Android Auto usefulness / Hondahack / Wireless Android-Auto adapter?

Alphaskoom

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I originally was excited for android auto when I bought the car. I've had the old iPhone 4 plugin on my older pickup, played music and took phone calls using the speakers in the car and microphone attachment. ( i cant STAND AUX plugs and their "disconnected" feeling. ) i switched that for a blutooth adapter and never looked back. When i found out our civics don't support wireless android auto, my happiness went away real fast. I'm not one to be on my phone all day, I don't need to charge my phone every time i get into the car. I listen to music through blutooth, get in and out of the car with no worry about cables anymore, or keys.. that's a good feeling. a few things that bug me though are the limited text message responses the car gives me. i should be able to read messages on my radio panel, and my responses should be able to be respond-able with voice recognition text messages. heh.. reminds me of the Malibu i rented, it would display the text message on the screen... and the reply button was there, but when you hit it, the warning would pop up saying you cant do that while your driving. like it was taunting me with an option i cant choose.

Another concern of mine is when i do connect to android auto using a usb cable, i cant play my music i have stored on my phone - i refuse to use spotify or apps that require internet to play music - i don't have an unlimited data plan and that seems dumb to use internet to play songs you already have stored locally.

I'm curious on buying one of these wireless android auto adapter dongle things. I'm also open to hacking my radio to make these things work as I'm likely going to mod it to be a true flat EQ for my stereo I'm getting ready to install.

TLDR: There are a few things id like to know through using either wireless android auto / Hondahack and whether or not these things are even possible
Can wireless android auto with mods or without do:
1. Blutooth / Wifi audio playback from locally stored audio tracks
2. Text message display on radio / instrument panel with ability to use voice recognition responses so i don't have to pull my phone out when i want to respond with something more personal than yes or no.
3. display / respond-able with other android apps like discord using voice recognition.

Idk i just feel like i have no use for a selling feature from a brand new car, its still not good enough, it feels wrong when i got my 2006 Silverado to have just as many features as this one, 3-4 YEARS ago with aftermarket stuff, and I'm trying to make it useful but it fights me the whole step of the way.
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Alphaskoom

Alphaskoom

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my music refuses to play when connected to android auto, ive only used it twice and didnt see an option to play stored music so i gave up on it. it auto plays now just connected to blutooth. Just like i like it. the physical plugging in my phone everytime i wanna listen to music is a downgrade to me from my old pickup, so i havnt used AA since i had trouble finding music on it - its like it requires an android auto compatable app like spotify that requires internet service to play music.. agian.. using the internet.. I'm not going to stream audio using my limited data plan to play something i already have locally stored.

I understand using the phone in Texas is illegal, I hate texters and drivers... so why not use the car and phones brilliant push to talk button and voice recognition systems that have existed for years to respond to a text message you can hear audibly, without reaching for your phone in the first place. Hands stay on the wheel and your not tempted to fumble around for your phone. Say you get a message, i hear the tone, i press the read button, i hear an audible message, press button to record my response, press button to send, never took my hands off the wheel. People are going to grab their phones anyway if they don't have this feature. Gotta convince them and provide a better, easier solution to get them to not to. I don't text and drive, the only time ill look at my phone is when my vehicle isn't moving.

So android auto will fix my message response limitation correct? - sorry i don't mean to start an argument, i just have slightly different opinions on automotive / electronics limitations than others do.
 
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Alphaskoom

Alphaskoom

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something else too i do is, when stopped, if i have a long message to read or respond to, ill use the phones microphone typing button and speak, then press the phones mic button again to stop typing to reply to a message. i guess im just not totally familiar with the talk button in the car.. i shy away from it because in my pickup, pressing that button automatically called Onstar - not exactly something i wanna do
 

PandaXpress

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to play stored music on android auto you have to use the google music player which is in your phone, the app on the phone looks is an orange play button
 

BigDog

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I use Andriod Auto to listen to and respond to messages coming through my phone, much more useful than the way Honda does it.

I also have VLC installed which is an AA friendly app and use that to listen to music stored on my phone. Just set up some playlists, start up VLC from within AA and you can select which one you want to play. The only limitation that sucks is that it will not show all of the playlists that I have set up, the limit it displays is something like 7-8 playlists.

This is all while the phone is plugged in to the car, which sucks. Would be great to use wireless AA.

Mostly for music though I have an iPod plugged in to the car in the center armrest. That always stays in the car.
 


Forkbomb

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Poweramp and MX Audio allow for local playback in android auto. I am in the same boat as you, and even if I had unlimited data I still prefer to use my local files.

Given the option between the two I almost always use poweramp.
 

CDjunkie

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Just my 2¢ in terms of a music player, because it took me a fair bit of trail and error to switch from Apple world to Android world. The music app I found works best for me is Rocket Music Player. (free version with ads, or paid version is like $5) I never listen to streamed or other "through the air" media.
 
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Alphaskoom

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is that video you merlanito? if it is, i would try rebooting the headunit, and after that id close all of those notifications you have on your phone, its littered with em, then id make sure your apps are all up to date, then turn off the phone and back on again, then reconnect and try again
 

IByrdl

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is that video you merlanito? if it is, i would try rebooting the headunit, and after that id close all of those notifications you have on your phone, its littered with em, then id make sure your apps are all up to date, then turn off the phone and back on again, then reconnect and try again
Agreed, reboot HU, then make sure your phone is up to date on the newest security patch, search for Android Auto on the play store (not the stand alone app, but the one that's already installed), and make sure that is up to date. Force stop/clear storage on the Android Auto app. Restart phone and try again.

Notifications probably don't have anything to do with it but it wouldn't hurt to clear them all.
 


kellyken

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Yea you have to import your stored music to Google Play music library first. I see someone mentioned VLC. That seems like a good choice for me. I definitely will try it.
What I normally do is to download Tidal songs with high quality and put them all in a USB. Then plug it in my car and leave it there.
 

JT Si

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If you're just playing local music, why not get a big thumb drive and dump all the music you could want on it and leave it in the car permanently?

I'd never want to fill up 50-100GB on my phone with music I'll never listen to outside my car. It seems inefficient.

An added bonus is the thumb drive just works and is always there.

An added downside is the infotainment interface to navigate your music kind of sucks. I just leave it on shuffle.

I only play music from Android Auto if I want to stream something.
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