TouchTune by Miatafy

TouchTune enables the Mazda Connect touchscreen while the car is moving.

This repo is the shell script that runs on the head unit (the CMU), to remove the factory speed lockout on firmware v74.00.324A.

Full overview, FAQ, and Mazda Connect guides: miatafy.com/touchtune

Contents

• Requires firmware v74.00.324A
• Install from a USB stick
• How the USB auto-run works
• What ships in patches/ is the install set
• Uninstall by removing the patches/ folder
• Layout
• Built on the MZD-AIO community's work
• Risks and limits
• Supported vehicles
• License

Requires firmware v74.00.324A

Validated only on Gen 6 Mazda Connect v74.00.324A. install-patches.sh enforces it: it reads /jci/version.ini and refuses to run on any other version (v70, v74.00.331, Gen 7), leaving the unit untouched. There is no override.

Check your version first: how to check your Mazda Connect firmware (Settings → System → About). On older firmware, update before installing: get to v74 (how to update), and what v74 gains.

Install from a USB stick

The car runs the install itself from a USB stick. There is no desktop app and no login.

1. Format a USB stick FAT32 (MBR). Stick and format details: USB requirements.
2. Copy the contents of the usb/ folder (not the folder itself) to the root of the stick, using cp -R, rsync, or drag and drop. The stick's root then holds install-patches.sh, lib/, patches/, jci-autoupdate, and the $(…).up launcher.
3. Insert the stick with the car on (engine or accessory) and wait. The head unit detects the update flag, runs install-patches.sh, and applies every patch in patches/ (today, just touch-while-driving). On-screen popups track progress. When it finishes it flushes the changes, re-enables the watchdog, and restarts the unit to load them. A failed patch stops the run without restarting and writes touchtune.log to the stick.
4. When the unit restarts, remove the stick. The installer deletes the trigger files on a successful run, so a stick left in won't re-apply.

On macOS, run ./macos-usb-eject.sh after copying. It strips the .DS_Store and ._* files macOS writes to FAT32 and ejects the stick. The ._* cleanup matters: a stray ._<launcher>.up sidecar next to the launcher can make the CMU skip the update.

Launcher filename. The launcher is named $(...install-patches.sh...).up. The name is valid on FAT32/exFAT/NTFS and copies fine with cp -R or drag and drop, but a shell will try to execute it if you type it. Copy by wildcard or whole-folder copy, never by typing the name.

How the USB auto-run works

The CMU has a USB update mechanism. Three files on the stick drive it:

• jci-autoupdate: an empty flag the head unit's update scanner looks for.
• the $(…).up launcher: a small ZIP whose filename is itself a shell command that finds and runs install-patches.sh.
• install-patches.sh: the applier.

On a unit at v74.00.324A, a plain FAT32 USB stick is now the entire install path: no desktop app, no SSH, no JCI test mode (Mazda closed those), no opening the dash. Copy the files, plug it in, reboot. The same launcher installs, updates, and uninstalls.

Plain-English walkthrough of all three: how the installer works.

What ships in patches/ is the install set

install-patches.sh applies every *.sh directly under patches/ (no subfolders), sorted by filename, with no separate manifest. Today that is patches/touch-while-driving.sh, a file and nvram edit with nothing to configure. Add or remove scripts to change the set; if order matters, prefix the filenames (01-foo.sh, 02-bar.sh) so they sort. An empty or missing patches/ is the uninstall case below.

Uninstall by removing the patches/ folder

Uninstall from a USB stick too. Build a stick like an install stick, then delete its patches/ folder. install-patches.sh restores to factory at the start of every run before applying whatever is present, so with nothing to apply it restores every backed-up file and nvram value, applies nothing, and restarts. Dropping a single patch from the folder removes just that patch on the next install. More on reverting: revert / uninstall.

How the backup works. Before its first edit, each patched file is copied to /data/screentune/backups/files/, and the copy is never overwritten, so the factory version stays recoverable. Settings that aren't files use the same scheme: before touch-while-driving clears the CMU's speed-restriction nvram flags, their factory values are snapshotted to /data/screentune/backups/nvram/ and written back on restore.

Layout

usb/ is the payload. Copy its contents to the USB stick root. The top-level files (README, LICENSE, NOTICE, DISCLAIMER, macos-usb-eject.sh) stay in the repo.

touchtune/
├── README.md
├── LICENSE
├── NOTICE
├── DISCLAIMER.md
├── macos-usb-eject.sh         macOS helper: strip dotfiles + eject the stick
└── usb/                       Copy the CONTENTS of this folder to the USB root
    ├── install-patches.sh     Applier (the USB launcher's target)
    ├── jci-autoupdate         CMU update flag
    ├── $(…).up                USB launcher (command-injection filename)
    ├── lib/
    │   └── touchtune-helpers.sh   backup/restore (+nvram), ensure_data_dir, finalize
    └── patches/               Every *.sh here is applied (sorted); remove the folder to uninstall
        └── touch-while-driving.sh

TouchTune writes backups under /data/screentune/, the runtime path it shares with ScreenTune, so installing ScreenTune later reuses the same factory backups instead of taking a second baseline.

Built on the MZD-AIO community's work

The touch-while-driving patch descends from MZD-AIO's 01_touchscreen-i, and this work is GPL-3.0 because parts of it derive from GPL-3.0 community code. Full attribution is in NOTICE; background on the lineage: ScreenTune vs MZD-AIO.

Risks and limits

• No warranty; you assume all risk. You are modifying a vehicle you own, at your own risk (GPL-3.0 sections 15–16). TouchTune is provided as is. By building, installing, or using it you accept all risk arising from the modification and its use, and the authors, contributors, and Miatafy are not liable for any resulting damage, loss, or injury. The backups above are the safety net, and a USB recovery path for a unit that won't boot ships with ScreenTune. Full terms: DISCLAIMER. See also recovery.
• It disables a factory safety lockout. Touch-while-driving is the same change MZD-AIO shipped for years, and current cars ship always-on touchscreens. Know what it does and keep your eyes on the road. More on the trade-off: safety FAQ.
• Firmware-gated to v74.00.324A. The installer refuses any other version, as above.
• Don't disable core services. jciVBS, jciMMUI, audio_manager, jciTds, and jciBootManager are load-bearing; disabling them breaks the HMI. No patch here touches them, and you shouldn't add one that does.

Supported vehicles

The CMU is shared across Gen 6 Mazda Connect, so TouchTune runs on any v74.00.324A unit. It is validated on the ND MX-5 today; other Gen 6 cars (Mazda3, CX-5, and the rest) run the same unit with validation pending. Full matrix: supported vehicles.

License

GPL-3.0-or-later. See LICENSE and NOTICE. Published by Miatafy · miatafy.com/touchtune.