Android Auto

Android Auto 14.7 delivers the final prep for light theme, rolling out now in beta [Gallery]

Ben Schoon | Jun 23 2025 - 1:35 pm PT

Google has released Android Auto 14.7 through its beta program and while there are no user-facing changes just yet, this update is the biggest step we’ve seen to date towards releasing the platform’s light theme option.

We’ve known about a light theme in Android Auto since 2023, but Google hasn’t yet released it. Clearly, though, things are moving in that direction. Progress on the light theme has been spotted in recent months and, at Google I/O, the company even officially showed it off for the first time as NewGeekGuide was first to report.

Now, it looks like things are moving faster towards a real release.

In the first beta update for Android Auto 14.7, Google has added strings that directly reference light mode and a new “Theme” section in the Settings. An “Automatic” option also confirms speculation that the two themes will be able to swap based on the time of day and/or your car’s lights.

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<string name=”settings_theme_automatic_title”>Automatic</string>

<string name=”settings_theme_dark_title”>Dark</string>

<string name=”settings_theme_light_title”>Light</string>

<string name=”settings_theme_title”>Theme</string>

In the two years we’ve known about this feature, this is the first explicit mention of it in the app’s strings. Everything else has been obfuscated.

The folks at Android Authority were able to activate this in the latest version, showing the new menus both on the car’s display and on the Android Auto phone app. Notably, this seems to replace the existing day/night theme settings for Google Maps.

Importantly, that post somewhat buries that some “tricks” were used to enable this change. It is not live by default in Android Auto 14.7.