[Android 7.0+] AppRadio Unchained Rootless

Great news regarding AAUnchained. Finally video streaming to my Pioneer Android Auto head unit is working and it is really stable. See here for a demo: AAUnchained video mirroring demo.
This demo shows the AAUnchained app running on my old Nexus 6 with Android 9. It's connected wirelessly to the head unit via an AAWireless adapter. AAunchained mirrors the phone's screen to the head unit directly, 'talking' the Android Auto protocol. Because Android Auto is not used, all of the screen estate is available for mirroring.
Next things to do is to get audio working and implementing touch from the head unit to the phone.

I did some more testing with audio and it's also sent to the head unit using the AA protocol. Capturing internal audio is only possible with Android 10 and higher so that's going to be a requirement for the app. Have to see how that works but it's not nearly as difficult as getting the video to work.

Touch is even simpler. Touch info is already sent via the AA protocol, just a matter of hooking it up.

Now have audio working as well. Going to add touch and then make a full demo.

AppRadio Unchained Rootless allows full mirroring of your phone from your AppRadio. This means that any app can be controlled from the head unit screen and not just a few that are specially adapted.

AppRadio Unchained Rootless is available from the Play store here: AppRadio Unchained Rootless
The user's manual is available here: User's manual

For this app to work Android 7 or higher is required. As Android 7 only allows to inject complete gestures, a gesture has to be completed first on the head unit before it will be dispatched to the phone. It works similar to record and playback. Suppose you need to do a long press of 2 seconds, first press for 2 seconds, once you lift your finger it will be dispatched and replicated on the phone where it will take 2 seconds as well. It's recommended to only do things that take a short time so there won't be too much delay.

Important
The 'Smartphone setup' on the head unit needs to be set correctly for Android as by default it's configured for Iphone. Go to Settings->System->Input/Output Settings->SmartphoneSetup and set Device to 'Others' and Connection to 'HDMI'. See this video: Smartphone setup

Any other AppRadio related app needs to be uninstalled as this blocks the connection to AppRadio Unchained Rootless.

AppRadio mode requires that your device is connected to the HDMI input of the head unit. Depending on the device this can be done with a MHL / Slimport / Miracast / Chromecast adapter. This app supports automatic connection to wireless screencasting devices. Since Google API doesn't support this directly it is done via the phone's GUI. Note that only the phone's built-in screencasting capabilities can be used.

Because this app may not work for your setup there's an extended trial period of 48 hours. In order to claim this simply request a refund within 48 hours after purchase by emailing the order number to the support email address.

Supported head units: any AppRadio that supports Android AppMode via HDMI.
For example: SPH-DA100, SPH-DA110, SPH-DA210, SPH-DA120, AVH-X8500BHS, AVH-4000NEX, AVH-4100NEX, AVH-4200NEX, AVIC-X850BT, AVIC-X950BH, AVIC-Z150BH, AVIC-6000NEX, AVIC-6100NEX, AVIC-6200NEX, AVIC-7000NEX, AVIC-7100NEX, AVIC-7200NEX, AVIC-8000NEX, AVIC-8100NEX, AVIC-8200NEX

Units that have AppRadio mode via USB (a.k.a. AppRadio One) are not supported.

Android 7 Bluetooth bug
If during connection 'Accept thread error' is displayed this is not because of a bug in the app but due to a bug in Android 7.
It can be fixed by disabling BT background scanning: Go to Settings -> Location, in top right menu click Scanning -> Bluetooth Scanning.

The following features are supported:
- Multitouch
- AppRadio buttons
- GPS data transfer via mock locations (only works with head units that have a GPS receiver)
- Wake lock
- Rotation locker (to put any app in landscape mode)
- Real calibration
- Start on HDMI detection (for use with phones and HDMI adapters)
- Notifications to indicate connection state
- Diagnostics
- Automatic Bluetooth toggle for improved connection

Beta test version
The beta test version has the latest features but can also contain bugs.
You need to become a tester of the AppRadio Unchained Rootless app to be able to get it.
Please apply here: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/mars.area51.arunchainednr

Beta test release notes
0.09
- Fix for black menu text color, now white as it should be.
- SWC commands can now be directed to a target app.

0.08
- Fix for calibration out of range.
- Fix for delay of casting start.
- Support for automatic casting on Samsung Android 9.
- Fix for startForegroundService.
- Fix for rotation locker.
- Change HDMI wired connection trigger to be triggered by Bluetooth connection.

AppRadio is a registered trademark of Pioneer.
Disclaimer: You are solely responsible for using this app in such a way that it does not impair your ability to drive.

A coincidence that you ask , but recently I started working on AAUnchained again. I talked to some people about it and got some new insights as how to go forward.
It's pretty tough but I am slowly making progress. It's pretty stable now when talking to the OpenAuto head unit simulator. I can also talk to my Pioneer head unit via AAwireless but not stable yet. Plan to do some tests to talk to the head unit via USB and iron out the kinks. The code that I have now is basically a prototype and nowhere near production quality.

maximushugus said:

@Area51© have you seen those repositories : AACS and AAVideoSink ?
You could use it as explained here .

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

I think I had a look at that and it was not very useful for me. I already have code that can do more than that.

My main issue was getting system audio (REMOTE_SUBMIX) from Android. I managed to do that only with a rooted phone. Recently I discovered that it's possible to get system audio with only shell rights (via ADB) in Android 12 and up.
Now there's the Shizuku app that can be used to use ADB rights in your app. I have been doing some experiments with that and got system audio capture working on a non rooted phone.
Furthermore this could also be used to capture video without the need to give consent each time the app is started.
Touch can be injected without the need to use an accessibility service. This way real touch events can be injected giving much better response than the gestures via an accessibility service.
Last but not least it gives the possibility to set the aspect ratio to match the head unit's aspect ratio so there's no black bars.
And the best is that no root is necessary. You only need to install the Shizuku app and enable Wireless debugging.

Next week I have some time available so I will be working on getting some of this working in my prototype and hopefully will be able to make a demo.