[MOD] HTC Car Mode Xposed! (Version 2.3) [Lollipop Compatible!]

Ambious · Jun 1, 2014

The HTC Sense Car Mode app had some features removed or changed from the previous versions. Namely, statusbar pulldown has been blocked, along with switching apps and basically multitasking.

The reason for this is probably safety; to discourage drivers from tinkering too much with their phones while driving - and while I'm fully behind that I believe in giving people options - which is why I created this module!

So far it allows you to:

Bring back multitasking (status bar and 'recent apps' functionality).
Release the 'Home' button to let it go back to the default launcher.
Replace the default 3-Tap gesture action with anything you want!
Turn Wi-Fi and GPS on or off at startup and shutdown.
Bypass the exit confirmation dialog.
Automatically close apps opened from within the Car App on shutdown (requires root to be fully functional!)

And more features coming in all the time!

If you love the HTC Car app as much as I do, you'll enjoy this!

Download
You can find it on the Xposed repository right here.
(It's marked as 'beta' so set your installer filter accordingly).

XDA:DevDB Information
HTC Car Mode Xposed!, Xposed for the HTC One (M8)

Contributors
Ambious
Source Code: https://github.com/eladavron/HTCCarXposed

Xposed Package Name: ambious.htccarxposed

Version Information
Status: Stable
Current Stable Version: 2.1
Stable Release Date: 2014-11-02
Current Beta Version: 2.3
Beta Release Date: 2015-05-15

Created 2014-06-01
Last Updated 2015-05-16

Ambious · Jun 1, 2014

Changelog

Latest Versions:

~~Version 2.3~~ Pulled! This version seemed to cause other things to malfunction.

Version 2.2

Added Sense 7.0 Compatibility

Fixed an issue with the screen not staying on in older versions (Android 4.4)

(Not Tested on Sense 6.* Versions!)

Version 2.1

Fixed a bug that would cause the 3-finger gesture to crash the "Car" app even when not running.

Added a "Logging" option for better future debugging (saves log to file on the SD Card).

Version 2.0:

Now Lollipop Compatible! (not tested on KitKat)

Older Versions:

Version 1.9:

Added the option to turn off the screen when exiting the car-app - requires enabling Administrator Privileges (prompted when enabled).

Version 1.8:

Brought back the GPS startup and shutdown mods, should work fine now.

Version 1.7:

Added the option to override the "3-Fingers tap" gesture with either Google Hands-Free, Google Now or a custom app of your choice!

Fixed a bug with the Toggler where it would launch the settings app instead of the car if triggered by 3rd party app (such as NFC or Tasker).

Version 1.6:

Added the "App Toggler" which allows to shut down the car app through a global shortcut, or launch it if it's already closed.

Fixed a bug where Wi-Fi would turn off even by navigating away from the Car app and not just closing it.

Re-did the icon - again! (One day I'll be pleased with it).

Version 1.5:

Fixed "Multitasking"! Yes, the "Recent Apps" button now works and doesn't break anything! Thanks to the brilliant RichmondoUK for pointing me in the right direction.

Removed GPS mods - it wasn't working as well as I had hoped due to android privacy overrides.

Version 1.4:

Added 'Exit mods':

Change GPS and Wi-Fi states on exit

Close apps opened from the Car App (either using a regular shut-down which doesn't always work or the more powerful 'root' method).

Moved the "Exit without confirmation" option under this category

Some code touch-ups

Still no fully-working multi-tasking mod, sorry... that's one tough nut!

Version 1.2:

Default settings will bow be applied upon installation.

Added an option to bypass the exit confirmation dialog

Added the option to turn GPS and Wi-Fi on or off at startup.

You can also choose to - obviously - not change them at all.

I'm still working on turning them on and off when exiting the app, it's not working so well so far...

Version 1.1:

Interface added! You can now turn mods on and off selectively.

Added the option to release the 'Home' button.

New icon, slightly less ugly I hope.

Ambious · Jun 1, 2014

Information

Why disable a safety feature?
The HTC Car App introduced those blocking 'features' for an obvious reason: to discourage people from fumbling around with their phones while driving.
That's a good and important cause, but unfortunately it's not a very smart method of doing it - which is why this module was created. Consider the following scenario: You're in your default navigation app with the music player (which is controllable by the car app) running in the background. You want to skip the currently playing track. If everything's at stock, the new restrictions make it an annoyingly long process: You have to click the home button, enter the music control applet, skip the track as you normally would, then click the home button again, find the navigation app's icon and re-launch it. Without those restrictions all you do is pull down the statusbar, click the 'skip' button on the music player's active notification tile, and pull it back up.
HTC's restrictions - which are supposed to increase safety and attention while driving actually make it longer and more attention-consuming to perform such tasks.
This module allows you to overcome those restrictions, mostly, but I must still say - and I can not overstate this enough:
DRIVE SAFELY!
DON'T OPERATE YOUR DEVICE WHILE DRIVING !
Play music, navigate, make and take calls - but do so safely without fumbling around.
If anything doesn't work with less then three touches of the screen, or if it requires you to look at your device for more than a split-second glance - either forget about it or pull over! It's not worth it!

stevendbrady · Jun 6, 2014

Works as advertised. Upgraded from Sense 5.5 just so I could enable this mod and get to my notifications. Thanks!

linuxsense · Jun 14, 2014

Very cool. I use the HTC car app quite a bit and always hated that I had to close it to access anything else. What other tweaks are possible? It would be nice to be able to switch the default music app to Google Music. Disabling wifi on launch would also be slick.

BTW, this works fine on the M7 with Sense 6.

Ambious · Jun 14, 2014

linuxsense said:
Very cool. I use the HTC car app quite a bit and always hated that I had to close it to access anything else. What other tweaks are possible? It would be nice to be able to switch the default music app to Google Music. Disabling wifi on launch would also be slick.

BTW, this works fine on the M7 with Sense 6.

Currently I'm mostly battling with basic things like making the 'recent apps' button work and making the settings toggleable without restarting. Once I get the basics working, I'll start seeing what else I can tinker with. Switching the default music app is not going to be easy because it's deeply integrated within the app, but I'll see what I can do.
As for the wifi, that shouldn't be too difficult.
Glad to hear it's working on other devices as well.

Reyzis · Jun 15, 2014

Please add support for all apps in car mode! Currently you can add only a few apps .. For example you can't add Torque

linuxsense · Jun 16, 2014

Looks like the 1.1 version changes caused it to stop working with the M7 :crying:

ETA: Looks like it functions properly if "take over home button" is disabled. With that unchecked you can access the pulldown menu as well as reach the desktop or recent apps using the home button.

Ambious · Jun 16, 2014

linuxsense said:
Looks like the 1.1 version changes caused it to stop working with the M7 :crying:

ETA: Looks like it functions properly if "take over home button" is disabled. With that unchecked you can access the pulldown menu as well as reach the desktop or recent apps using the home button.

It might be something else, I noticed that the settings won't take until you run the settings interface at least once.
Please try to re-enable the setting and see if anything changes.
Thanks for the report!

linuxsense · Jun 16, 2014

Ambious said:
It might be something else, I noticed that the settings won't take until you run the settings interface at least once.
Please try to re-enable the setting and see if anything changes.
Thanks for the report!

I am pretty sure that I ran settings app prior to trying it out, not completely sure though. I just toggled the home screen option and get the same results. It only works if it is not selected.

Ambious · Jun 16, 2014

linuxsense said:
I am pretty sure that I ran settings app prior to trying it out, not completely sure though. I just toggled the home screen option and get the same results. It only works if it is not selected.

Hmm. I'm not getting that on the M8, but I'll look into it.
Unfortunately I don't have an M7 to test on.
Could you for the sake of testing go to the settings interface - uncheck both boxes, then recheck both boxes, then restart your device and see if it works then?
Thanks!

ahlot18 · Jun 16, 2014

Ambious said:
uncheck both boxes, then recheck both boxes, then restart your device and see if it works then?
Thanks!

Its work :good::good::good: thanks

Ambious · Jun 16, 2014

ahlot18 said:
Its work :good::good::good: thanks

Thanks for the info, I think I know what's causing it:
The mods don't take if the car app is running in the background because it hooks into methods as they load.
There's a command to kill it if it's running in the background and settings have been changed, but it might not have taken - or rather, it also won't be run if settings are at their default state, so if you install the mod, then run the car app, then load the module interface and change nothing - it still won't be set.
Next version will handle this more properly, I hope (currently writing it).

agentdr8 · Jun 16, 2014

Reyzis said:
Please add support for all apps in car mode! Currently you can add only a few apps .. For example you can't add Torque

I can add Torque to Car...?

Reyzis · Jun 16, 2014

agentdr8 said:
I can add Torque to Car...?

Torque free or the paid App? I have torque free and can't add it to car mode ... :/

agentdr8 · Jun 16, 2014

Reyzis said:
Torque free or the paid App? I have torque free and can't add it to car mode ... :/

Torque paid. Maybe free is different, but from what I can tell, HTC Car doesn't blacklist any apps from being added to one of the screens.

Ambious · Jun 16, 2014

I agree, there doesn't seem to be a limit on which apps you can add and which you can't.
Your issue must be related to the app itself. Since I'm unfamiliar with Torque, I really can't tell.
Are there any other apps, as far as you can tell, that you can't add?

linuxsense · Jun 16, 2014

Ambious said:
Hmm. I'm not getting that on the M8, but I'll look into it.
Unfortunately I don't have an M7 to test on.
Could you for the sake of testing go to the settings interface - uncheck both boxes, then recheck both boxes, then restart your device and see if it works then?
Thanks!

If I do that when I run the HTC car app the home button will open recent apps if double tapped but otherwise it just returns to car mode when home is pressed. If I disable it pressing home takes me to the desktop and double tapping it takes me to recent apps. I am running NuSenseSIX based off the m8-base fwiw. If you have any tweaks you would like tested let me know, I can provide logcats and such.

dafob · Jun 16, 2014

Dialer not working

Thank you for this awesome mod. I'm not sure if it's the ROM I'm running, but I can't seem to launch the dialer using this module. All other buttons work normally, as well as the added functions of this module.

I'm running the Venom ROM on the M8.

Does anyone else have this problem?

linuxsense · Jun 16, 2014

dafob said:
Thank you for this awesome mod. I'm not sure if it's the ROM I'm running, but I can't seem to launch the dialer using this module. All other buttons work normally, as well as the added functions of this module.

I'm running the Venom ROM on the M8.

Does anyone else have this problem?

Good catch. Just shows how much I actually use my 'phone' for calls...had not even tried it yet :laugh:

I have the same issue on an M7, the 'Dialer' button in the car mode app doesn't do anything.

[MOD] HTC Car Mode Xposed! (Version 2.3) [Lollipop Compatible!]

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