Android Auto Style: Finally a DecentView

One small tweak can really ruin your whole vibe. Ever had a major inconvenience due to a small change in an otherwise useful technology. Google Maps well this is an app that has that ability. Google Maps recently messed with its layout on Android Auto, and let's just say users were not pleased. The change happened in late January 2025, not as an Android Auto update, but as a tweak from Google Maps itself. The big change, the user's location on the screen was centered, not just on the entire app, but on the entire display. Sounds small right, bear with me. When you're navigating your car, a huge chunk of your attention is on the road. The last thing you need is to be distracted by the fact that you weren't turn-by-turn navigating. This irritating little change was magnified on the smaller screens found in a lot of vehicles. It made driving a lot harder than it should be. Now Google is finally fixing up the mess. Google maps very quietly fixed the issue of the annoying UI change by simply rolling it back. The fix is pretty small and subtle, but it makes a huge difference. What was done to fix it? Some clever folks at Google made a change on the servers to fix it up. So with the fix, the user’s location is centered around the UI, not the app. This is the thing that looks a lot cleaner and easier on the eyes when you are on the road driving, especially on those small screens. Users noticed the change happening over the past week. Having a change like this is what most users wanted. What is noticeable is that it is not everyone that has it. So Google must be rolling out the fix to everyone slowly. When it first went live, users let Google know that they were upset about the change. They even left some comments. Google Maps heard the message loud and clear and decided to address the problems that the users had. Now here it is, a UI update that everyone can be happy with.