diff --git a/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml b/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
index 67a33742baf..6e7ebb0c0e7 100644
--- a/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
+++ b/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
@@ -429,6 +429,25 @@
             </intent-filter>
 
         </activity>
+
+        <!-- Declares voice "play from search" support. Android Auto / Assistant only route a
+             spoken MEDIA_PLAY_FROM_SEARCH command to the MediaSession (onPlayFromSearch) when the
+             app declares an activity with this *bare* intent filter (no data constraints) - see
+             android/uamp#479. This activity also directly handles the legacy activity-style
+             MEDIA_PLAY_FROM_SEARCH intent (e.g. from automation tools) by searching and playing. -->
+        <activity
+            android:name=".PlayMediaFromSearchActivity"
+            android:excludeFromRecents="true"
+            android:exported="true"
+            android:noHistory="true"
+            android:taskAffinity=""
+            android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Translucent.NoTitleBar">
+            <intent-filter>
+                <action android:name="android.media.action.MEDIA_PLAY_FROM_SEARCH" />
+                <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
+            </intent-filter>
+        </activity>
+
         <service
             android:name=".RouterActivity$FetcherService"
             android:foregroundServiceType="dataSync"
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/org/schabi/newpipe/PlayMediaFromSearchActivity.kt b/app/src/main/java/org/schabi/newpipe/PlayMediaFromSearchActivity.kt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..410fdee4877
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/src/main/java/org/schabi/newpipe/PlayMediaFromSearchActivity.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+package org.schabi.newpipe
+
+import android.app.Activity
+import android.app.SearchManager
+import android.content.Intent
+import android.os.Bundle
+import android.util.Log
+import io.reactivex.rxjava3.android.schedulers.AndroidSchedulers
+import io.reactivex.rxjava3.disposables.Disposable
+import io.reactivex.rxjava3.schedulers.Schedulers
+import org.schabi.newpipe.extractor.stream.StreamInfoItem
+import org.schabi.newpipe.player.playqueue.SinglePlayQueue
+import org.schabi.newpipe.util.ExtractorHelper
+import org.schabi.newpipe.util.NavigationHelper
+import org.schabi.newpipe.util.ServiceHelper
+
+/**
+ * Handles the "Play <something>" voice intent ([android.media.action.MEDIA_PLAY_FROM_SEARCH]) when
+ * it arrives as a plain text query (i.e. without a media URL), e.g. from Google Assistant or an
+ * automation tool.
+ *
+ * Declaring this activity with a bare MEDIA_PLAY_FROM_SEARCH intent filter is also what makes
+ * Android Auto route spoken play-from-search commands to our MediaSession (see
+ * MediaBrowserPlaybackPreparer.onPrepareFromSearch); Auto uses the session path and does not
+ * actually launch this activity.
+ *
+ * When launched directly, it searches the user's selected service and starts background playback of
+ * the first matching stream, falling back to the search results screen if nothing is found.
+ *
+ * It has no UI of its own (translucent theme): it kicks off playback and finishes.
+ */
+class PlayMediaFromSearchActivity : Activity() {
+    private var searchDisposable: Disposable? = null
+
+    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
+        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
+
+        val query = intent?.getStringExtra(SearchManager.QUERY)
+            ?: intent?.getStringExtra(Intent.EXTRA_TEXT)
+
+        if (query.isNullOrBlank()) {
+            // Nothing to search for; just open the app rather than failing silently.
+            NavigationHelper.openMainActivity(this)
+            finish()
+            return
+        }
+
+        val serviceId = ServiceHelper.getSelectedServiceId(this)
+
+        searchDisposable = ExtractorHelper.searchFor(serviceId, query, emptyList(), "")
+            .subscribeOn(Schedulers.io())
+            .observeOn(AndroidSchedulers.mainThread())
+            .subscribe(
+                { searchInfo ->
+                    val firstStream = searchInfo.relatedItems
+                        .filterIsInstance<StreamInfoItem>()
+                        .firstOrNull()
+                    if (firstStream == null) {
+                        // No playable result: show the search results screen as a fallback.
+                        NavigationHelper.openSearch(this, serviceId, query)
+                    } else {
+                        NavigationHelper.playOnBackgroundPlayer(
+                            this,
+                            SinglePlayQueue(firstStream),
+                            true
+                        )
+                    }
+                    finish()
+                },
+                { throwable ->
+                    Log.e(TAG, "Failed to play from search query [$query]", throwable)
+                    // Don't dead-end the user: fall back to the search results screen.
+                    NavigationHelper.openSearch(this, serviceId, query)
+                    finish()
+                }
+            )
+    }
+
+    override fun onDestroy() {
+        super.onDestroy()
+        searchDisposable?.dispose()
+    }
+
+    companion object {
+        private val TAG = PlayMediaFromSearchActivity::class.java.simpleName
+    }
+}
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/org/schabi/newpipe/player/mediabrowser/MediaBrowserPlaybackPreparer.kt b/app/src/main/java/org/schabi/newpipe/player/mediabrowser/MediaBrowserPlaybackPreparer.kt
index c0a2f966818..62c2ee93f1e 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/org/schabi/newpipe/player/mediabrowser/MediaBrowserPlaybackPreparer.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/org/schabi/newpipe/player/mediabrowser/MediaBrowserPlaybackPreparer.kt
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import org.schabi.newpipe.error.ErrorInfo
 import org.schabi.newpipe.extractor.InfoItem.InfoType
 import org.schabi.newpipe.extractor.exceptions.ContentNotAvailableException
 import org.schabi.newpipe.extractor.linkhandler.ListLinkHandler
+import org.schabi.newpipe.extractor.stream.StreamInfoItem
 import org.schabi.newpipe.local.playlist.LocalPlaylistManager
 import org.schabi.newpipe.local.playlist.RemotePlaylistManager
 import org.schabi.newpipe.player.playqueue.ChannelTabPlayQueue
@@ -32,6 +33,7 @@ import org.schabi.newpipe.player.playqueue.SinglePlayQueue
 import org.schabi.newpipe.util.ChannelTabHelper
 import org.schabi.newpipe.util.ExtractorHelper
 import org.schabi.newpipe.util.NavigationHelper
+import org.schabi.newpipe.util.ServiceHelper
 
 /**
  * This class is used to cleanly separate the Service implementation (in
@@ -62,7 +64,13 @@ class MediaBrowserPlaybackPreparer(
 
     //region Overrides
     override fun getSupportedPrepareActions(): Long {
-        return PlaybackStateCompat.ACTION_PLAY_FROM_MEDIA_ID
+        // Advertise both PLAY_FROM and PREPARE_FROM variants (UAMP pattern): some controllers send
+        // prepareFromSearch instead of playFromSearch, and the connector drops it unless the
+        // matching action is advertised.
+        return PlaybackStateCompat.ACTION_PREPARE_FROM_MEDIA_ID or
+            PlaybackStateCompat.ACTION_PLAY_FROM_MEDIA_ID or
+            PlaybackStateCompat.ACTION_PREPARE_FROM_SEARCH or
+            PlaybackStateCompat.ACTION_PLAY_FROM_SEARCH
     }
 
     override fun onPrepare(playWhenReady: Boolean) {
@@ -91,7 +99,50 @@ class MediaBrowserPlaybackPreparer(
     }
 
     override fun onPrepareFromSearch(query: String, playWhenReady: Boolean, extras: Bundle?) {
-        onUnsupportedError()
+        if (MainActivity.DEBUG) {
+            Log.d(TAG, "onPrepareFromSearch($query, $playWhenReady, $extras)")
+        }
+
+        // An empty query (e.g. a bare "play music" voice command, which Android Auto / AAOS can
+        // send) should start something rather than error out: returning ERROR_CODE_NOT_SUPPORTED
+        // can make the voice agent treat the app as not search-capable. Resume the most recently
+        // played stream instead.
+        if (query.isBlank()) {
+            playMostRecentlyPlayed(playWhenReady)
+            return
+        }
+
+        // Search the user's currently selected service (YouTube by default) and play the first
+        // stream result, mirroring the "Play <something> on NewPipe" voice intent.
+        val serviceId = ServiceHelper.getSelectedServiceId(context)
+
+        disposable?.dispose()
+        disposable = ExtractorHelper.searchFor(serviceId, query, emptyList(), "")
+            .subscribeOn(Schedulers.io())
+            .observeOn(AndroidSchedulers.mainThread())
+            .subscribe(
+                { searchInfo ->
+                    val firstStream = searchInfo.relatedItems
+                        .filterIsInstance<StreamInfoItem>()
+                        .firstOrNull()
+                    if (firstStream == null) {
+                        onPrepareError(
+                            ContentNotAvailableException("No streams found for query \"$query\"")
+                        )
+                    } else {
+                        clearMediaSessionError.run()
+                        NavigationHelper.playOnBackgroundPlayer(
+                            context,
+                            SinglePlayQueue(firstStream),
+                            playWhenReady
+                        )
+                    }
+                },
+                { throwable ->
+                    Log.e(TAG, "Failed to play from search query [$query]", throwable)
+                    onPrepareError(throwable)
+                }
+            )
     }
 
     override fun onPrepareFromUri(uri: Uri, playWhenReady: Boolean, extras: Bundle?) {
@@ -125,6 +176,33 @@ class MediaBrowserPlaybackPreparer(
     //endregion
 
     //region Building play queues from playlists and history
+    private fun playMostRecentlyPlayed(playWhenReady: Boolean) {
+        disposable?.dispose()
+        disposable = database.streamHistoryDAO().history
+            .firstOrError()
+            .subscribeOn(Schedulers.io())
+            .observeOn(AndroidSchedulers.mainThread())
+            .subscribe(
+                { history ->
+                    val mostRecent = history.firstOrNull()?.toStreamInfoItem()
+                    if (mostRecent == null) {
+                        onUnsupportedError()
+                    } else {
+                        clearMediaSessionError.run()
+                        NavigationHelper.playOnBackgroundPlayer(
+                            context,
+                            SinglePlayQueue(mostRecent),
+                            playWhenReady
+                        )
+                    }
+                },
+                { throwable ->
+                    Log.e(TAG, "Failed to play most recent stream for empty query", throwable)
+                    onPrepareError(throwable)
+                }
+            )
+    }
+
     private fun extractLocalPlayQueue(playlistId: Long, index: Int): Single<PlayQueue> {
         return LocalPlaylistManager(database).getPlaylistStreams(playlistId).firstOrError()
             .map { items -> SinglePlayQueue(items.map { it.toStreamInfoItem() }, index) }