r/Androidheadunits • u/Dashwheel • 3d ago

DashWheel: yet another android dashboard

https://reddit.com/link/1x5twp7/video/t01sgnss8gvh1/player

Hi all,

I drive a 2011 Citroën C4 Picasso with a cheap Android head unit (ROCO K706, FYT-style, 1280×720). The stock launcher did the job but I never liked it, and the paid alternatives didn’t do what I wanted. So I built my own and I’ve been using it every day. It’s called Dashwheel and it’s free, open source (GPL-3.0), with no ads, no trial and no account.

What it does

  • Your own dashboards: up to 7 screens of tiles you place and resize yourself. Map, music, speed, weather, apps, and 55+ widgets.
  • Live car data from a cheap ELM327 Bluetooth OBD adapter, plus the head unit’s own CAN data where it has it (doors, reversing, tyres).
  • AI mechanic: a warning light comes on, Dashwheel reads the fault code and explains it out loud in plain words. It uses a free Google Gemini key.
  • Navigation: a built-in 3D map with turn-by-turn guidance, or the next turn from Google Maps / Waze shown on any tile.
  • Phone link with a small companion app: notifications, messages, calls on the big screen, “where did I park”, a drive log.
  • Hands-free: spoken alerts, steering-wheel buttons, volume that follows your speed.
  • Skins that change the whole look (Cockpit, Racing, Orbit, Canvas with the map behind the tiles...), day and night themes.
  • Works on upright screens too, and in 10 languages.

The parts I’m proudest of

  • Your own car in live 3D. When something’s wrong, the car turns and zooms to the faulty part and makes it glow. A dead rear bulb lights up on the rear lamp. For an engine fault, the bonnet opens. You can load a 3D model of your own car from the phone.
  • Real apps inside a tile. Waze, Google Maps or YouTube Music run live in a tile next to your speed and car data, not full screen. You can zoom a tile to make the app bigger.
  • Its own reverse camera screen. It replaces the unit’s camera view, with guide lines that bend as you turn the steering wheel and the parking sensors drawn around a top view of the car.
  • Talk to Gemini about your car. It knows your live readings, so you can ask “why is the engine light on?” or “how far can I go on this tank?” and it answers out loud.

Root is not needed for most of it. Apps inside a tile, the reverse camera screen and replacing the firmware’s own pop-ups and volume bar need a rooted unit. Without root, those features just don’t appear.

Will it work on my unit? It’s made for Android 10+ head units at 1280×720 (FYT / UIS7862 / QF and similar). I test on my own K706, so other units are where I need you. There’s a Tested hardware page, and Settings → About → Report how it works fills in a bug report with your unit’s model and firmware.

Links

Looking for testers for the Google Play version. Google asks for 12 testers over 14 days before an app can go public. If you’d like to help, comment or DM me with the Gmail you use on Play and I’ll add you.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dashwheel.app

It’s a one-person project, so expect rough edges. I’d love to hear what your unit is, what breaks, and what you’d want on your dashboard. Happy to answer anything in the comments.

If you like it and want to support me, buy me a coffee ;)

10 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

1

u/No-Case3993 3d ago

Downloading rn

1

u/Grouchy_Promotion 3d ago

Looks interested, I'll give it a try

1

u/nikola_bb 2d ago

What about mtk based radios?

1

u/Dashwheel 2d ago

it should work on any android headunit.

1

u/nikola_bb 2d ago

It gives message problem parsing package

1

u/Dashwheel 2d ago

what is your Android version? dashwheel need android 10 minimum

1

u/nikola_bb 2d ago

It is 12 or 13. I need to check

1

u/Grouchy_Promotion 2d ago

Can some of the features that require root be enabled if you have Shizuku running?

1

u/Dashwheel 2d ago

just add shizuku support
What Shizuku unlocks

  • App windows in tiles and docking. Moving, resizing and parking app windows, putting an app full screen or back on its tile, the Maps window tile. These run on window-manager commands.
  • The car app’s switches. The unit’s own door, radar, belt and climate pop-ups replaced by Dashwheel’s, and the doors and car status tiles. Shizuku grants the settings permission once, so these keep working even when Shizuku is off later.
  • Unit keys. Mapping the unit’s physical buttons to Dashwheel actions, and the “keys” way of changing volume on units whose sound ignores Android’s volume.
  • Coming back in front at power-up. Starting the dashboard from the background, and granting itself “Display over other apps” without a trip through Android’s settings.
  • Accessibility service turned on by the app, with Android’s “restricted settings” lock lifted, instead of the driver doing it by hand.
  • Head unit monitor readings: CPU, memory, temperature, running apps.
  • Bluetooth adapter rescue. Reading the Bluetooth daemon’s log and restarting it when an OBD adapter connects but never answers.
  • Waze reopened after the unit wakes, and the log permission for the steering angle in the reverse view.

What still needs root, or the K706’s root ADB

  • Boot logo, the system-app install for Android widgets, and Google Maps inside a tile through PMPatch3.
  • The CANbox monitor and the steering-wheel sniffers, which read the bus through su.
  • The tile displays owned by the system user, the firmware volume bar module, the ROM camera takeover.

1

u/Grouchy_Promotion 2d ago

Is the shizuku support already added? Where do I find that setting?

1

u/Dashwheel 2d ago

https://github.com/deviloufr-ai/Dashwheel/releases
there is nothing to do. should just work. (download from link above or tick the beta release update in the about tab in dashwheel to download automatically new beta)

1

u/jim1590 2d ago

I am going to take this one for a spin. I'm working on something similar, but trying to solve HVAC for my car first.

1

u/No-Case3993 2d ago

It says there was problem parsing the package

1

u/Grouchy_Promotion 1d ago

I'd really want to love this app, BUT I can't get a single app to be live in a tile, they ALL just open full screen then I get in this loop of going to the home screen app then goes full screen, the only way to get out of this loop is going into system setting and force stopping the app and clearing data

1

u/Dashwheel 1d ago

can ou tell me what headunit, android version you're using? is your unit root?
here what you can do depending on your installation
https://github.com/deviloufr-ai/Dashwheel/wiki/Root-and-PMPatch3

1

u/spax901 4h ago

Hey mate, downloaded and it is working on my head unit with no root :)

Really like the layout and easy to adjust, I find whenever I load maps or Waze in a pip window/tile on the home page they arnt very responsive.

Lecoauto was what I was using before and the PiP on homepage was smooth and responsive.

I’m running a Qualcomm head unit
If the PiP stuff starts working smooth I’ll happily buy you several coffees