8-minute read

Best Android Auto apps for drivers who love roads

Android Auto only runs apps built for the car: maps, music and audio, messages and a few more. Here are the ones worth installing if you enjoy the drive itself, what each is good at, and where each falls short, as of November 2026.

How apps get onto Android Auto

You don’t install anything on the car. Any app on your phone that supports Android Auto shows up on the car screen by itself once the phone is connected. Google only lets a few kinds of app in, so they stay safe to use on the move: navigation, music and audio, messaging, and some newer types such as charging, parking and weather.

To change what shows on the car screen, open Android Auto’s settings on the phone and use the launcher setting to hide apps or put your favourites first. Most of the apps below have a free version, so try a few on a short drive before you pay for anything.

Best navigation apps for Android Auto

Google Maps

The default, and the best at getting you there: live traffic, lane guidance, closures and the quickest route around a jam. It’s free and on every Android phone. For a driving day it knows nothing about how twisty a road is, and it will usually send you down the motorway, so use it to get to the good road and back.

Waze

Waze is Google Maps’ crowd-sourced cousin. Other drivers report police, hazards, speed cameras and things on the road, and Waze warns you about them, including sharp curves ahead. It’s free and works on Android Auto and CarPlay. Like Google Maps, it chooses the quickest route, not the best drive.

Sygic GPS Navigation

Sygic’s strength is offline maps: download a country and navigate with no signal, which helps in mountains and abroad. It works on Android Auto, with speed-camera and lane warnings. The basic app is free; navigation features beyond the basics come with a paid licence, so check the store listing for what your country gets.

Best Android Auto apps for twisty roads

Kurviger

Plans the curviest route between your stops, with a setting for how curvy, plus round trips and roads to avoid. It’s made for motorcycles but works for cars. Planning is free; voice navigation and offline maps come with Tourer+ at €29.99 a year. It works with Android Auto and CarPlay.

calimoto

Another curvy-route planner from the motorcycle world, with turn-by-turn navigation, offline maps and round trips, and Android Auto and CarPlay on compatible displays. Planning is free; navigation and offline maps are in Premium, €59.99 a year with a 14-day trial.

Turini

Turini is our app, so read this one with that in mind. It isn’t a route planner or a sat nav: it calls the road ahead as rally pace notes, the way a co-driver would. Each corner gets a direction and a grade from 1 to 6, with hairpins, crests and tightening bends, about 4.5 seconds before you reach it, timed to your speed. It works on any road, with the screen off and no signal, and it shows the most twisty roads on its map.

The honest part: Android Auto isn’t in the Google Play version yet. It’s being tested in real cars and comes in an update; here is what it will show. Until then Turini runs on the phone and plays through the phone or the car speakers over Bluetooth. It’s Android only for now. Turini Pro is €23.99 a year with a 14-day trial; without it you can build a route and drive it once.

Best music and podcast apps for Android Auto

Spotify

Music and podcasts with big, simple controls on the car screen, and downloads for when the signal drops in the hills. Free with ads, or Premium for ad-free listening and offline downloads.

YouTube Music

Google’s music app, with a huge catalogue that includes live versions and remixes that aren’t on other services. It works well with the Google Assistant in the car. Free with ads, or YouTube Music Premium.

Pocket Casts

A podcast app that many people prefer to Spotify for podcasts: it handles long queues well and has speed controls and silence trimming. The app is free, with an optional Plus subscription.

Audible

Audiobooks for long motorway stretches, with chapter controls on the car screen. Most of the catalogue needs a membership or a purchase.

Other Android Auto apps worth having

WhatsApp and your text messages

Messages are read out to you and you reply by voice, so the phone stays out of your hands. WhatsApp, Google Messages and Telegram all work this way on Android Auto.

A Better Routeplanner (ABRP)

For electric cars: it plans a long trip with charging stops for your exact car and how full the battery is, with an app on the Android Auto screen. Free, with a Premium tier; check which features need it.

Android Auto apps compared

As of November 2026, from each app’s own site or store listing. “—” means we couldn’t confirm it there, not that the app lacks it. Prices vary by country and change; check the store before you buy.

A setup for a good driving day

• Getting to the good roads: Google Maps or Waze, for traffic and the quickest way out of town.
• Finding them: Kurviger or calimoto to plan a curvy route, or Turini’s twisty-road map. The famous driving roads and the twistiest of them, ranked are a good start.
• On the road itself: Turini to call each corner before you see it. New to the calls? Here’s how to read pace notes.
• The long way home: Spotify, YouTube Music, Pocket Casts or Audible.

Always drive within the law, the conditions and what you can see. Turini tells you what the map says; the road is what counts.

Android Auto app questions

Read next: the best driving apps for enthusiasts, including CarPlay apps, and pace notes on Android Auto.

Google Maps, Waze, Sygic, Kurviger, calimoto, Spotify, YouTube Music, Pocket Casts, Audible, WhatsApp, Telegram, A Better Routeplanner, Android Auto and CarPlay are trademarks of their owners. Turini isn’t affiliated with any of them.