Android Auto adds a little splash of color, just in time for the holidays

A well-executed user interface is a big component of what makes one great smartphone better than another, but for as important as it can be there, it’s all the more critical when we’re talking about screens that we’re only able to glance for a moment at a time — sort of like how we use Android Auto. A UI like that needs to be instantly understandable, and subtle cues like color can really help communicate information as fast as our eyes can see them. Right now, Google’s bringing a little more color to Android Auto as it updates its platform with a splash of Material You.

Android Auto is currently getting its version 13.4 update, and as the crew at 9to5Google spotted, this release includes a heavy does of Material You colorization across the system UI. If you’re using your phone’s wallpaper to generate a palette of matching accent colors, Android Auto will pick up on these when you connect and start employing them across its own screens.

Instead of the default blue everywhere, you’ll find Material You colors spread across Android Auto’s interface, like with the warm brown tones you see above. It sounds like this adaptation is still a work in progress, and 9to5Google notes that it sometimes gets out of sync when changing the colors on your phone, but if you’re not constantly changing those you should be fine.

Media apps already had an early swing at this, with their ability to match colors to album art, but this update represents a much broader embraced of Material You coloring. Critically, these colors only seem to extend to Android Auto itself and don’t yet influence how third-party apps appear, potentially letting you immediately recognize where you are in the system’s interface, even if you’re only seeing a vague hint of color out of the corner of your eye.