.

I'm not sure what resetting my phone could have done, but I sure wish someone who had been down this road can help me out.

 

From what I could gather from Android Auto forums, the new AA UI Coolwalk does not come with a specific version update but it's actually pushed to your phone from the server on a slow roll-out schedule. Your phone reset has probably gotten you back on the the old UI version and it might take a while for Coolwalk to be pushed again on your phone. There seems to be no way to force the UI update.

 

Updating this topic for anyone else that experiences the issue. So, after literally spending hours trying to install work arounds 50 different APK files etc, I discovered that one can tell the difference in the old Android Auto and the new version "cool walk" by looking in the settings on their phone (Android at least). Cool Walk will have a toggle for Taskbar Widgets between Google Assistant and Driver Seat location. Apparently, this gets turned off by default when resetting the phone and essentially reverts Android Auto back to the original appearance.

Long story short, toggle Taskbar Widgets to on and you now have Cool Walk.

Long story shorter - I'm an idiot.