Android Auto Could Upset Your Work-Life Balance With Its Next Update

Your commute could soon come with a little more office baggage. An Android Authority teardown of Android Auto version 18.0.664204 revealed a Work Mode tile, suggesting Google may be testing new Work Profile controls. The site’s team managed to bring up the tile, which lit up a briefcase icon over the app drawer, but tapping the tile didn’t do anything.

Supporting Work Profiles could make it easier to join work calls between appointments. Then again, it could also give the office another way to follow you into the car, which isn’t exactly everyone’s idea of a peaceful drive.

Using an Android Work Profile isn’t the same as signing in to a second Gmail account. A Work Profile keeps employer-managed apps in a separate space and marks them with briefcase badges, while personal apps and data remain outside the company’s management on employee-owned phones. To check if you have a Work Profile set up, look for separate Personal and Work tabs or apps with small briefcase icons in your app drawer. If neither appears, you probably don’t have one, but you can navigate to Settings > Passwords and accounts to double-check.

Work Profile restrictions are especially apparent for video conferencing apps. Microsoft says Teams supports audio calls and meetings through Android Auto, but the integration doesn’t work if the app is installed inside a managed Work Profile. Google Meet has a slightly different restriction. An active Work Profile call can appear on the dashboard, but upcoming meetings and call history from that profile won’t show up. That’s inconvenient for someone driving between appointments who wants to join their next meeting from the car’s display.

A missing app isn’t always a Work Profile problem, though. You might have hidden it from the Android Auto launcher. And if Android Auto is not working at all, a connection problem could be at fault. Neither issue has anything to do with Work Profiles.

On the drive home, a dashboard Work Mode switch could eventually silence work alerts while leaving personal calls and navigation untouched. For now, if your employer has set up a Work Profile on your phone, you can pause work apps using the Work tab in the app drawer or, on supported devices, a work tile in Quick Settings. Pausing stops work apps and their notifications without affecting personal apps.

Some Android phones with a Work Profile let you schedule work hours through Digital Wellbeing, but Samsung’s version has lacked this option. Here’s the interesting part: Google says that scheduling can’t keep work apps paused for consecutive days, such as an entire weekend. The manual switch still has its uses.

Google hasn’t said whether Android Auto’s experimental tile will offer those controls. It hasn’t been shown to pause notifications or launch work apps. Meanwhile, current Android Auto customization options won’t get around the Work Profile restrictions.

Even if the feature arrives, drivers won’t necessarily get access to every company app. Android Auto restricts app capabilities while driving, and employers control which apps are available inside Work Profiles. On company-owned Android devices, IT admins can also limit how long a Work Profile stays paused. Exceeding that limit may suspend access to personal apps and data.