CarStream (previously YoutubeAuto) for Android Auto APK download and setup

2,440 Replies

Play Youtube Video on Android Auto using this app

Screen Shot 2017-12-31 at 10.04.28 AMVersion history :

29th Dec 2017 : v1.0 released

29th Dec 2017 : v1.0.1 released to fix install errors on Android API level < 21

30th Dec 2017 : v1.0.2 released with safety disabled. Safety was showing blank screen when fullscreen. Controller support for nontouch screen still pending.

30th Dec 2017 : v1.1.0 Controller support for non touch devices done. Includes fullscreen and back nav support as well.

1st Jan 2018 : v1.1.1 Fix for app not installed on Marshmallow and lower Android phones. Install this version if you face “App not installed” error

1st Jan 2018 : v1.1.2 Stability fixes and support to resume video if was playing before app was minimized.

2nd Jan 2018 : v1.1.3 Ability to open any website via “Google search” option. Also send any custom url from the phone app. The car app remembers the last url visited and loads it automatically.

2nd Jan 2018 : v1.2.0 Speech to text for youtube searches. Minor fix to controller inputs.

2nd Jan 2018 : v1.2.1 Possible first fix for audio volume not controllable.

3rd Jan 2018 : v1.2.2 Full screen videos can be toggled more easily due to floating toolbar. Speech recognising view not hiding bug fixed. Its clickable just in case it doesnt hide. Progressbar to show page load progress.

3rd Jan 2018 : v1.2.3 Possible second fix for audio volume not controllable on some cars

5th Jan 2018 : v1.2.4 Fixed black screen which appears sometimes. Possible third fix for volume control in some systems.

6th Jan 2018 : v1.3.0Night mode support for Youtube added. Switch on your headlights to see the magic.

9th Jan 2018 : v1.3.1 Full screen mode now persists across videos. No need to switch fullscreen mode for each video on a playlist. It also stays on across app launches. You also should see a slight page speed boost.

9th Jan 2018: v1.3.2 Initial implementation of playing local offline videos/music/images. To enable, open phone app, grant “external storage” permission, then long press on the home icon (to the right of back button) on the car to open the SDcard folders. Now you can select a file and play it fullscreen. (Demo)

12th Jan 2018: v1.4.0 Now you should be able to use steering mounted controls (for next and previous video). This update also allows a “somewhat” background playback which allows you to listen to the audio without the video, but the catch is that you have to select the video first using the UI and then switch to background mode. This update should fix any volume control issues you have been facing in the past. (Watch the Demo)

12th Jan 2018: v1.4.1 If you have crashed when accessing youtube purchased videos, this build will fix it.

13th Jan 2018: v1.4.2 Please uninstall all previous builds and install this one if “youtube auto” has suddenly disappeared from Android auto (from last 1-2 days). If you dont uninstall previous builds, there is a chance that 2 similar looking apps show up.

This is possible because Google has blocked my previous app. Still not 100% sure.

13th Jan 2018: v1.4.3 About link redirecting to 404 page fixed.

14th Jan 2018: v1.4.4 Safety Warning popup added which pops up everytime you start driving. This warning will disappear if you use handbrake/parking mode.

15th Jan 2018: v1.5.0Aspect ratio support to remove black bars. You can toggle between aspect ratios in full screen mode. Also irritating notifications have been removed.

15th Jan 2018: v1.5.1Fullscreen controls support for controllers, use right,left,up and center to seek, change aspect ratio and play/pause.

15th Jan 2018: v1.5.2Bug fixes for “I understand the risk” not clickable for some users. Fixed steering mounted controls not working the first time.

15th Jan 2018: v1.5.4Fix for “I understand the risk” button not clickable. Irritating notifications are back because without them there is no way to make steering controls work reliably. Will be fixed soon

18th Jan 2018: v1.6.0Youtube auto renamed to CarStream with new logo. Looks like google bannned again. So if previous app is not showing up, use this app.

19th Jan 2018: v1.6.1Youtube auto renamed to CarStream with new logo. Looks like google bannned again. So if previous app is not showing up, use this app.

25th Jan 2018: v1.7.0Bookmarks support added. Click on last icon on the top toolbar. Long press on a bookmark to delete. Demo

25th Jan 2018: v1.7.1 Italian and chinese translations added. Check the credits section for how to add more languages. Thanks to everyone (mentioend in credits) for translating.

26th Jan 2018: v1.7.2 External SD card support works with most devices. Look for the ‘external storage’ bookmark. French translation added.

27th Jan 2018: v1.7.3 Basic keyboard input added. Translations to finnish, portuguese, danish, turkish, french added. Thank you everyone

6th Feb 2018: v1.8.0 More translations added. Revamped local offline player. Now play SD Card videos with next and previous support. Also supports formats like MKV. Also Bookmarks issues have been fixed. For a full list of supported formats read ‘Standalone container formats’ on this page

6th Feb 2018: v1.8.1 Bug fix release,
issues related to local videos not playing correctly fixed.

7th Feb 2018: v1.8.2 Bug fix release for bookmark dpad support in non touch screens

8th Feb 2018: v1.8.3 Bug fix release for audio focus issues. If carstream overwrites other players, this version fixes it. Also local audio/video continues to play in background.

21st Jun 2018 : 2.0.0 Introduces a way to unlock carstream in rooted phones. Thanks to ‘slashmax’ for figuring out the trick.

The following message is shown if handbrake is not applied. Please make sure you use this app safely.
Android auto youtube warning

8th Feb 2018 : For raising bugs or enhancement requests please visit https://github.com/thekirankumar/youtube-android-auto/issues

Youtube Auto Latest Version
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Youtube Auto Latest Version
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How to install the app

How to watch local videos of all formats on SD Card

Raising bugs, enhancement for new features

CarStream is developed and maintained by me in my free time. In order to efficiently manage my time, it would be great if you can use github for raising bugs and feature requests. I have been using this blog’s comments section till now for this, but it doesnt scale well. So if you put anything here, it will mostly get ignored. So please use github. I know its painful to create a github account, but it helps me. Before raising a github issue, check if the same issue exists, otherwise it will most likely be closed.
Use this link to reach github issues page

Debugging black screen issue

Black screen when switching on Youtube auto is usually related to Power saver mode on your phone. Some phones have it as “aggressive doze mode” or “advanced battery optimization”. For youtube auto to work seamlessly, you have to switch off power saver mode completely or disable it just for Youtube auto.

Also sometimes you can follow this trick of switching on youtube auto phone app on phone and then connecting to the car. Please try this on Xperia and Huawei phones. Also some huawei phones are not compatible with android auto in general. Even Waze doesnt work. Source

Disabling the bottom bar in fullscreen mode

Many users have requested this feature of hiding the nav bar when in fullscreen mode. Unfortunately google doesnt support this feature and we can expect google to give an API in future version of android auto. So this is not feasible.

Source code

If you want to add new features or checkout the code visit https://github.com/thekirankumar/youtube-android-auto/ Pull requests for new feature are welcome.

Donation

If you like this app, please make a donation.

My bitcoin (BTC) address 1MHUymspbm3FgJexAFcvxxq6QdHS9bJjZh

My paypal address https://paypal.me/thekirankumar2

My litecoin (LTC) address LXRkN1JDm1weqDL6WKCQRTcqqfPnSiGaCQ

Credits

Unofficial Android SDK https://github.com/martoreto/aauto-sdk Without this SDK this project wouldn’t exist. Thanks to Martoreto for reverse engineering the Waze app and coming up with a easy to use SDK and a sample app.

VideoEnabledWebview https://github.com/cprcrack/VideoEnabledWebView This webview makes fullscreen videos easy to implement.

Thanks for helping with translation :

German : Timo Neumeier
Russian : Ilja Skobelev
Italian : Gabriele Rizzo
Chinese : Nelson
French : Adil Bousfiha
Finnish : Joona Ahveninen & Raitsa
Portuguese: Daniel Stuart
Turkish: Ufuk Ata
Danish: Hayrullah Celik
Bulgarian : Boby
Polish : Krzysztof Białek
Estonian : Magnus Jaaska & Olev Kaas
Spanish : César Formica & Miceot

If you want to translate to your local language, please visit the github repository and raise a pull request or just mail me the strings.xml file at [email protected]

Note

Disclaimer :This is my personal project and I maintain it in my free time. The work here is in no way related to my Employer. It is a hobby project where I have not committed to anyone about maintaining it. With Google blocking every move, its getting more difficult to progress. You can imagine how it would be to fight as a one man army against google.

Unblocking instructions

[21st Jan 2018] Google has blocked the app multiple times till now and its becoming difficult for me to release just a new version to unblock it. Here are some tricks to do it yourself when google blocks the app.

Google blocks the app’s package name. This is how apps identify themselves and google is able to block the app easily by just identifying my app’s package name and then blocking it. As a workaround, if you are an android developer, just clone the source code and change the package name in build.gradle as well on the google-services.json file.

If you are not a developer, I recommend you use APK Editor Pro app (Its a paid app, but the apks are available everywhere). It allows you to change package names of any app without creating the APK yourself.

  • Download APK editor PRO (free version doesnt allow many features)
  • Open the settings and click “sign APK with” and select “key created by APK Editor”
  • Exit settings and come back to main menu
  • click “Select APK from app”
  • select the car stream apk
  • select “Full Edit”
  • click on the third tab on bottom called “manifest”
  • click on the second line from top called “manifest xmlns:android….
  • click on “package” and change the package name to anything you want. This is the most important step. You should use something which is unique to you. Use maybe your name or username in it. Do not use special character except “dot”. If your name is john doe, use maybe “com.johndoe.testapp” as the package name. Be creative here, because this is what google uses to block the app
  • Click save button, be careful not to press cancel.
  • Now click the build button on the top-right corner of the screen
  • This will take a few seconds and finish the creating a new APK
  • [IMPORTANT] Once it finishes, uninstall the old version of car stream. If you dont uninstall, the new APK wont install
  • Now go back to APK pro and press install the new apk you created which has your custom package name
  • After installation, Car Stream should work for you


If you get install issues with APK editor, try APK cloner. It doesn’t let you change package name, but it automatically chooses a package name and is easy to use and free.
If google blocks the apk again, come back here to this section for a new workaround.

8th Feb 2018 : For raising bugs or enhancement requests please visit https://github.com/thekirankumar/youtube-android-auto/issues

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2,440 thoughts on “CarStream (previously YoutubeAuto) for Android Auto APK download and setup”

  2. Sissi

    Very well done! I tried something similar, but failed…. Congrats for your work!
    It seems to only work for cars with touch display, as I have a car with controller it doesn’t work out perfectly for me, for example I’m not able to make it full screen or to go into the configurations on the top. Do you work on that? Or do you need any feedback about? If you use head unit emulator on your working machine you can open an emulator with controller by: ” ./desktop-head-unit -i controller ”

    Regards

    Sissi

    Reply ↓
    1. Kiran Kumar Post author

      Yes. I got this feedback from another guy too. Didn’t know the head unit server supported controllers. I’ll definitely add support in a few days. Thank you for dropping in a comment.

      Reply ↓
  3. Daniel M.

    Hi
    I really like a lot what you did for Android Auto. Can you release one version for non touch screens ? (my car does not have touchscreen and i cannot access all the functions as well as playing any video in fullscreen mode)
    How about some mirrorlink software for Android Auto or playing videos via VLC (now supported by Android Auto) ?

    Reply ↓
  5. sekino

    Full screen is working but it’s like 95% black filter on whole screen when TURNED ON, so you barely see anything.
    Volume control is working OK. Search box is too big, would like to see it all the way in the upper right corner, now it’s more to the center.

    GREAT WORK!

    Reply ↓
    1. Kiran Kumar Post author

      I too noticed the black bars for some videos, but for some other videos it worked fine. By default webview was putting black bars on the left and right side, I got rid of those, but the ones on top remain. I will debug this next week.

      Reply ↓
      1. sekino

        OK, maybe there is some misunderstanding, when I go to FULLSCREEN whole screen goes BLACK, can’t see anything, but when I set brightness of display to max, I can see something, it’s like you will put VERY VERY BLACK GLASS on whole display.

        Reply ↓
      1. Daniel M.

        Unfortunately does not have support for non touch screens. I have controller in my car. And i cannot use it. :(

        Reply ↓
    2. AndroidUser7

      Why don’t you open source the app? There is nothing special about it. The big work was done by martoreto who is responsible for the initial SDK. No word mentioned on your site. Also you copy&pasted stuff from other Github repos like VideoEnabledWebView
      too without a single attribution.. And not even gathering bitcoins and paypal..

      Reply ↓
      1. Kiran Kumar Post author

        Yes sir. Good idea. I was figuring out a way to hide the keystore from the repo. Will be open sourcing post that. And will update the licensing and attribution too.

        Reply ↓
  8. M.Hack

    Will you be supporting other video apps? Sports app which allow you to watch on the go? 100% back you in this as something solid is needed

    Reply ↓
  11. mabv

    Im a bit of trouble installing the apk. I cant install it on my Galaxy S3 running on custom rom android version 5.1.1. Can you help me?

    Reply ↓
    1. Kiran Kumar Post author

      Volume control works on my suzuki bosch infotainment. Which one is yours ?
      For background support, I’ve not figured out a way, still looking at a way.

      Reply ↓
  17. Michael a class w176

    Hello the app is brilliant finally enabled video playback after months or trying with CarPlay ect. Only problems is with the a class w176 the sound is really low and with only having a joystick/ controller I can not access the in video volume or have any other control over volume. Thanks, brilliant work!

    Reply ↓
  18. Michael a class w176

    Currently running the latest version but also tried other versions, if you could make the volume accessible in app or have external volume control like said above that would be brilliant. Send me your paypal I’ll happily make a donation.

    Reply ↓
  19. Avenir

    I do not have three points when I click on a video, as in the standard youtube application … (I’m sorry, I’m using a google translator)

    Reply ↓
      2. Kiran Kumar Post author

        Haven’t got it. The old PayPal account was a new one. I’m new to this PayPal thing so didn’t know that I can’t receive payments until it’s verified.

        Reply ↓
  24. Shaun

    Hats off to you sir. I’ve been waiting for something like this. I’m leaving Apple and coming back to Android. Google owes you one user, lol. Please keep dev’ing!

    Reply ↓
  27. ahhl

    the control for non touch screen is a bit confusing
    1. back button – to exit YTA
    i have only have right/left/top/bottom click and a dail to scroll. and enter button

    the left click reserved for “voice command” which sometime overwrite by YTA.
    at the moment to move from main body to youtube header to program header only using left click or right click.

    why not to move up/down use up/down click,

    and the oneline keyboard still missing the enter button

    Reply ↓
    1. Kiran Kumar Post author

      Can you try v1.2.0 ?
      I need some help for testing it out because I dont seem to be able to understand the controller system well and my car doesnt have controller :(

      Reply ↓
      1. ahhl

        Video of v1.2.3. sorry if my explaination not so clear
        https://youtu.be/hQnJqFVkRh8

        as you see the dail. waze/sportify use simple way to access the menu. after start the apks. to access menu, use the dail left click. the menu will slide in. to select, turn the dail and enter.

        to exit press back button. so the up and down click are reserve for with the main screen
        back button is always used to exit whether the menu or the aps

        the right click is reserved for voice command.

        the volume control still doesn work.

        Reply ↓
  28. Michael

    Thanks for the work so far :)

    Maybe it is possible to switch websites between mobile and desktop Version? Some streaming websites just provide a link to their apps on their mobile page.

    And as next app idea: to migrate an app for playing local Videos like kodi or VLC.

    Reply ↓
  32. pippo

    Hi,

    I wanted to ask you 2 information:

    1)Do you think there is a way to run divx / xvid / mpg files directly from the phone’s memory?

    2) is there the possibility to build an app that mirrors the phone screen?

    Reply ↓
  33. Radu

    Just checked it on my cla,volume still not working. But I saw something interesting. The volume keeps its power that is set on other players like spotify and even on spotify is not working if the player is on pause, only when it plays something can be changed.

    Reply ↓
  34. Daniel M.

    Regarding screen mirroring, some apps do this via wifi generating a link. On any device you can type the link and you can see your phone screen. My question is : will it work on the car also via this app ? Of course will need an extra button i belive …

    Reply ↓
  37. petous

    Thanks for this great App !
    Menu with favorites bookmarks would be nice, link from phone is limited to last url, menu with history would be better…

    Reply ↓
  38. Zebro

    Hello, many thx for your hard work! Can I ask to add playing youtube offline saved files in the future if possible please? Thanks!

    Reply ↓
        1. Kiran Kumar Post author

          Youtube’s offline feature is not exposed to developers :( So its not possible. And they havent implemented youtube offline on their own mobile website .

          For regular videos it is still technically feasible to support and I will create a separate app for that next month :D

          Reply ↓
  39. Jeremy

    Hello,

    I see you allow otherwise websites like dailymotion, can you add Netflix support ? Thank you so much for all the job you’ve already done !!!

    Reply ↓
  41. Michael a class

    Hiya mate I’ve made a donation to your PayPal to keep up the good work and also keep it ad free. I tried the new version earlier all the new features work well but still no volume control unfortunately. Is it possible to release a version for controllers which have a volume up and down button and the top similar to the full screen option ect. Thanks again.

    Reply ↓
  44. Ernie

    Hi, how does voice search work? Can’t find it.
    When I’m not parked, I have neither on screen keyboard nor a voice search button.

    Reply ↓
  45. Jeremy

    OK, Thanks for the answer ! Is it possible to create a link between Android Auto and Netflix app ? It would be amazing

    Reply ↓
  46. Rainek

    Hello

    Thank you for your great work.
    I have new peugeot 3008, and everything works great,besides the video is not in full screen.
    And maybe it’s possible to watch iptv in the future?

    Reply ↓
  47. ahhl

    kiran
    some of tge developer requested created apps to investigate the control requesed my car system. here is mine
    UsbAccessory[mManufacturer=Android, mModel=Android Auto, mDescription=Android Auto, mVersion=1.0, mUri=null, mSerial=null]

    {
    “channels”: [{
    “channelId”: 1,
    “outputStreamChannel”: {
    “type”: “STREAM_TYPE_VIDEO”,
    “videoConfigs”: [{
    "resolution": "VIDEO_RESOLUTION_800x480",
    "frameRate": "VIDEO_FPS_60",
    "marginWidth": 0,
    "marginHeight": 0,
    "dpi": 160,
    "additionalDepth": 1
    }]
    }
    }, {
    “channelId”: 2,
    “inputEventChannel”: {
    “keycodesSupported”: [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 28, 66, 67, 80, 81, 82, 84, 87, 88, 91, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 65536, 65537, 65538, 65540],
    “touchPadConfig”: {
    “width”: 322,
    “height”: 413
    }
    }
    }, {
    “channelId”: 3,
    “inputStreamChannel”: {
    “type”: “STREAM_TYPE_AUDIO”,
    “audioConfig”: {
    “sampleRate”: 16000,
    “bitDepth”: 16,
    “channelCount”: 1
    }
    }
    }, {
    “channelId”: 4,
    “outputStreamChannel”: {
    “type”: “STREAM_TYPE_AUDIO”,
    “audioType”: “AUDIO_TYPE_MEDIA”,
    “audioConfigs”: [{
    "sampleRate": 48000,
    "bitDepth": 16,
    "channelCount": 2
    }]
    }
    }, {
    “channelId”: 5,
    “outputStreamChannel”: {
    “type”: “STREAM_TYPE_AUDIO”,
    “audioType”: “AUDIO_TYPE_SPEECH”,
    “audioConfigs”: [{
    "sampleRate": 16000,
    "bitDepth": 16,
    "channelCount": 1
    }]
    }
    }, {
    “channelId”: 6,
    “sensorChannel”: {
    “sensorList”: [{
    "type": "SENSOR_TYPE_LOCATION"
    }, {
    "type": "SENSOR_TYPE_CAR_SPEED"
    }, {
    "type": "SENSOR_TYPE_NIGHT_DATA"
    }, {
    "type": "SENSOR_TYPE_DRIVING_STATUS"
    }, {
    "type": "SENSOR_TYPE_ACCEL"
    }, {
    "type": "SENSOR_TYPE_GYRO"
    }, {
    "type": "SENSOR_TYPE_GPS"
    }]
    }
    }, {
    “channelId”: 7,
    “bluetoothService”: {
    “carAddress”: “98:5D:AD:27:B7:B5″,
    “supportedPairingMethods”: ["BLUETOOTH_PARING_METHOD_HFP"]
    }
    }, {
    “channelId”: 8
    }, {
    “channelId”: 9,
    “navigationStatusService”: {
    “minimumIntervalMs”: 1000,
    “type”: 2
    }
    }],
    “headUnitName”: “Mercedes-Benz”,
    “carModel”: “”,
    “carYear”: “”,
    “carSerial”: “[CENSORED]“,
    “driverPos”: true,
    “headunitMake”: “”,
    “headunitModel”: “”,
    “swBuild”: “”,
    “swVersion”: “MB_A-E-2″

    -
    maybe you can make use of it

    Reply ↓
  48. ahhl

    i tested v1. 2.1
    1. voice comand within the apps work. can search video and webpage. but it cannot work with car voice command.
    2. volume control still missing.
    3. the first time i run the apps, the up button work. can move between the page body to page header to apps header.
    4. moving between title can only work with left button. right button doesn’t work. down button sometimes work.
    5. say if i am at apps header, i can move cursor using the dail. but moving cursor at the app page header only work with left button. right button sometime work.
    6. i can do video if you want to see the action.
    7. once i accidentally press search button. the search box won’t disappear.

    Reply ↓
    1. Kiran Kumar Post author

      1. This is a limitation of android auto and what I have implemented is a workaround. Android auto doesnt route voice commands to third party apps unless they are published in play store currently. Since this app is not approved by google, it cant be done.
      2. For volume control, I am not able to simulate this issue. I have to find a car around me which has this issue, seems like an issue with controller based car. Need help here.
      3, 4, 5, 6 : Please send a video which has both screen and dial in frame.
      7. Will fix the UX to close search somehow.

      Thanks for the details feedback, Ill need more time to smoothen the rough edges and your help like this is greatly appreciated.

      Reply ↓
          2. Radu

            Tried last 130 and is a no go. I read in XDA thread that only some auto has low level media control. Maybe this is the issue. Different type of control imput.

  49. aizecu

    It would be really nice if it could access internal storage to play video files via either current URL input or alternative browser menu.

    Nice works, thanks.

    Reply ↓

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