V60 Recharge Ultimate (my23) - Google Automotive is awful
 

After a 9 month wait, collected my new V60 4 days ago. Drives well and very comfortable but very disappointed with the Google control & entertainment system. My last Volvo, an xc70 (2015-2018), had the Sensus system that was well designed and easy to use. I could plug-in a USB memory stick with mp3s or stream from a mobile phone easily. The Android system will not play from a USB memory stick, and I can only play music from my phone if I initiate playing tracks on the phone (not legal if driving). There are very few apps, and what choice exists are no use to me. It looks like a rush job, badly designed, poorly executed and not user friendly.

The Volvo mobile app is laughable. It looks amateurish and does very little that is useful. There is no map to locate the car and no record of journeys. Almost completely useless. I part exchanged a Merc E class, although I don't miss the car (it was hopeless in winter), the app was well designed and full of useful features and information.

Anybody out there knows how to get a USB port able to read a memory stick of mp3s? I've tried all the different formats, FAT, exFAT and NTFS.

Nice review of the system, some useful feedback for Volvo.

You can use USB stick, need to download audiowagon, details on link below.

https://moleman1024.github.io/audiowagon/

For bluetooth streaming, it will normally pick up from what was last played on your phone (does with mine ,Apple phone) you just need to press the play button the centre screen if it does not play automatically, (i just have playlists and it plays from that)

Do agree that the Volvo app is not great and a big backward step, hopefully will improve in the future.

thanks giftgrub ..... audiowagon looks like an excellent solution. The only problem is that when I go into Play Store on the V60 it is not shown as an install option. Do you know any way I can install via a USB stick?

Audiowagon should be in the play store, go to the search option and search Audio it comes up.

Just checked our car and its available as an option on the screen.

Also Spotify / Radio Online / Pocketcast should all be available to install.

"The Volvo mobile app is laughable. It looks amateurish and does very little that is useful. There is no map to locate the car and no record of journeys. Almost completely useless"

Are you sure you can't see the map to locate the vehicle or record journeys as I can see both on my app (22 plate S60 Polestar).

You need to enable driving journal to show record of journals.

thx again giftgrub ... found app & installed it but unfortunately when I insert a USB stick, I get an error message "This USB device is not supported". I'm going to contact the dealer and see what they have to say. The radio stopped working today and the centre console went blank & the system re-booted while I was driving ..... a bit disconcerting.

I have had that a few times on my '19' plate V60 with Sensus. That may not be an AAOS fault.

I am reading these comments with interest though as I will be looking to change mine in the near future and maybe I am wrong but the consensus (from this and other threads) appears to be that the AAOS is a step backwards from the previosu Sensus system.

Hi smithsc .... I can't see a map. The app version is 5.18.1

smithsc

pic of app main screen attached:

hi ccfcforever,
I'm retired from the computer industry and spent a number of years working in software companies or as a consultant reviewing applications. AAOS is not as good as Sensus by any means but then Sensus matured over a number of years and many iterations. AAOS has the feel of an App rushed to market ahead of its time, poorly implemented and designed by people who did not bother spending time with the target marketplace. The mobile phone app is even worse especially compared to the Merc app. The Merc app is a shining example of good programming design and execution.

The car is great and better than the Merc I part-exed. I'm really impressed with the way hybrid mode works but the mileage from the new larger battery is a bit disappointing. At best I'm getting about 30-35 miles from a full charge compared to the WLTP figure of 57miles.

Yes the 'This USB device is not supported' message is a known bug just dismiss and the USB stick will work. Information is on the developers AudioWagon website.

Yes 35-40 is what most reviews seem to claim the real world experience to be.
Often mentioned in reviews with all electric vehicles having far lower ranges in real world conditions, freezing weather likely to reduce it further.

Fibrous .... many thanks ... ignored the error message & got it working.

I've read and expected a lower performance but only about 20-25% down from WLTP. Adjusting my expectations as I write :{

I picked up my V60 in Jan. Battery range has increased over time. In summer I was averaging 45miles, this gas started to drop due to colder temp.

That's odd, I've got the same app version and still have the map feature as well as another page with car information on it. Could be that the V60 doesn't have the same features as the XC90 or some of the other cars in the range. :confused:

Can you take a screen grab of your main screen I'm being forced to have the new app soon as the old version will be unsupported for updates. Dont want to lose, location, driving journal or remote start functions?

pic attached

Reading online you have to enable the driving journal in the person pictured tab

Had a look through all settings but there is no option to enable a driving journal that I can find.

Volvo site says its in App Settings within the person pictured tab.
You could uninstall and reinstall the app.
I'm still on the older style app until I'm forcibly updated which I find much more user friendly there was no need to change it!

So, I uninstalled and reinstalled the app and now I can't get it to connect with the car. It seems that you have to disconnect the phone from the car within the app before uninstalling.

Found a less than fun fix here:
https://www.volvocars.com/en-eg/supp...volvo-cars-app

If the Volvo Cars app has been deleted before unpairing, follow the steps below.

Use another mobile to remove the first one. After this, the original mobile can be paired again.

Bring all car keys with you into the car.
1. Create a new car profile.
2. In the car, go to settings > profiles and make the new profile admin.
3. Pair the temporary mobile phone with the new profile.
4. Unpair the old mobile phone via the Volvo Cars app.
5. Switch to the old car profile (the Owner profile).
6. Pair the old mobile phone to the old car profile.
7. Remove the new car profile.

Hi James, the settings you mention are only available on the Volvo App when used with a Sensus operating system car, pretty much all of the useful functionality available on the Sensus cars is not yet available on cars fitted with the AAOS (Google) operating system (e.g. Driving Journal, locating the car, honking horn, flashing lights, being able to activate pre-conditioning etc). Volvo/Google are promising that these will be available sometime in the future but who knows when that will be.

Only options I have operable from my Volvo app is locking/unlocking doors, seeing if the car is charging or not and if the doors are open, not much else is operable from the App yet.

Hi, I'm looking at buying a new petrol (non-hybrid) V90. Can anyone advise whether the remote start function is available with cars fitted with AAOS?

I have it currently with my '19' plate V60 and would be a bit disappointed (especially in the winter) if this functionality is not available on a brand new v90.

Just catching up, system rebooting nothing to worry about. your probably going to come across the system not working fully at some stage (no volume, wrong radio station, maps freezing) you can do a reset by pressing and holding the home button for about 20/25 seconds which shuts the screen down and restarts, normally fixes any glitches

https://www.volvocars.com/ie/support...isplay-restart

Also don't ever delete app from phone (if you must do remove ownership first) - as you have now discovered its a right pain to get it back up and running.

Screenshots attached

Thats the same as mine, seems like i've fallen lucky having possibly one of the last S60 PE's and having Sensus

I did delete the app without 1st removing the phone. After much head scratching, kicking of tyres and gnashing of teeth, I discovered that doing a reset to factory settings resolved everything ...... a bit of a pain but it worked.

Kingmunky .... are you using AAOS or Sensus? if AAOS, what version do you have? thx

The functionality is on the app for the AAOS cars and I do believe some people manage to use theirs pretty well.
I have it on my app but every time I try to set it going, it fails to operate saying there is an error. Will need to get it to a dealer before winter comes in properly as I too enjoyed getting into a nice warm car in the morning.

The last of the S & V 60 PE's were MY22.5, on the S & V 60's, AAOS didnt get installed until the introduction of MY23 so yes, if you feel that is luck then it is.
The XC60 got AAOS from MY22 and so the last of the XC60 PE's (also a MY22.5) came with AAOS. Having had both Sensus and AAOS, if you take out the lack of functionality with the Volvo App I have found the AAOS a much better, faster and user friendly system (once you have found your way around) than Sensus was. It has its own specific annoyances but dosent everything!!

Enjoy your PE!!

I'm sure over time the AAOS will be head and shoulders above Sensus but all I hear at the moment is bad things about AAOS.

I am not so sure...

The way I see it there are some fundamental structural differences between the two systems that make me feel skeptical about that possibility...

1. Sensus is entirely built around the car in order to take full advantages of all its technology and features. In AAOS, we can see clearly that they are struggling even to make what we know is already present in the car accessible to the user...

2. AAOS is a platform that likely has its design algorithms, graphic display objects and and overall user interface built into it in a way that that is the space you have to navigate. It is not clear to me that AAOS will ever have the same refinement and harmony with the whole concept of the luxury of the car that I feel now with Sensus;

3. I am not sure who is in charge of "fitting" and debugging AAOS for the car, but it does not seem like progress is being made at any reasonable rate... It took them more than a year to make Apple CarPlay available, something that today even the most basic popular cars have... And even when they did it, it is still tethered, that is one "generation" past what luxury cars are now offering...

My personal antagonism with it is that for me Sensus transpires all the though and care that was put into its design, harmony and integration with the luxury feel of the car and the driver´s experience on it.

With AAOS, for me, the interface and experience is nothing special... it is almost like the user interface and experience of a cheap popular car... totally opposite to what I have come to expect of the luxury feeling of a modern Volvo...

One way I could describe my current feeling of Volvo's implementation of AAOS is through the picture below...



http://www.theinveterateveteran.com/...are-hole-world

Sensus on a 2017 xc90

I've just picked up my T8 XC90 Ultimate Dark and to be honest I love the new AAOS system - one question though....the speed sign recognition was very poor on my way home- is there a setting I can change to improve it? Thanks.

I'm soon to take new delivery of a '23 V90 T6 Ultimate. Having had 2 Volvo S90's up to this point with Sensus I was worried about the new AAOS. However, and maybe I'm in the minority, but does it really matter? I listen to music and use sat nav, I use voice commands to call people etc.

Most of the time I don't interact with the centre screen, Im not even interested if a song title isn't displayed, I know what the song is.

I don't need apps in my car, and trust me, I'm a techy. As long as Google maps works well, ACP works for music and calls I don't really care about anything else? Am I weird?

Dealer states that USB does not support playing of music
 

I'm still pursuing AAOS functionality problems with the dealership I bought the car from. They now say that, after checking (presumably with Volvo technical), that "the USB port does not support playing of music".

More alarmingly they state "Volvo blocked the audio wagon app via an update earlier this year. It’s not a bug within the system it’s intentionally blocking it, it was a third party app not something the developers approved".
As Volvo does not supply an app that will play mp3s it looks like a case of cutting of your nose to spite your face.

Meanwhile, I'm gratefully using Audiowagon to play mp3s on a flash drive via a USB port (the one with the white border). It is a bit worrying if it is Volvo's intention to block Audiowagon but not provide an alternative.

AAOS will be implemented on every Volvo. Uniquely, any AAOS or mobile app issues or problems or requests for improvements will be shared across the range. I've asked the forum admins to create a separate heading for AAOS under Technical Topics so that all the experience of different model implementations can be shared and discussed.

I think it's more likely that it's Google that's blocking music via USB. There's no potential revenue stream for them if you listen to your own(ed) music.

Google's entire business (other than storage/cloud computing) is centred around advertising, subscription revenue streams and gathering data about you.

Some strange information being provided to you, yes the USB was blocked earlier with a software update but that came back with version 2.2 when it was unblocked.

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showt...=326119&page=7

Details from other users in above link.

You do have other options, like downloading the music to your phone creating playlists and streaming it through bluetooth, using Spotify or Tidal or many of the other music related apps, i think in our connected world things are moving very quickly, not too long ago we would have had a pile of CD's to listen to.

I was an ipod classic user until I got this system and had to switch to using the podcast app on the phone to listen to my weekly fix, while the system is not perfect its got some good features that take time to adjust to and make the most of.

For some reason, although I can connect my Android phone OK, I can't stream music unless I initiate on the phone.
I don't use spotify or tidal or any other streaming service and I don't want to have advertising if using the free versions. I have a large collection of mp3s and, as I have in most previous cars of the last 15 years, want to continue to listen to my own collection. It isn't rocket science and I find it hard to believe or unreasonable to expect in a £50K+ car that it is such a problem to be able to use a USB port or for Volvo to provide an app to play mp3s from a flash drive.