I got DOOM running on Android Auto, and it's exactly as impractical as it sounds

Published Sep 11, 2026, 1:30 PM EDT Joe Fedewa has been writing about technology for over a decade. Android and the rest of the Google ecosystem have been a focus for years, as well as reviewing devices, hosting podcasts, filming videos, and writing tutorials. Joe loves all things technology and is also an avid DIYer and food blogger. He has written thousands of articles, hundreds of tutorials, and dozens of reviews. Before joining How-To Geek, Joe worked at XDA-Developers as Managing Editor and covered news from the Google ecosystem. He got his start in the industry covering Windows Phone on a small blog, and later moved to Phandroid where he covered Android news, reviewed devices, wrote tutorials, created YouTube videos, and hosted a podcast. From smartphones to Bluetooth earbuds to Z-Wave switches, Joe is interested in all kinds of technology. After several years of jailbreaking and heavily modifying an iPod Touch, he moved on to his first smartphone, the HTC DROID Eris. He's been hooked ever since. “Can it run DOOM?” It’s the question people love to half-jokingly ask about every gadget with a screen. Android, of course, can run DOOM — but what about Android Auto? That’s an entirely different beast. At first thought, you might think it would be an easy and resounding, “Yes! Of course, Android Auto can run DOOM.” That is the correct answer, but it’s far from easy. Android Auto exists in a weird place between full-blown Android and a glorified monitor. Android Auto is Android, but also not It’s complicated Credit: Joe Fedewa / How-To Geek The thing that makes Android Auto so useful is the fact that it’s literally the same Android that’s on your phone. Even if you didn’t already know this, you’re well aware of the benefits. It’s the reason why your phone apps are present, signed in, and ready to be picked up where you left off on the car screen. That being said, not all of your phone apps are available in the Android Auto interface. Developers need to build in-car compatibility into their apps, ensure they meet Google’s car app quality guidelines, and they must fit into a Google-approved driving category. Android Auto apps generally fall into five categories: navigation, media, communication, utilities, and “parked.” Apps in the first four categories can be used in some capacity while driving, but the “parked” category is for apps that can’t be used while the vehicle is in motion. This includes video players, browsers, and games. So, it’s obviously not as easy as toggling a switch to make an app suddenly work on an Android Auto screen. That’s why only a small fraction of the apps on your phone are available, and an even smaller selection of games. Plus, most games are simply too complicated to be worth playing on a small screen in your car while parked. But when did practicality stop anyone from putting DOOM on a strange device? DOOM can run on Android Auto If you’re willing to do the work As I said at the top, DOOM can indeed run on Android Auto. However, it’s not as simple as downloading the official mobile version of DOOM from the Play Store. Instead, we’ll need to take advantage of a clever GitHub project. DOOM Mobile is a cross-platform implementation of the classic 1993 game that works on Android, iPhone, Windows, and MacCatalyst. Unlike many other projects that utilize emulators and wrappers, this is a full C# port of the original engine. It runs fully natively on your phone, and that’s evidence of the fact that you need to own a real copy of DOOM to play. The game needs a DOOM data .wad file in order to play past a short demo. I’ll be the first to admit that most of the technical explanation is out of my wheelhouse. For those who are interested in the nitty-gritty, I’ll spit out some details. Game frames are rendered using hardware-accelerated SkiaSharp v3 integrated with DrawnUI for .NET MAUI. The wall and level calculations are computed in C#, but the final rendered game texture is passed through a shader to allow GPU-side visual processing. Controlling the game works with touch or keyboard controls, depending on your device. On a phone, you can swipe around to move and turn, tap to shoot, and simply select items from the HUD and on-screen menus. That’s how the game is controlled on an Android Auto screen. Now, here’s the big catch. You can’t download an APK from the project’s “Releases” tab. Instead, you’ll need to compile it yourself in Microsoft Visual Studio with the .NET Multi-platform App UI workload installed or JetBrains Rider. I have no experience with either of these, so I enlisted the help of a good friend. After I installed the APK on my phone, it appeared in the Android Auto launcher with all of the other apps. No hacks or developer options required. It opened and was playable with touch controls just like on my phone. Next time you’re stuck in traffic, you can pick off some monsters with your BFG. That’s one more for the list of devices that can play DOOM.