Usage Guide
Caution
- Flywheel is still experimental software.
- Use it at your own risk.
- Do not use it while driving.
- I am not responsible for bricked headunits.
Please see the Setup Guide for instructions on how to download and install Flywheel.
Currently, the only supported connection mode is USB.
By default, you will have to unlock your phone before connecting your car over USB. This is for security, as Flywheel's UI allows full access to your phone as if it was unlocked.
After connecting for the first time, you may get a prompt like one of these:
These prompts allow you to grant Flywheel permission to connect to your car over USB.
If you see the Android Auto app pop up instead, please see disabling Android Auto in the setup guide.
Caution
Wireless support in Flywheel is experimental, and security is not guaranteed.
Prerequisites:
- you must pair your car over Bluetooth via your phone settings
- your device must support peer-to-peer WiFi
- Android 10+ is currently required
- only Android 12+ can currently use auto-connect
You can try it by using the "setup bluetooth auto-connect" and "force connect bluetooth" options in the 3 dot menu on the Debug screen.
The app drawer can be accessed directly from its icon on the dock:
Depending on what apps were found on your system, the app drawer can show categories to make it easier to find typical apps for car usage.
The "All Apps" category can be used to open any app on the phone if needed.
Simply tap an app icon in the app drawer to launch the app.
A new space will be opened for the app, visible in the dock:
For apps that are already open, the behavior is one of the following:
- If the app is already open somewhere on the dock by itself (no split-screen), the first corresponding space will be selected.
- If the app is not open in the current space, Flywheel will jump to the first space containing the app.
- If the app is already open in the current space with another app in split-screen, the app will be duplicated into a new space by itself.
The dock displays and allows control over your spaces.
Spaces have a specific set of properties:
- Only one space can be displayed at a time
- Only one instance of an app can be open at a time
- Spaces can have multiple unique apps in split-screen
- An app can be in more than one space, getting reconfigured when switching between them
The area for spaces in the dock is divided in two sections, marked by the divider in the image below:
- Pinned (left)
- Open (right)
Pinned spaces are persistent, meaning any spaces you pin are re-opened the next time you connect to your car.
Open spaces remain open on the dock for as long as the car stays connected and are closed after stopping Flywheel.
These spaces are in the order of most recently used, so selecting one moves it to the beginning of the section.
Spaces can be re-ordered, pinned, and unpinned by long-pressing and dragging them.
Similarly, app icons in the app drawer can be long-pressed, dragged, and pinned directly to the dock in a newly-created space (this also launches the app in the background):
Selecting the currently visible space in the dock reveals a splash-screen that can be used to modify the space.
The options provided for each individual app:
- close: Removes the app from the space. If there are no apps left in the space it gets deleted. If there are no other spaces with the app, the app gets closed.
- re-launch: Closes and re-launches the app.
The options provided for the whole space:
- split-screen: Allows adding another app to the space in split-screen.
Using the split-screen button will show you a list of your currently open apps to choose from:
Selecting an app that's in a space by itself (VLC, in this case) will cause both spaces to be "joined", leaving only one space with both apps.
Please consider submitting a compatibility report for your headunit model if it isn't already listed.
Please check out the troubleshooting guide. If it still isn't working, please submit a bug report.