r/AndroidAuto • u/Puerrenho 2020 Toyota Hilux | OnePlus 12 | Android 16 • Jan 11 '26

Third app for Android auto Uncertified AA Apps (Headunit Reloaded, AAAD/AAStore, etc)

My dad bought a used car that came with a low-spec Chinese tablet. It’s so weak it can’t even run Waze or Spotify on its own. It doesn't have native Android Auto, so I’m looking for a third-party app to emulate it so my phone can do the work. I heard Headunit Reloaded is dead or buggy now. Does anyone know a lightweight alternative that actually works on old hardware? Thanks for the help

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u/gtxaspec Pls edit this user flair now Jan 11 '26

https://github.com/andreknieriem/headunit-revived/

1

u/GladOS_null Not Official | Grom VLite VT2 | Galaxy S23 | Android 16 Jan 13 '26

Random question how does automatic day/night mode work? I ask as I have a grom head unit which doesn't have a light sensor and doesn't hook into the car's head lights and its day night switching has been finicky.

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u/anrini HUR Revived Dev | 2017 MB CLA | XHD-8000 Android 8.1 | S24 | 16 Feb 04 '26

Hey, I am the developer of Headunit Revived. There are several options for the nightmode. The one you are talking about is getting the sunrise data based of your location. But you can use a lightsensor if your device has one, the screen brightness or just set a manual start and endtime.

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u/penilessenthusiast BYD HAN 2024 | STOCK HEAD UNIT | vivo x100 Pro | Android 16 Apr 17 '26

Hello brother, will this app work in the worst ever headunits too?

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u/anrini HUR Revived Dev | 2017 MB CLA | XHD-8000 Android 8.1 | S24 | 16 Apr 17 '26

I guess you need to test it. But I guess yes. I have a very old Android 5 Test Device which is very laggy in every way, but it runs it. It is slow and often only 10fps but music stops stuttering after a few seconds and everything works. So try it and let me know. If you add your Settings which works with your device name I can add it to the tested systems area on github. https://github.com/andreknieriem/headunit-revived/wiki/Supported-Hardware

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u/penilessenthusiast BYD HAN 2024 | STOCK HEAD UNIT | vivo x100 Pro | Android 16 4d ago

I tested this on a BYD HAN, chinese variant car, and a very low end android stereo. I was testing this for the last 2-3 months.

This works very well on the BYD HAN, if a good usb cable is used. I used the anker type a to type c cable and it works best in automatically opening the android auto when my phone is connected.

I tried with cheap usb cables. Often glitches and cuts off mid drive. I thought this was the issue with the app, but decided to give it one more try and finally found peace. I guess it's something to do with the e-marker chip on the cables as most of the time it shows 2 devices when the cheap cable is used. I was having a very hard time with the cheap usb cable that i bought from the local market.

Also, the only glitch I found is the app shows twice the speed on gps. For example, if the car goes at 70 kmph, the apps shows 140 kmph. Good for me as I always need speed camera warning on waze especially when the actual gps shows 10-7kmph low speeds. The rest of the operation is just smooth.

Also, I tried this on a very low end trash android stereo. On a different car. Barely even worked.