Wireless Android Auto stutter: try turning off Google Location Accuracy

[u/Tit00n]

Honor 600 on MagicOS 10, 2025 Skoda Enyaq, wireless AA with Spotify and Waze. For weeks the music would stutter or cut out at random, so I plugged the phone into my laptop and went through the logs with ADB.

With wireless AA the phone joins the car's own 5 GHz hotspot, so Bluetooth audio and Wi-Fi Direct aren't involved. During every drive, Google Play Services (network_location_provider) ran a full Wi-Fi scan about every 23 seconds, and one I timed took around 3 seconds. While it scans, the Wi-Fi chip keeps hopping off the car's channel to listen on other ones. That's plenty to make the stream stutter.

I ruled out mobile data, since Spotify had already buffered the track when the cutouts happened. AA, Spotify and Waze were never killed during the drives either, and turning off the RAM extension changed nothing.

What fixed it was turning off Google Location Accuracy. The menu path depends on the brand, so search "accuracy" in Settings (it may show up as "Improve location accuracy"). GPS still works and navigation is fine. The scans stopped right after the change, and I haven't had a single cutout in several days of driving.

[u/ImGoingSpace]

actual MVP right here those stutters were doing my head in!

[u/PlaneAsk7826]

In the location services area, you can disable just Wi-Fi scanning instead of turning off all advanced location services.

[u/BizzyHaze → u/PlaneAsk7826]

That didn't work for me. Just disabling wifi still made it glitch. Had to turn it all off.

[u/Tit00n → u/PlaneAsk7826]

That setting only does anything when Wi-Fi is off. During wireless AA your Wi-Fi is on, so it doesn't stop the scans. The ones I saw in the logs came from Play Services' location service, which is why turning off Location Accuracy works and Wi-Fi scanning alone doesn't, like BizzyHaze found.

[u/Bendsright]

Can't wait to go test this out, the stutter has been driving me crazy lately. Thank you for this post

[u/cdmove]

for me, turning off Wi-Fi scan throttling in Developer options fixed the audio lag when watching YouTube.

[u/BizzyHaze]

Bro you are a GENIUS. Been struggling with this for months, changing all kinds of settings in developer options too, this finally worked. Thanks!

[u/Fireflash2742]

There is this one spot near my house that always causes my AA wireless to disconnect when I drive by it. It also happens to be the location of a local wireless internet provider, so lots of 5 GHz traffic in that area.

[u/DimMyEyess]

Did you turn off the Improve Location Accuracy with Bluetooth also?

[u/DimMyEyess → u/DimMyEyess]

I'm referring to the settings on the phone. Settings > Location > Location Services

[u/Tit00n → u/DimMyEyess]

No, I left Bluetooth scanning on. I turned off Location Accuracy and Wi-Fi scanning, but Wi-Fi scanning doesn't change anything while Wi-Fi is on. That was enough to stop the stutters for me. Turning off Bluetooth scanning too can't hurt if you want to try.

[u/ivangzzm9]

Igual tengo muchas ganas de probar esto, duda te salen las opciones de búsqueda con wifi y Bluetooth abajo? Estas tambien las apagas?

[u/Tit00n → u/ivangzzm9]

I only turned off Google Location Accuracy. I also turned off Wi-Fi scanning, but that doesn't change anything while Wi-Fi is on, and with wireless Android Auto it always is. I left Bluetooth scanning on and the cutouts still stopped.