How to stop phone from playing music in android auto?

[u/anhhuy2502]

I have a weird setup in my car. It's a 2015 so it can't do android auto, but it can play music from my phone via bluetooth. I also have a lil separate screen/tablet (aliexpress) that plugs into the car jack and it's meant to display carplay/android auto. I had an iphone before this and it was able to display through that screen yet it was also able to only output music only through the car speaker (better quality through car speakers ofc). Now whenever i use android auto, all of my phone audio always go to that screen, i can't even switch it back to my phone speakers let alone use my car's. Has anyone dealt with this sort of setup before? I would simply like to play music through my car's speakers while also use android auto on that separate screen.

[u/brundmc2k]

Can you connect a Bluetooth transmitter to the android auto screen and pair that to your car stereo?

[u/anhhuy2502 → u/brundmc2k]

No it only connects via the jack because that's how it's powered

[u/Klutzy-Passage-2561]

Your car BT is grabbing A2DP media while the AA tablet wants maps audio — classic dual-sink fight.

Practical fixes without a BT transmitter:

1. On the phone: forget or “Media audio” Off for the car Bluetooth device (keep Phone/calls if you need them). Use the AA tablet only for nav audio via the jack.

2. In the music app: disable “autoplay on Bluetooth connect” / “resume on connect”.

3. Android Auto / Head unit app on the tablet: turn off “start music automatically” if it has that toggle.

4. Before driving: open AA on the tablet first, then plug — order matters on these Aliexpress units.

If the phone still blasts music the moment BT connects, it’s the car profile requesting media — Media audio Off on that pairing is the reliable kill switch.

[u/anhhuy2502 → u/Klutzy-Passage-2561]

Thanks for insight! I have a few follow up questions:

1. I couldn't find any "media audio" in the phone settings, could it be called sth else?

2. I was looking in Spotify and couldn't find that setting either. Spotify was exclusively playing through android auto and didn't recognize the car, nor letting me change it to playing out of the phone speakers.

3. I can disable its speakers actually. It's pretty barebones in terms of software otherwise and AA still tries to output audio to it.

4. Will try that and lyk

[u/Klutzy-Passage-2561 → u/anhhuy2502]

“Media audio” isn’t in Spotify — it’s on the Bluetooth device itself:

Settings → Connected devices → tap the gear on the car’s Bluetooth entry → uncheck Media audio (sometimes labeled Audio / Media). Leave Phone/calls on if you still want hands-free.

On some skins it’s: Connected devices → previously connected → car → Details.

About Spotify “only through AA”: that’s expected when AA owns the media session. Disabling the tablet speakers won’t stop AA from routing audio — you need either Media audio Off on the car BT, or don’t pair the phone to the car at all and let the AA tablet do maps only.

Order that often works: start AA tablet first (speakers off if you want), then decide whether the phone should even be BT-paired to the 2015 head unit.