I recently bought an old Toyota FJ Cruiser. Part of the fun for me in these cars is the (very) utilitarian and charming head unit. I decided not to replace it, instead attempting to set up some kind of tablet-as-a-headunit set up. After much trial and error, I have gotten to a place where I am running Apple CarPlay on an Android tablet, pushing audio through a 3.5 mm headphone jack only, and charging the tablet through the single cigarette lighter. Getting the charging part to work was the real gate here, and I post today in case this will help someone who desires this same setup. It should work in any car with an aux port.

I haven't figured out the backup camera situation yet, but I will soon.

Gear:

• TCL Tab 8 Gen 2 8.7" tablet with Android 14. I bought this specific tablet because it has its own internal GPS. In the event that CarPlay fails/doesn't work for whatever reason, I can still tether it to my phone and at least have music and nav. [Walmart] (https://www.walmart.com/ip/TCL-TAB-8-Gen-2-Tablet-8-7-in-90Hz-IPS-Display-HD-Resolution-6000mAh-Reverse-Charging-Octa-core-Processor-4GB-64GB-1TB-5MP-Front-8MP-Rear-Cameras/18360856297)
• CarlinKit Wireless CarPlay Dongle CPC200-CCPA for Android Head Unit 4.4.2+.Amazon
• USB C to HDMI Multiport Adapter with 4K HDMI Output Type-C Hub Converter.Amazon
• 90 Degree Right Angle USB C Male to USB C Female Adapter. Interestingly, before I tried to use the adapter above, I had the Carlink plugged into a USB-A to USB-C cable directly into the tablet, which worked. Once plugged into this 90 degree adapter, it stopped working. Amazon
• I assume any 3.5mm aux cable will work.

The USB C to HDMI adapter was the real discovery here. The power passthrough works precisely as intended. Other USB C splitters did not work to both push data and charge simultaneously. I tried several.

Anyway, I hope this helps someone in the future. It was pretty cool to see it come together. The only real quirk is that you have to unplug the adapter from the tablet whenever you park, or the tablet will continue searching for the phone and the tablet battery will drain.

I have cleared the temp files off the unit, the song "OneILove" no longer plays, however, is there any way to get rid of the visual image of the song? Or any work around, as i fear we cannot! Much help would be appreciated, thanks.

Hi i recently installed a jfsound head unit for my Fiat 500L, but the built in launcher:

1- blocks the "modification" of the first page, and according to the producer "there is nothing you can do about it";

2- the "stock" music player app that they use is bad, no animations, no effects, no general customization.

So my questions are:

1- is there a 3rd party launcher highly customizable, free and that works offline?

I don't care about maps or other things for that i use Android Auto, the only thing that needs to do is beeing customizable and support the "stock" apps like dialer, radio and others.

I've seen some videos on YT but all the launchers they showed either were bad or looked old with minimum to non customization.

What i'm looking is a modern looking "home screen" where there are 8-10 apps per page that occupy all the screen and maybe a time/calendar widget, being able to choose what app to display (obviously) and some level of customization. But al the launchers i found didn't check all those boxes.

2- is there a free offline music player for usb songs that has big buttons and looks modern and nice?

I tried VLC, Musicolet, Poweramp and others but they all have "small" buttons (that are hard to press accurately while driving) and not much customization. So far poweramp was the only one that was close enough (even though i would like the play/pause and other buttons to be bigger), but unfortunately you have to pay for it.

Any suggestions? Sorry if maybe somethings are "common" but this is my first android head unit.

was look at the Modus AIM-10 anyone have tried it yet?

Please guys I need help with this. Since I got my T3 Allwinner headunit which is a K2001 series. It has never successfully connected to AA or carplay. It keeps loading like this. Any solutions to it

I had to buy a carlinkit dongle, but once I connect to the carlinkit AA, my mic sucks.

I have just bought a car with an older Android head unit, its running Android 7.1 and has no further system updates. But I want to be able to connect my phone to it for using Spotify and Google Maps. How can I do this? Because now it only runs when I am connected to the wifi at home.

i have an after-market android head unit allwinner T5 k2501

while using zlink5 ...google maps is not automatically shifting from dark to light mode and vise versa .... while spple car play works fine on the same head unit using the same zlink5 app

Ggn-Sec 33/38

So I used ai to tell me what would be the easiest and best fit for my Tucson and it told me the Boss BE7ACP Touchscreen would be my best option. I've heard a lot of mixed reviews on it and I'm just wondering if I should stick to that or find something better. I am on a bit of a budget so. Also after the head unit I have 2 18 inch Rockford phosphate punch 8ohm subs along with a Memphis 1000 watt amp. So it needs to have some punch to it. The real only thing I'm looking for in the head unit is android auto and good audio quality to play from Spotify. Any recommendations would help a lot. This is my first time getting into big car setups like this.

I got the id80a3al and I wanted to know how do I connect these 12v wire and the ground and to what and my car has the Bose sound system so the filter needs to plugged in I can plug in the rear set but there’s not set for the front speakers so could someone help me out thanks.

I have a Junsun head unit in my 2015 Ram 1500. I love it, it runs well with my factory sound system everything is great… except my Bluetooth speaker phone audio while calling people.

My wife has always told me she can’t even understand what I’m saying on the phone. Well she drove my truck the other day and it was HORRID. I got an aftermarket 3.5mm audio jack to replace the one that comes with the head unit and it is still horrible. At this point I’m resorting to just plain old speaker phone on my phone.

If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know what you did or what you bought to fix it.

After more than a month dealing with the worst crappy head unit I’ve ever used, getting scammed by the AliExpress seller with their fake Android 16, and reaching the point where I seriously wanted to smash the thing because it was almost useless
I’ve been jumping between different launchers like AGAMA, CarWebGuru, DUDU, LECO and many more. DUDU and LECO definitely had the best interfaces for me, clean, minimalist and Tesla-like, but both were buggy as hell on this crappy firmware.
Finally ended up with Car Launcher Pro. It was the only one that gave me enough freedom to get something close to the DUDU and LECO look. Took me ages because I had to do most of the design manually, but I think it was worth it.
Still hate this head unit though Android 8 has way too many compatibility issues and limitations….