How can I customize Android Auto's split screen mode?

A layout menu the car never shows wastes the parked session. You reorder or hide launcher apps and turn quick controls on from the phone, while Android Auto fills the card area from the screen shape and the apps you used last.

You change two things on the phone: which apps the launcher shows, and whether quick controls stay up during a full-screen app. Android Auto fills the recent-apps area on its own with the navigation, media, and communication apps you used last, plus one more app. Google’s help page, read on October 13, 2026, is the source for that area and for the quick-controls switch. The public design page last updated May 28, 2025 places the launcher by screen width and height, beside the side bar on a wider screen and above the bottom bar on a portrait screen. DPI scaling sits outside both of those pages. This article uses it only for the AAWireless TWO, because that is the adapter the maker’s comparison, read on October 13, 2026, names for the feature, and the maker says the display resolution itself stays at the default.

Copy the record at the end while the car is parked. Leave a cell blank when the menu is absent.

What can you change, and what fills in by itself?

Takeaway: Write the row from the screen in front of you. A missing menu is a blank cell.

A wide center display in a parked car, switched off.

The screen in that picture is off. Width and height are properties of the car, which is why the design page ties launcher position to the display rather than to a slider.

Which phone settings move the launcher?

Google’s design page says you can hide certain apps and options, and change the order in which apps appear. Both actions live in Android Auto settings on the phone. The path on that page is Settings, then Connected Devices, then Connection Preferences, then Android Auto. Searching the settings app for Android Auto is the other route it names. Customize launcher is the screen where you hide apps or drag names. The page says the launcher shows the new order after you exit Android Auto and start it again.

That public page, opened October 13, 2026, also says Design for Driving moved, and that from March 11, 2026, later updates go to a partner site. The partner site asked for a Google sign-in, so the path above is the public page that still loaded, last updated May 28, 2025 UTC. If your phone uses different labels, write those labels in the record.

“Show quick controls for apps” is a separate switch on the help page. With it on, Google says you see media controls and navigation directions while you use a full-screen app. Clear the same switch to return to the full-screen app alone. The help page names the switch. The exit-and-start-again step is the design page’s rule for launcher edits. In the record, note which of the two you changed.

A phone with its screen down, a coiled cable, and the lower edge of a dark car display.

The dashboard has to be up before either setting is worth recording. Use the wired and wireless Android Auto comparison to write down whether this phone and car are on a cable or on wireless projection. A session that never reaches Android Auto stays off this table.

What did a June 2026 article report for the driver-side swap?

XDA’s June 4, 2026 article describes the current dashboard as side-by-side apps without the older dedicated split-screen toggle. The writer says a third area can show texts, messages from other apps, or an incoming call when those notifications are allowed in Android Auto. On that writer’s screen, a square at the bottom left made the navigation app full screen.

For moving the large area, the article gives two paths on that equipment:

1. On the Android phone: Settings, then Android Auto, then Change Layout, then “Media Closer to Driver” or “Navigation Closer to Driver.”
2. In the car: Settings, then Display, then Change Layout, then the same two labels.

The writer used the phone path so media sat on the far side of a Hyundai Ioniq 5 display. That is one car. If your phone or head unit shows those words, record the path and the choice. If the words are missing, write “not listed” and stop there.

Common mistake: copying the Ioniq 5 path onto a head unit that uses different words. The cell should match the labels you see.

When does AAWireless document DPI scaling?

Use the DPI row only when the adapter is an AAWireless TWO. In the company’s comparison of the TWO and the TWO+, read on October 13, 2026, DPI adjustment is labeled exclusive to the TWO. The FAQ on that page says the resolution of the Android Auto display stays at the default, and that DPI scaling through the TWO is for visibility and accessibility of the display.

The same page defines DPI as dots per inch and says it controls how Android Auto scales on the vehicle screen. The company says DPI adjustment can fit more content on the screen, reduce oversized interface elements, improve readability on larger displays, and optimize layout for wide infotainment systems. Those four lines are the manufacturer’s description. The page states no DPI number, no pixel size, and no card count.

The comparison marks “Change DPI settings” with the TWO, and it tells an Android-only driver who wants DPI customization to choose the TWO. The TWO+ is the model that article describes for wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay together, with cross-platform support ahead of Android-only customization. If the name on the adapter or in the companion app is anything other than AAWireless TWO, leave the DPI cells blank.

Write the value the app already shows before you move it. Put that same value back if the dashboard gets harder to read. The comparison does not name the companion-app screen or a numeric range, so this record does not add either. The company does not say a DPI change produces three cards or a 1080p picture, so the record has no row for that outcome.

Takeaway: Record the TWO’s current DPI value first. Restore means typing that saved value back.

What do you write in the check record?

Park the car. Copy these rows into a note or onto paper. One session is one block, so a later restore is visible as its own block.

An open notebook with blank pages and a pen on a passenger seat.

When does this record stop?

Skip the DPI rows for every adapter other than an AAWireless TWO. Skip Change Layout when those words are missing on the phone and in the car. Skip the whole sheet when Android Auto is not on the screen, and finish the connection comparison first.

Developer-menu resolution and installs from outside the Play store are outside this sheet. A January 5, 2023 owner post on MaverickTruckClub said a base XL Ford Maverick showed the split dashboard without a beta enrollment and without a recent app update, and the poster called it a server-side switch. That report dates a rollout on one truck. It is not a 2026 setting to recreate.

If a label on your phone differs from the May 28, 2025 design page, keep your label. The public page still serving that date is the copy read for this article on October 13, 2026.

How this page was put together

The tables compile public pages opened for this article.

• Google Help, Screens and apps on Android Auto, read October 13, 2026. Recent apps, the dashboard icon, and “Show quick controls for apps.”
• Google for Developers, App launcher, last updated May 28, 2025 UTC, still serving that text on October 13, 2026, with a notice that later Design for Driving updates moved to a signed-in partner site.
• AAWireless, TWO and TWO+ comparison, read October 13, 2026. DPI wording is the company’s.
• XDA, “Android Auto’s split screen is the one feature I use on every single drive,” June 4, 2026. Change Layout paths and one Ioniq 5 example.
• AA Hacks, “How to Add Coolwalk on Android Auto?”, last updated September 2026. Used for the point that the dashboard arranges itself from screen size, orientation, apps, Android Auto version, and the car maker’s implementation. Store prompts on that page are unused here.
• MaverickTruckClub thread started January 5, 2023, by paneubert, about a base XL Maverick. Used as a dated rollout report.