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. Sean

    It doesn’t seem to work for me at all now did the apk editor pro even apk cloner still doesn’t work any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

    Reply ↓
  3. VasAlex

    Hi. In version 1.7.3, when you add to the bookmark, sometimes there are duplicates and the program does not respond to requests.

    Reply ↓
  4. Abhi

    Hi, mine is a non touch screen car. How do I play the video. I can see the YouTube page but not able to play video. Is there a way,

    Reply ↓
  6. Mirek

    Hey Kiran, startup in AA’s only bar with a white background and nefujguje. Honoru8 to write error: Caropel crashed
    Java.lang.Runtime Exception: Unable to create service com.thekirankumar.youtubeauto.service.CarService:java.lang.RuntimeException?com.google.android.gms.car.b:java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException at android.app.ActivityThread.handleCreateService(ActivityThread.java:3345)at android.app.ActivityThread.-wrap5(ActivityThread.java) at android.app.ActivityThreadSH.handleM
    It’s advice (fix) to work? Thanks.

    Reply ↓
      1. Max

        Stesso problema, hai risolto in quaclhe modo? Ho notato che disistallando Andorid Auto e reinstallandolo torna a fuznioanre per un po’..poi stesso errore “Java.lang.Runtime Exception: Unable to create service “….

        Reply ↓
  7. Adriano Dantas

    Hello, I would like to add more pages to the bookmark? because it only accepts 6 pages. I tried to add but it gives error. Please, can anyone help me? or can you improve this in the new version?

    Reply ↓
  8. Angel

    He desinstalado AA y carstream y vuelto a instalar y sigue sin verse en pantalla completa. Cuando le doy a pantalla completa se queda negra la pantalla y solo se escucha el audio. Es por mi móvil, pero que le tengo que instalar para poder ver en pantalla completa?

    Reply ↓
  9. Michael Sammler

    Wow!!
    Worked great on the first try. Just got a 2016 Chevy Volt and works great with chevy mylink.

    YT Music would also be great. It is what I really wanted from the start. But just a suggestion. No complaints and much appreciation.

    Reply ↓
    1. Gabriele Rizzo

      Aggiungere la chiocciola alla tastiera significherebbe doverla rifare. Quella che c’è ora è quella standard di Android Auto. La soluzione più immediata è fare l’accesso dal telefono, il login lo ritroverai anche nell’auto,

      Reply ↓
  15. MobileJRay

    Maybe this feature is here and I don’t understand how to use it, but it would be great with my YouTube Red account to be able to download videos so when I travel I’m not having to stream from the cellular network. I know we have access to the SD card slot, but within the phone YouTube app I’m always able to download videos and playlists… Would like to play from the local download. Thanks in advance! Great app!!!!

    Reply ↓
  17. Salvatore nardo

    Per favore potresti aggiungere la tastiera con caratteri speciali
    Mi occorre la @ per effettuare il login ai canali streaming ed a social
    Grazie e buon lavoro

    Reply ↓
    1. Gabriele Rizzo

      A parte che probabilmente Kiran non ti darà mai retta se continui a scrivergli in Italiano. Poi, se fai l’accesso dal telefono, il login lo ritroverai anche nell’auto. Aggiungere la chiocciola alla tastiera significherebbe doverla rifare. Quella che c’è ora è quella standard di Android Auto.

      Reply ↓
  18. Umberto

    Hi Kiran, you did a great job! Only if you need @ to insert your username or email, could you include it in your keyboard? Thanks again!

    Reply ↓
    1. Gabriele Rizzo

      Aggiungere la chiocciola alla tastiera significherebbe doverla rifare. Quella che c’è ora è quella standard di Android Auto. La soluzione più immediata è fare l’accesso dal telefono, il login lo ritroverai anche nell’auto,

      Reply ↓
      1. Jack

        Gabriele io ho provato a fare l’accesso da telefono come suggerisci..ad esempio su premium play, ma non mi resta salvata la login…altra curiosità, ma a te funziona con la versione 1.73 l’accesso a external sd? Con quella precedente mi funzionava, con quest’ultima no. Grazie per il supporto

        Reply ↓
  22. Bill

    got everything installed, have the icon on my android auto, but I have no send to car button like in your video. How do I send the video? I can hear the audio.

    Reply ↓
  23. Wes

    Love the app kiran however my vehicle is not a touchscreen so navigation with the center control wheel is quite difficult. On the bookmarks page i cannot select anything. Any chance that can be fixed?

    Reply ↓
  24. Jack

    Gabriele io ho provato a fare l’accesso da telefono come suggerisci..ad esempio su premium play, ma non mi resta salvata la login…altra curiosità, ma a te funziona con la versione 1.73 l’accesso a external sd? Con quella precedente mi funzionava, con quest’ultima no. Grazie per il supporto

    Reply ↓
  26. Matteo

    Hi ,
    about playing through plex media server :

    Plex permits to make playing list and to see any type of media file without conversion but …..
    1) plex media server is too heavy and use a lot of my phone resources.
    2) plex player and server sometimes use mobile network also if it’s playing a local file (i think for create a sharable media list)
    3) quality of videos is worst than the same videos played directly with Carstream….(some videos Need a conversion to mp4 with correct codec….but for me this isn’t a problem)

    I uninstall all plex software hoping that You release a version of Carstream with playlist support…..

    Thanks !!!

    Reply ↓
  27. Lecterr

    Great app, thanks a lot!!!

    One thing could be better: Bigger letters in intern and extern storage. I often touch the wrong file. Maybe you could change that to bigger letters?

    Reply ↓
  29. kris

    Hi Kiran, please add the “@” sign to the keyboard. To watch TV you have to log in and without this sign it is impossible. Thank you. Regards :)

    Reply ↓
    1. Gabriele Rizzo

      Adding a key to the keyboard would require make an entire new keyboard. The one in the app right now is the standard from Android Auto. Login to a website within the app from phone instead.

      Reply ↓
  31. fae

    ragazzi mi sembra un forum italiano ormai….
    sul galaxy s8 funziona benissimo
    tranne netflix ma di questo si è già discusso nelle pagine precedentti

    guys seems to me an Italian forum now ….
    on the galaxy s8 it works great
    except netflix but this has already been discussed in the previous pages

    Reply ↓
  33. Emy

    Non si puo proprio fissare un segnalibri per evitare ad ogni riavvio dell auto xhe riparta il filmato da capo?

    Is not possible to set a bookmark so the movie does not restart each time I turn off and on my auto?

    Reply ↓
  34. Emy

    Non si puo proprio fissare un segnalibri per evitare ad ogni riavvio dell auto che riparta il filmato da capo?

    Is not possible to set a bookmark so the movie does not restart each time I turn off and on my auto?

    Reply ↓
  35. Florin

    Hi there,
    I’ve installed all softwares, but if I try to make a Google search and to access my bookmarks, with the KEYBOARD DISPLAYED ON THE HEAD UNIT it is impossible to do so.
    Some characters are missing: I’m interested for . useful to insert the email addresses.
    Thanks.

    Reply ↓
  36. Matt F

    I just wanted to say thanks. Everything works percectly. I have waited for quite some time for this. Thank you for the hard work!

    Reply ↓
  39. Ahmed

    Great app ! But i don’t have the full list on the andriod auto app to choose receive from unknown as shown in your video , I only have Help and feedback and send feedback.

    any solution ?

    Reply ↓
  42. Sandy

    Would love to see Netflix support or nowtv support. That way I can watch my favourite TV shows while my electric car charges.

    Reply ↓
  43. EDMILSON FERREIRA

    Hello Kiran, I can not install the Plex APK server, it always says that it is incompatible. I have Android 7.0, can you help?

    Reply ↓
  47. Attila

    Thx for the update. Can you specify exactly, what type of local video files, video encoding are supported? MP4 (H264&AAC), MKV…?

    Reply ↓
      1. Chevyguyss

        No I think because it sees it as a mobile browser and asks you to open it in the Android app. I tried. Thanks for the reply!

        Reply ↓

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