Seb3thehacker
a8b49a3672
- Weather from Open-Meteo with a place name, a forecast screen and a nav bar icon; a fresh location fix is requested when the last one is stale - Map controls are solid, one size, and fade out after four seconds; pinch to zoom works because every finger now reaches the app - Map templates draw their content in a floating card; toggle and radio rows show their state, the Back and Pan actions work, and details text and buttons are larger - Home player gains Lyrics and Minimise buttons; minimised, it lives in the nav bar - Media apps that hide their library show what they are and can still be controlled; apps that refuse Gearslip as a host say why - Debug mode switch, session report in the log, and log sharing as a file attachment - Launcher, phone apps, weather and calendar load at startup - Web app opens DuckDuckGo by default - Home screen lists the setup steps; the launcher marks apps tested and working
Gearslip
Bring any app to your car screen.
What Gearslip is
Gearslip is an Android Auto client for the phone. It speaks the Android Auto protocol directly to a car head unit over USB, with no Google software in the path. Gearslip acts as a Car App Library host: an app that ships a car interface hands Gearslip a template, and Gearslip renders that template natively on the car screen. Nothing is mirrored from the phone. For apps without a car interface, Gearslip offers a separate screen-sharing mode.
The author reverse-engineered the protocol for interoperability, so that a client other than Google's own can talk to a car head unit.
Status
- Templated apps work. Gearslip renders all 16 template types that the Car App Library defines, and it draws its own keyboard for search and sign-in. It has been tested against several real navigation and media apps.
- Media playback works. Gearslip lets you browse and control car-enabled media apps from the car screen, with lyrics and playback state, over the same host connection.
- A real head unit needs a certificate that Google controls. A head unit accepts only a phone identity that chains to Google's Automotive Link certificate authority, and Google alone issues those certificates. Gearslip does not ship one. Without it, Gearslip runs and renders correctly against a debug harness, but a real car rejects the connection. A leaked certificate exists that older head units accept; newer firmware and Google's reference tooling reject it.
- Gearslip needs no adb, root, or Shizuku. Every feature relies on an ordinary Android permission or an on-device consent dialog.
Building
./gradlew :gearslip:assembleDebug
The APK lands at build/Gearslip-debug.apk.
A release build needs a signing key. Copy keystore.properties.example to
keystore.properties, fill in your own values, and run
./gradlew :gearslip:assembleRelease. Git ignores both the properties file and the
keystore. Without them, the debug build still works.
Writing apps for Gearslip
docs/BUILDING_APPS.md specifies how to write apps that Gearslip can render: templated apps, media apps, and the Gearslip app protocol.
License
Gearslip is licensed under AGPL-3.0; see LICENSE. The author offers a separate commercial license for private use outside the AGPL's terms; see NOTICE.md.