AAWireless review: Android Auto untethered

This affordable dongle will change the way you use Android Auto

There's little doubt that Android Auto is a really convenient way to use your smartphone on the road. Still, unfortunately, that convenience is hampered on many vehicles by the need to constantly plug your phone in every time you get into the car.

That may not be a huge problem for long road trips, where you'll likely want to keep your phone charged up anyway, but it gets old pretty fast when you're regularly hopping in and out of your car, such as when running errands or jaunting around town on meetings and social visits. It's enough to tempt one to trade in their car for a newer model with wireless Android Auto support.

Thankfully, Dutch company AAWireless has developed a significantly easier and more affordable solution that will let you untether your phone in just about any vehicle that supports Android Auto.

AAWireless is a really affordable way to add wireless Android Auto capabilities to just about any vehicle. It's a game-changer for folks who rely on Android Auto on short hops around town.

AAWireless began its life as a massively successful Indiegogo campaign in 2020, and now it's ready for prime time. The company sells its eponymous adapter exclusively through Amazon for $80 after a permanent price cut from its introductory price of $90. While AAWireless is readily available in the U.S., it's been slower to roll out internationally. It's listed on Amazon in a few other countries like the U.K. and Australia but shows as currently unavailable in those countries. It has yet to appear on Amazon Canada.

Although AAWireless has told us that it plans to bring it to all these countries pending regulatory approval, you'll have to resort to cross-border Amazon shopping to get your hands on one sooner. Since AAWireless runs entirely over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and USB, there's no reason it shouldn't work anywhere in the world. I had no problems with the review unit I received and tested in my hometown of Toronto, Canada.

The AAWireless adapter turned out to be smaller than I expected, measuring about two inches on each side and half an inch thick. It's made from matte black plastic, so it's about as light as a dental floss container.

Other than the USB-C port and status LED on one side, the unit is entirely sealed, with an unassuming design that features only a subdued company logo on the top. The package includes a six-inch USB-A to USB-C cable that should accommodate most vehicles, and you can supply your own cable if you need a longer reach or to connect to a USB-C port on your car. There's also a multi-lingual quick start guide in the box, although it mainly just directs you to the Play Store to download the app; the rest is just the usual regulatory and compliance stuff typical of most wireless devices.

AAWireless is compatible with any Android phone that supports wireless Android Auto. In short, you should be fine if you're running Android 11 or later and your phone supports 5GHz Wi-Fi. On the vehicle side, you need support for wired Android Auto. Note that AAWireless can't bring Android Auto to a car that doesn't already have it built in; it merely bridges the gap between wired and wireless support. However, there are no other special requirements as your car doesn't need to know it's using a wireless connection — it sees the AAWireless adapter as your phone.

Under the hood, the AAWireless unit uses Bluetooth 4.2 and dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi. The Bluetooth connection is for the initial setup, after which your phone connects and transmits data over 5GHz Wi-Fi. You can connect AAWireless to your car using any USB-C cable of reasonably good quality; it worked fine with all the USB-A and USB-C ports on my vehicle.

I tested the AAWireless with a Pixel 6 running the latest release of Android 13 and a 2021 Nissan Rogue Platinum, which, while it supports wireless Apple CarPlay, sadly has always required a wired connection for Android Auto — until now, that is. While the initial setup of the AAWireless isn't quite as simple as connecting your phone to a car already equipped with wireless Android Auto, it's not difficult. There are just a couple of extra steps to go through, and you only need to do it once. The good news is that the companion app does a great job guiding you through all the necessary steps.

The first step is installing the AAWireless app from the Play Store. Don't be eager and plug the adapter in right away like I did. You won't be able to connect it to your phone until it's been properly configured by the app, and you need to plug in your phone before you connect the AAWireless app. This extra step is necessary even if you already use wired Android Auto. The AAWireless device presents itself to your vehicle as if it were your phone, so the app needs to pick up those details to configure it properly.

Once that's done, you'll be prompted to unplug your phone and connect the AAWireless device to your car, after which the app will take you through pairing up your phone with wireless Android Auto, and you'll be ready to go.

It took me about three minutes to get up and running with the AAWireless, and I suspect that will be true for most folks. However, the AAWireles app offers a wealth of advanced configuration options for those who want to adjust their experience.

Many of the options in the app address specific compatibility issues you may encounter. For example, there's a "GM Fix" for some GM vehicles where Android Auto can hang on startup. Some useful tweaks are also available, such as changing the DPI value to match your car display, playing media or navigation instructions over a different Bluetooth device, and disabling auto-connect for cars that always keep their USB ports powered on. You can also set it to open Android Auto immediately on your screen right after it connects.

After two weeks of driving around Toronto with AAWireless, I can confidently say it works as advertised. It delivers the same magical experience that my car otherwise only provides with an iPhone and Apple's CarPlay.

With the AAWireless set to start up and capture screen focus automatically, Android Auto becomes entirely seamless, as if it's part of my car instead of the standard infotainment system. I can hop into my Rogue, start it up, and have Google Maps on my screen and ready to go without even pushing a button on the screen, much less taking my phone out of my pocket and plugging it in. Since my vehicle also supports wireless charging, I don't even need to worry about cables on longer road trips.

Since it uses Wi-Fi, the AAWireless provides enough range to plug it anywhere inside your car. For instance, if you have a compatible USB port inside your center console, you could tuck it out of sight and forget about it completely. To give you an idea of the range we're talking about, I made it a block away from my house one morning before it disconnected. At first, I thought I had encountered a glitch, which was surprising as the connectivity had otherwise been rock solid. It made more sense after I checked my pocket and realized I'd left my Pixel on the living room table.

The only real issue I've encountered with AAWireless is that you can't reliably have your phone and the AAWireless unit plugged in simultaneously. Your mileage may vary depending on the make and model of vehicle that you're driving. However, when I plugged my Pixel 6 directly into my Rogue and the AAWireless was connected, it occasionally got confused about which device it should be connecting to. Since both devices share the same identifier, it started flipping back and forth. If you need to charge your phone from a wired USB port, it's best to disconnect the AAWireless unit first and use wired Android Auto. You can also use a charging-only USB port if your vehicle has one.

That's important, as using Android Auto wirelessly will chew through your battery life more quickly than you may think. After all, your phone has to maintain a steady 5GHz Wi-Fi connection to your vehicle, plus you're likely using it for navigation or music streaming, both of which consume a fair bit of juice on their own. This may be fine for short hops around town, where wireless Android Auto shines anyway. Still, on longer trips, you're better off disconnecting the AAWireless and plugging in directly unless you also have a wireless charging pad in your car. Be cautious, though, as the combination of wireless Android Auto and wireless charging can cause some phones to heat up quite a bit.

The AAWireless is far from the only game in town regarding wireless Android Auto adapters. Since these devices fulfill a popular need among smartphone users, you'll find dozens of similar devices on Amazon. However, as small and simple as these devices seem, they're far more complex than USB cables or even basic Wi-Fi adapters, so it's best to be wary about purchasing one from an unknown manufacturer.

The chief competitor for AAWIreless comes from Motorola's MA1, which has been so popular that it's often hard to find it in stock. It normally sells for about $20 more, and works very well, although its biggest drawback is the fixed three-inch USB-A cable that limits where you can place it in your car. By comparison, AAWireless includes a six-inch detachable cable and a standard USB-C port so you can supply your own.

If your car supports wired Android Auto, AAWireless is a complete game-changer. While it may not be as necessary if you only take long road trips, where you're more likely to plug your phone in, few drivers fall exclusively into that category. When I purchased my Rogue two years ago, getting wireless Apple CarPlay was the key deciding factor in opting for the Platinum trim. However, after experiencing an iPhone wirelessly with CarPlay, using my Pixel 6 felt like a truck-driver gear change in user experience.

With a wired requirement, I tended to avoid plugging my phone in for shorter trips, which meant I wasn't getting all the great benefits of using Android Auto. AAWireless solves that, creating such a seamless and integrated experience that you don't even need to think about it — Android Auto is ready to go each time you hop in the car. It quickly becomes part of your everyday life.

Jesse is a lifelong technology enthusiast who has been exploring smartphones and mobile tech for more than two decades. He started his career change into tech journalism in 2007 with iLounge where he handled roundups and reviews of smartphones, mobile apps, headphones, speakers, smart home devices, and more. He has since written for iDrop News, Lifewire, and Digital Trends, and authored three editions of iPod & iTunes Portable Genius for Wiley Publishing.