The dreaded change that has already arrived for everyone, in the form of a sidebar that no one wanted and that is now impossible to disable.
In recent years we have received many updates that have brought different changes to our Android Auto, most of them for the better, but also other controversial ones that have been removed over time or there has been no choice but to get used to them.
Since the beginning of the year, users of preliminary versions of Android Autohave been experimenting with a new sidebar that provides direct access to places like settings, compass, zoom in and out buttons, and so on.
Previously, all of these options have been displayed in the user interface of Google Maps in Android Auto, so Google’s intention is to bring all these options to a single, more visible place for the driver.
While this controversial sidebar was gradually being introduced to users of preliminary versions, right now it has just arrived for everyone.
And as expected in the first days of availability of the sidebar with all these options, it has not had very good words from the user community.
Some point out that the sidebar consumes valuable space blocking or affecting the visibility of essential information on Google Maps.
Because although this sidebar makes use of a transparency effect so that you can see through it a little, in reality it is using screen space that was previously free.
As we said, basically what Google intends with this new sidebar is to bring the essential controls closer to the driver since they were previously located further away in the interface, which could affect driving.
In principle, this sidebar is already enabled for all users who run Google Maps on Android Auto.
And unfortunately, it’s impossible to disable it since they’ve made the interface now mandatory for everyone, so you’re going to have to get used to the bar.
It is unknown if Google will offer an option in the future that allows us, for example, to automatically hide this sidebar when it is not in use.
Since the server-side sidebar is enabled and is not part of a specific update, even if you install a previous version of Android Auto you will still have it.