Description
Your Android head unit has a good screen but no CarPlay, so iPhone owners just have to look at it. xcertplay fills that gap: it runs a CarPlay host app on Android and Android Automotive head units, wired or wireless. Install it, pair over Bluetooth, tap Save and Reconnect, and the iPhone starts casting CarPlay onto the screen.
CarPlay insists that an accessory be signed by an MFi authentication chip, and that is the hardest hurdle. xcertplay offers several ways around it: read an external MFi chip through a CH341 adapter board, go straight through the board's I2C controller, load a local certificate and private key, or call a remote MFi authentication service so no chip needs to sit in the car. The author says it has been tested on real head units and phones, and asks for a log with an issue if you hit an incompatible unit. Voice, navigation and music audio are mapped to the matching Android channels, and resizing the window triggers a fresh handshake at the new resolution.
Wired and wireless CarPlay:Both connection types work, down to Android 9.
Several MFi options:CH341 adapter, native /dev/i2c devices, local certificate and key files, or a remote MFi service, whichever suits your hardware.
Multi-channel audio:Voice, navigation and music map to the corresponding Android channels, with finer mapping in the Automotive build.
Dynamic resizing:The app re-handshakes automatically when the activity changes size so the picture fits.
Location reporting:Feeds the head unit's position to CarPlay.
CarPlay Ultra trigger:The protocol stack is incomplete, but it can already raise the CarPlay Ultra prompt on an iPhone.
Settings page:Tap the lower-right button before video starts, or swipe down with three fingers, then choose Save and Reconnect.
CarPlay insists that an accessory be signed by an MFi authentication chip, and that is the hardest hurdle. xcertplay offers several ways around it: read an external MFi chip through a CH341 adapter board, go straight through the board's I2C controller, load a local certificate and private key, or call a remote MFi authentication service so no chip needs to sit in the car. The author says it has been tested on real head units and phones, and asks for a log with an issue if you hit an incompatible unit. Voice, navigation and music audio are mapped to the matching Android channels, and resizing the window triggers a fresh handshake at the new resolution.
Features
Wired and wireless CarPlay:Both connection types work, down to Android 9.
Several MFi options:CH341 adapter, native /dev/i2c devices, local certificate and key files, or a remote MFi service, whichever suits your hardware.
Multi-channel audio:Voice, navigation and music map to the corresponding Android channels, with finer mapping in the Automotive build.
Dynamic resizing:The app re-handshakes automatically when the activity changes size so the picture fits.
Location reporting:Feeds the head unit's position to CarPlay.
CarPlay Ultra trigger:The protocol stack is incomplete, but it can already raise the CarPlay Ultra prompt on an iPhone.
Settings page:Tap the lower-right button before video starts, or swipe down with three fingers, then choose Save and Reconnect.
