Heya!
No release this time, but today is a special day for me. A year ago today my journey with theming Android Auto started.
It all began by chance. I saw a post of a guy on Facebook asking "Is it possible to swap the original background of Android Auto? It's terrible". I agreed with him.
From time to time I used to take some apps' APKs and decompile them to sneak inside. That time around, I decompiled AA and started something. As soon as I knew which one was the file to swap in order to change the background, I thought to myself "All right, now how can I effectively make something that swaps Android Auto's wallpaper?"
Something that modified the APK was needed. I thought about Xposed. That's a pretty powerful framework but not many people would have installed it because of compatibility, stability and SafetyNet issues, and that’s why my choice went on Substratum, cause it's pretty powerful and rather easy to setup. Plus, it's on the Play Store, it's updated and easy to use. It requires root in most of the cases, I'm also unfortunate to not have Suynergy compatibility, but if root is the way to have what Google doesn’t give us, then root it is.
I'm pretty sure most of the users of my themes use Substratum just for my themes (and I’m very happy with it), but believe me, once you find some other Substratum themes, you can theme the whole device. Like literally.
So I learned how to make a Substratum theme, and in a matter of some hours I got a first working concept. It was something, and nothing else was like it. And that’s how “Substratum AA Backgrounds” started.
I wanted to launch it as a theme. I’ve thought about publishing on the Play Store but the 25$ dollars subscription fee wasn’t that convenient for something that would have been a very niche theme (and also free). But then, after just 20 days I got the first big coverage. My creation was shared on XDA-Developers. I couldn’t believe my eyes. “AA Backgrounds” got the attention of more and more people. It was, and it is, indeed unique. One goal, a lot of choices for the users, all for a more satisfying experience in Android Auto.
Throughout this entire year I’ve always wanted to make my themes user-centered. From day 1 I’ve been always open to suggestions. Whatever my users asked for, I was 100% there to try and satisfy them. Wallpapers for AA has always been open to accepting user-submitted backgrounds, and as it started growing I’ve been able to also deliver a clear welcome screen, with instructions (translated in multiple languages) and all the useful things at a glance.
On Average, my themes have a satisfaction rate of 99.3% (based on reviews) and I’m pretty proud of how they contribute to change the look & feel of Android Auto, and also how they are the only ones doing so.
Wallpapers For AA is now 1 year old, counting more than 800 wallpapers in total. And with Extras For AA growing in options and popularity I’m really proud of delivering the most advanced way to personalize Android Auto as you want it, and not as Google wants to force us.
And thanks to all of you guys this project is alive and kicking!
Thanks for more than 20k downloads, thanks to everyone who contributed with donations (or willing to donate), thanks to everyone who shared my creations on the internet, letting other know that Android Auto CAN be customized, thanks to everyone who took a moment to rate the theme on XDA Labs with 5 stars and to everyone that reported issues or asked for new features.
That’s the first year of a long journey. Thanks for being part of it.
As always, if you want sneek peaks of new updates, as well as of test builds of WP4AA and Extras for AA, the theme to customize Android Auto even more, be sure to join the
update channel on Telegram
Please don't forget to rate and review on XDA Labs. It helps the development a lot!
