Android Auto changes the Android interface to a more comfortable one for use in the car, either on the mobile itself or on the car screen. Generally it works fine, although sometimes it may refuse to work no matter how much you connect it, showing the message Communication error 16.
Android Auto errors are, of course, persistent. On the one hand, the system is bundled with languages and on the other there is the communication error 16, already a few years between us. Yes indeed, This error appears mainly with MIUI mobiles And the good news is that you have an easy solution, albeit in exchange for losing a feature.
Why this error happens
Google is not too specific with the description of the error. In the window that appears, the text “Android Auto has encountered an error. Communication error 16: There seems to be a problem. When safe, disconnect and reconnect the phone.” No matter how much you disconnect and connect the phone, the error persists, preventing you from using Android Auto.
The error is very widespread, and it is that everything indicates that it happens by a incompatibility with MIUI dual apps feature, specifically when Google services are duplicated for these “clones” of applications that allow you to use two accounts in apps like WhatsApp.
Therefore, in most cases this error appears on Xiaomi, Redmi or POCO mobiles that are using dual applications, although it could also appear with communication problems with the mobile, such as when you are using a poor quality USB cable and it disconnects. The difference is, if this is the case, generally doing what it says in the message (disconnecting and reconnecting the phone) should fix it.
How to fix Android Auto error 16
If you have a Xiaomi mobile with MIUI and there is no way to make Android Auto work, we have good news and bad news. The good news is that fixing the error is easy and you should have Android Auto up and running in a few minutes. The bad news is that in return you’ll have to do without the dual apps feature.
Dual applications is the MIUI function that duplicates an application so that you can configure a different account in an application that does not let you do it out of the box, such as WhatsApp. The Android Auto problem is not directly related to these app clones, but rather to a side effect: that a copy of Google services is created. Doing so causes Android Auto to “get confused” and stop working.
The solution is to disable the MIUI dual app. To do this, you must go to Settings – Applications – Dual Applications and enter the options section, on the gear icon. It is not enough to uncheck the box next to all the applications you have cloned, as this does not delete the copy of Google services that is causing the error.
In the dual apps options, tap Delete accounts to completely remove all dual apps and restart the mobile. When you return, Android Auto should work normally and without showing you the error.
This way of fixing Android Auto on a Xiaomi mobile has the disadvantage that you cannot use Dual Applications to clone apps. What you can do is install another app to clone apps, like Parallel Clone, which do not cause the error in Android Auto.
