Google Should Stop Blocking VPNs on Android Auto – Here’s How to Fix It

I never thought I’d have to deal with this. I’ve been using Android VPNs for years now, and after getting a new car, I wanted to hit the road and use Sleep Token. As you can imagine, I ran into a problem: Android Auto blocks your connection if it detects even the best VPNs.

This means that you, or the person in the passenger seat, will have to fumble with your phone to try to disconnect from your VPN, then reconnect your Bluetooth to get your connection back, just to listen to music or use Google Maps.

Update: A kind reader informed me that Android Auto uses WiFi Direct. Bluetooth communications are used to activate and connect to the head unit’s WiFi SSID, and from there, WiFi is used for actual Android Auto communications. In theory, using a cable to connect your phone to your car should be a viable workaround, but if you’re like me and don’t want to take your phone out of your pocket on every drive, split tunneling is the next best thing. Thanks, Chris!

Android Auto blocks VPNs

Android Auto will completely block your connection if it detects a VPN connection, and the little support available for this simply tells you to disconnect from your VPN entirely. Sorry, Android, but I’m not sacrificing my privacy for such an insane and illogical reason.

This brings me to a question I haven’t really answered yet: “Why does Android Auto block VPNs?” It probably doesn’t make sense to block a VPN when you’re accessing your own car, and having a non-local IP address doesn’t really matter since it’s connecting via Bluetooth. I saw something claiming that this can this is because it can’t read the IP of your car’s head unit, but that still doesn’t make sense, considering everything goes to and from your phone.

I suspect that Google blocks VPNs because it can’t collect data when that data is encrypted. However, I suspect that the real reason has more to do with the fact that Android doesn’t care about VPNs.

As frustrating as it is, there is East something you can do about it.

How to Fix Android Auto Not Working with VPN

If you’re tired of disconnecting your VPN to simply connect to your car, there are two solutions. The first is to simply connect your phone with a cablewhich gives Android Auto a physical connection, completely removing the need for a WiFi connection.

The other is split tunnelingThis is a process that routes specific applications outside of the VPN’s encrypted tunnel. This is less ideal from a privacy perspective because ideally you’d want the connection to always be encrypted. Butat least it means you won’t have to take your phone out of your pocket every time you get in the car, And that annoying red banner.

Here you can see Surfshark’s Bypass (split tunneling) menu on my Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.

Here you can see Surfshark's Bypass (split tunneling) menu on my Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.

(Photo credit: Surfshark)

Setting up split tunneling for Android Auto is quite easy. Just follow these three steps:

Go to your VPN settings and look for split tunneling settings.
Find Android Auto and exclude it from the VPN tunnel (you may need to allow system apps to be visible).
Use your phone, car, and VPN as usual.

VPNs that work with Android Auto

I always have a VPN running on my phone, and I’ve found these three to be the most reliable for Android Auto:

In short: I want my privacy

I don’t see any logical reason why Android Auto would do this. need to block VPN connections when it is connected to the phone via Bluetooth, and we should not be punished or bothered for investing in our privacy. I would like to see Google remove this bug completely and allow VPN connections for Android Auto.

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