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”

  1. Ankthepot

    Man; you are the best! Great work, please continue to improve e make a donation verson.
    Please , like others already said a play the next vid on the folder option will be great.

    Reply ↓
  2. Jason

    Have 2016 GMC Sierra, works great but keyboard doesn’t appear for searching and is there any way to get Netflix to work? Great product!

    Reply ↓
  5. J0j0

    Do it on the app on your phone, not on the car display. Go to about and tap on “about android auto”10 times… it should unlock the developer tools. The hit the 3 dots on the far right and check off box unknown sources and it should work on screen when you press the far eight button

    Reply ↓
  8. pippo

    Hello guys,
    when I’m watching a playlist and I’m in full screen every time I go to the next video the video comes back small and does not keep the full screen.
    Can this error be corrected?

    Reply ↓
  9. Cristian

    After the procedure with apk editor I uninstall the old version of carstream, install the new and the app is not open why?

    Reply ↓
  10. Arshad

    I installed the as per given procedure through apk editor pro..but I cant see “send to car” option.. I have jeep compass…please help

    Reply ↓
      1. tazzcom

        just plug your phone into your car to get android auto onto your dash. Just click on the tabs on your screen, one of them will now show you carstream… it should anyway.

        Reply ↓
    1. tazzcom

      if you open carstream app on phone then type in the netfilx address up top in the URL, then log into netflix and then click on the 3 dots at top right of carstream and click bookmarks then tap on the add current. You now have your netflix :)

      Reply ↓
  12. Greg

    This is great! Didn’t realise I can also connect to my Plex server and stream movies. The kids are very happy!!
    Thanks.

    Reply ↓
  14. Adriano Dantas

    How can I create a playlist with the videos in memory of my cell phone and play the videos in sequence? Can someone help me?

    Reply ↓
  15. It says to click the button icon

    It tells me to click the last icon in button bar to star playing and I don’t see nothing please help

    Reply ↓
  17. Gianni

    Ciao Kiran, è possibile far comparire la tastiera quando si è all’interno di un sito web? Per esempio inserire username e password per accedere alla propria mail.
    Grazie e complimenti per il grande lavoro che stai facendo.

    Reply ↓
  20. Paolo

    A me non funziona.. Ho scaricato l’ultima versione, collegato il telefono all’auto.. Mi vede carstream ma non parte nulla.. Chi mi puo aiutare?

    Reply ↓
  23. leonardo iodice

    We need too the possibilty to watch IPTV using this app and HIDE UNDER TOOLBAR when i watch something in FULL SCREEN. It is possible?

    Reply ↓
  26. Derek jones

    I feel like we are a few updates away from watching Netflix on carstream, and I’m excited! Keep up the great work!

    Reply ↓
    1. tazzcom

      you are correct that netfix will not play after you hit the play button. Its does the same thing for amazon prim video.

      Reply ↓
  27. Rom1

    Hi I have Samsung GN3 N9005, last android version up to date, official playstore android auto 2.9.574923-release, carstream 1.6.1 downloaded and installed from here, apk editor pro unofficial (cracked version 1.8.20 (iHackedit.com)): by opening it’s said “please install it from playstore” but seems to run fine, also official appcloner 1.4.11 (version date: 22/12/2017).
    I tried with Apk editor to follow steps described here, but once first Carstream uninstalled et new Carstream modified and cloned as said, new “Carstream” crashes systematically at opening (“aplication stopped”).
    With appcloner I tried to change name, then name and colour of icon (sort of blue) as Zoltan Gulyas said on youtube, it opens on smartphone but I don’t have it appearing on android auto.
    One more thing, I saw on Kiran video that we could choose to “allow unknown sources” in Android auto, I cant find it.
    I just allowed unknown sources to install in parameters of Android…
    Device in car is recent Discover pro (Volkswagen Golf 7 2017).
    Any idea or solutions? Do the last version here could solve this or is it another problem at basis?

    Reply ↓
    1. Janne

      Hi Rom1, you need to allow unknown sources to make CarStream work. I think. Open Android Auto on your phone, click on the hamburger menu at the top left, select About, click 10 times on the top where it says About Android Auto until you get a notification that you are in developer mode. Click on the three dots on the right and select Settings for developers, click on the box Unknown sources a the bottom. Done.

      Reply ↓
  28. Salvatore nardo

    Grazie mille per la tastiera ma si potrebbe avere una tastiera che abbia anche i caratteri speciali
    Tipo: @ grazie mille sei un genio

    Reply ↓
  29. leonardo iodice

    missing anyway special signs on keyboard like “@” and many others to write. ADD THEM ALL please.
    And the silverlight videos, like MEDIASET PREMIUM PLAY or VIDEO MEDIASET, generally DONT WORK AND THE AUDIO IS MUTE.
    Please solve this problems

    Reply ↓
  32. Cesar

    Soooo, I missed one minor detail “check unknown sources in android auto” and it worked. I apologize for the bad comment before. I will chip in for the cause. Thank you so much bro. Keep it up.

    Reply ↓
  33. Adoula

    Hello,
    For people where the full screen does not work, you have to try with an option in the phone’s developer menu, set the implementation of the WebKit, for me the MTK Android walk

    Reply ↓
  34. Robert

    Ciao non so per quale motivo se uso la ricerca manuale la tastiera non si apre mai…devo sempre usare la ricerca vocale…puoi risolvere ? Poi adesso ho installato l’ultima versione e tante vole si riscontrano problemi proprio con android auto lo schermo dell’auto rimane nero devo riavviare più volte

    Reply ↓
  36. Charles

    Hello there. Trying to edit with APK Editor Pro,always shows the error:”first type is not attr”. Any Solutions? Thnx in adVance.

    Reply ↓
  37. Thamer

    Thank you for your support and we would like to translate the keyboard of the application of carstream in Arabic and ask you to help send the file in English to be translated to Arabic and sent back to you for adoption on the application can be sent on my email: [email protected]
    Thank you.

    Reply ↓
  39. tazzcom

    Does anyone else have a audio/video sync problem when playing videos from SD card? it’s out of sync by about a second. Using S7 edge phone. It’s does the same thing with live youtube videos. Is there a setting I am missing maybe?

    Reply ↓
    1. Janne

      I’m not sure, but you will probably need to set up the server at another device (like a Mac) where you keep your movies, pictures etc.. Otherwise Plex inside CarStream won’t find any server.

      Reply ↓
  43. Ronaldo

    Instalei seu programa no meu carro tudo ok….
    Instalei um servidor web no meu celular
    Criei um player em html5 com algumas instruções em Java .
    E agora acesso do seu programa http://localhost
    E tenho um player que lê todos os vídeos que estão em uma pasta da pra passar pra frente voltar tudo de boa

    Reply ↓
    1. Adriano Dantas

      Olá Ronaldo, bom dia!
      Gostaria de saber se vc tem como criar um vídeo explicativo e/ou disponibilizar esses aquivos para o grupo? Precisamos muito de um play que toque todos os vídeos de uma pasta sem parar.
      Desde já agradeço a sua atenção.
      +55 42 99933-9981 esse é o meu WhatsApp.

      Reply ↓
  47. ARTofAWD

    I love the app, but Argh, how do you enter a @ symbol on the keyboard. I cannot find a button that will allow for extended characters to enter my email address into the Plex logon.

    Reply ↓
  48. Raj

    Hi! I installed 1.7.3 on android 6.0… But I’m missing the send to car button! All I see at the top of the app is “about” and “v 1.7.3″

    Any help please?

    Reply ↓
  49. BR user

    In the 1.7.3 version when I try to select the Spotify Android Auto switch to the car stream app screen, not allowing to play the songs

    Reply ↓

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