Apps on the Dashboard

Apps on the dashboard

Besides app icons (a tap opens the app full screen), another app can live on a dashboard in three ways: Add → Apps, pick the app, then In a tile (in a window or inside the tile, whichever your unit allows) or Side by side. Only the ones your unit allows are offered. For the full root / no-root picture see Root and PMPatch3.

	In a window	Inside the tile	Side by side
What you get	The app in a floating window laid over the tile	The app drawn inside the tile, like a widget, and touched there	Two apps in system split screen
Swiping to another page	The window moves to a hidden display and keeps running	The app keeps running out of sight (music, guidance carry on)	–
Same app on several pages	–	Yes: runs once, shows on the page on screen	–
Tile zoom	No	Yes	Yes
Needs	Root shell, firmware freeform windows	Root + PMPatch3, a reboot after installing it	Accessibility service

Rules for all: Android runs one copy of each app, so an app can't be in a window and inside a tile at once (the tile wins). Opening the app from the app drawer takes it out of its tile until you come back. Google Maps inside is the inside-the-tile mode with Maps built in; the Maps window widget and the Maps dock layouts are In a window for Maps.

Apps that block screen capture (streaming video with DRM, banking) show black inside a tile.

Text and icon size of a window tile: a window tile (Waze, YouTube Music…) has its own Text and icon size stepper in its tile panel. At any size but 100 % the app runs inside the tile, drawn at that size (Waze bigger); back at 100 % it floats as a window again. Needs PMPatch3; the page's own text size leaves floating windows alone.

Typing in an app inside a tile (an address in the map's search box) works without opening the app full screen.

Waze (and other apps) inside a tile

• With root, every screen stays in the tile: Dashwheel starts a small helper that owns the tile displays as the system user, and Android then lets the app open its own screens there. Waze's trip overview, search, voice prompt, reports, place cards and permission requests open inside the tile straight away instead of flashing full screen. The helper exits with Dashwheel; if it dies, the tiles start over on displays of their own.
• Without root: a screen that jumps out full screen on the main display is put back into its tile the instant it shows. One that keeps jumping out is left full screen until it closes, so the two never fight.
• Waze's search keyboard works: tapping Où va-t-on ? puts the search back on its tile, where the keyboard comes up.
• Back goes to the tile's app: the steering wheel's Back, or the unit's own Back key, goes to the app in the tile you touched last (for two minutes after that touch), closing Waze's search or route choices instead of acting on the dashboard. Touch the dashboard outside a tile and Back is the dashboard's again.
• Waze needs the microphone permission granted once for its voice prompt to listen from inside the tile.
• Open Waze on the route tile shows the dashboard with Waze's tile instead of pulling Waze out of it.
• On QF units the stock launcher no longer jumps in front after Waze closes one of its screens.

Status: the root helper was proven on the K706 on 2026-10-10; the rest is new on 2026-10-10 and not yet confirmed in the car.

Status

• In a window, Maps dock: daily use on the K706.
• Inside the tile (Maps, YouTube Music): car-tested; a watch repairs a tile that turns black after the app went full screen.
• Side by side: car-tested. The K706 ignores the divider's double-tap swap, so Dashwheel's swap button recreates the split reversed.

System app install

Settings → System → Unit tools → System app copies Dashwheel into /system/priv-app (Magisk module or the unit's root ADB). Useful for binding Android widgets without prompts and some overlay windows. Optional.