[dipdawiz]

Going wireless is the norm; efficient or not, it is ergonomic, clutter free and easy. Easy, is it? Well in most cases, but it is not easy to find a option to go wireless when it comes to Android Auto(AA). Most car manufacturers, even in their top end offerings, do not provide wireless AA. You have to use wire to connect or some sort of dongle required. Though it is not fully wireless option as the dongle would connect with a wire to your infotainment system, but it remove the hassle of connecting/disconnecting wire to your phone every time you get into the car.

As most users do not care if it is wired or wireless, not enough solution to make a wired AA to wireless AA available in market. Some Chinese dongles present, but they are not even 1% reliable. First reliable option came from crowd funded Indiegogo project AAWireless back in 2020. Second option came sometime last year from Motorola (Motorola MA1 dongle offers wireless Android Auto capabilities), but soon the short fall of it started coming in online forums. And it is not easy to get hold of, specially in India.

Now AAWireless being crowd funded, manufacturing depends on bulk order and this pandemic makes the delivery of the product not streamlined and only ships in batches. But user base is strong, online support is available and they ship to India. However, once you get hold of one, it has many variables for it to work, I'll get to details of this.

Ordered it in January with a March expected delivery. Though product owners update the progress, there are delays not in their control and finally got it delivered 3rd week of April. Note that, seller send the device all duty paid shipping to India, but Indian counterpart of the courier company would try to charge you customs duty. You just have to ignore that and send a mail or raise a ticket at https://cpeb.freshdesk.com/support/home, they take care of it.


The device

The device comes in a small box, back of it has the QR code to download the companion android application.



Download the app, if you are lucky, it has only 4 steps and one pre-requisite (app will guide you). I will give the steps along with some points to make it work (possibly, it worked for my 2020 Seltos GTX+ and Samsung S21)

Prerequisite

Before you do anything, go to your phone setting, search for advanced option of AA and enable developer option if already not enabled. Now from top right menu developer settings, enable "Add wireless projection to settings".


Make sure "wireless android auto" is also enabled.


Steps to connect

1. Start the car
2. Connect to device using supplied USB cable to car's AA USB port
3. It would search for AAWireless device - this time, if your car Bluetooth is already connected, disconnect from your phone Bluetooth menu. In search screen on AAWireless app, select AAWireless device from the list. It will connect to AAWireless device and it may ask you to give some permissions. Allow them.
4. It will launch the app in normal mode on mobile and the device would try to connect to car's AA with all default settings.

If you are lucky, your infotainment system would show AA. But some of the troubleshooting might require from the first try only. For me two settings needed to be done for it to work.


Settings

App interface is clean, but not much details on what options do what


For my case, I had to set following things for it to work. From AAWireless app, go to settings -
1. Set USB mode to MTP (from Default)
2. Set Passthrough to Enabled

Voila, infotainment system shows AA, as it used to.

After this first setup and troubleshooting, once connected, it is straight forward there after. If your WiFi and Bluetooth are always enabled on phone, it would auto connect as soon as you switch on the car. And it takes around 15 second for AA to be connected to car infotainment. Tested with Google Maps and Amazon Music, both worked flawlessly for limited time I used it. So far, no lag detected. Yet to fully use it for longer time, will keep this thread updated.

And all AAWireless users can discuss the issues, troubleshooting and solutions in this thread.

[PatienceWins]

Originally Posted by dipdawiz

Settings

App interface is clean, but not much details on what options do what
Attachment 2299803

For my case, I had to set following things for it to work. From AAWireless app, go to settings -
1. Set USB mode to MTP (from Default)
2. Set Passthrough to Enabled

Voila, infotainment system shows AA, as it used to.

After this first setup and troubleshooting, once connected, it is straight forward there after. If your WiFi and Bluetooth are always enabled on phone, it would auto connect as soon as you switch on the car. And it takes around 15 second for AA to be connected to car infotainment. Tested with Google Maps and Amazon Music, both worked flawlessly for limited time I used it. So far, no lag detected. Yet to fully use it for longer time, will keep this thread updated.

And all AAWireless users can discuss the issues, troubleshooting and solutions in this thread.

Thank you for creating this thread. The setting you have mentioned worked for me in my Creta SXO 2020 model with Oneplus 7T.

I remember seeing MTP and MTP with Retry. I will try both the options to see if there is any difference. Could not find any detail online. Thanks

[PatienceWins]

Also, I do not like AAWireless resting on the wireless charging pad where I usually keep the phone. Planning to stick it to the top of the wireless charging pad compartment with a double sided 3M tape.

[gary]

I received one last week; I had ordered in Jan, so took 3 months. The sellers had promised a March delivery but they wrote in March that it would be delayed by a month. It was a seamless setup, took 2-3 minutes after I installed the app. I could not find "Add wireless projection to settings" on my device, but it worked anyway. I use a pixel 3A. It connects seamlessly once I start the car. No action needed. It doesn't occupy a lot of space, and can be permanently fixed somewhere, but I haven't thought much about it yet. It's much smaller and lighter than I expected.

I was pleasantly surprised by the device experience. Modern day gadgets are not simple to install or setup. This one made me go wow!

The only irritant - I had to pay Rs.1780 for customs. Not sure if others experienced the same, or I was duped. I also had to send soft copies of documents - aadhar, pan and an address proof etc.

[sridhu]

Originally Posted by dipdawiz

AA Wireless.

This is of great interest to me.

As I had detailed elsewhere (Issues: Samsung S22 Ultra (Android 12) & Pioneer Head-Unit), I am having trouble connecting to my Pioneer head unit from my S22 Ultra.

I am wondering if this will fix the problem for me. So, the questions:

- Does it work with a Pioneer AVH-Z5090BT?
- Does it pair with Android 12?
- Is there any loss of functionality?
- Would be great if you could give an indication of the price you paid & duties, if any

Please do let me know
PS: I have also DMed you

Thanks in advance.

[gary]

Originally Posted by sridhu

- Does it pair with Android 12?

Thanks in advance.

Yes - works with Android 12.

This is what I had paid when I placed the order:

1 x AAWireless $85.00 USD
Shipping (India) $20.00 USD
Indiegogo Tip $5.00 USD
Total Paid $110.00 USD

The conversion may vary for you. additionally, I paid Rs. 1780 for customs.

[dipdawiz]

Originally Posted by gary

... I could not find "Add wireless projection to settings" on my device, but it worked anyway. I use a pixel 3A. It connects seamlessly once I start the car. No action needed.

For everyone's info, Go to Settings > Advanced > "Android Auto" (for Samsung, others if not same location, search Android Auto in settings)

Go to bottom of the screen and continuously tap "Version" 7~8 times, developer settings would be enabled.


Then, from top right menu, you can access Developer settings

Originally Posted by gary

The only irritant - I had to pay Rs.1780 for customs. Not sure if others experienced the same, or I was duped. I also had to send soft copies of documents - aadhar, pan and an address proof etc.

This was absolutely not required. Mail them for refund if you are lucky they may return. Raise a ticket with seller for a proof that it was shipped all duty paid - https://cpeb.freshdesk.com/support/home.

The Indian courier counterpart wanted to pull a quick one with those who are unaware. Even I would have think we have to pay duty. But Praveen789 informed it in another thread (Motorola MA1 dongle offers wireless Android Auto capabilities)about it. And Asking the Indian courier partner to recheck, they reverted that duty not required and sent the item.

Id proof and authorization letter is pretty standard I guess, as I have done same with DHL and UPS before, when importing some electronics from Amazon.com and Amazon.de.

Originally Posted by sridhu

- Does it work with a Pioneer AVH-Z5090BT?
- Does it pair with Android 12?
- Is there any loss of functionality?
- Would be great if you could give an indication of the price you paid & duties, if any

1. Ideally any headunit having wired Android Auto should work with this, only needs some setting for different handset and head unit.

2. Yes, I am using with Samsung Galaxy S21 with Android 12 with OneUI 4.1 (latest).

3. The phone still connects with head unit using bluetooth, so call can be taken on HU from phone. AAWireless uses wifi for any communication with phone. Mobile data also works fine on mobile. Android Auto apps that I used only GMap and Amazon music, both worked fine. Google Assistance voice command also worked one time that I tested.

4. It is USD 85 listed price in Indiegogo campaign page. Shipping to India is USD 20. Total 105 USD, around 8000+ odd INR. after rate conversion.

There is no duty to be paid (at least so far) as they ship the device with all duty paid.

[gary]

Thanks dipdawiz.
Looks like I was duped on the customs duty. I will raise a ticket as you suggested and then ask the shipping company for a refund.

On the Android auto settings, my phone was in developer mode already. But I do not see the Add wireless projection to settings option anywhere. Not sure if it specific to the phone or the Android version. Either way, the device works, so Í am not too fixated on that.

[praveen789]

Originally Posted by gary

The only irritant - I had to pay Rs.1780 for customs. Not sure if others experienced the same, or I was duped.

Originally Posted by dipdawiz

This was absolutely not required. Mail them for refund if you are lucky they may return. Raise a ticket with seller for a proof that it was shipped all duty paid - https://cpeb.freshdesk.com/support/home.

The Indian courier counterpart wanted to pull a quick one with those who are unaware. Even I would have think we have to pay duty. But Praveen789 informed it in another thread (Motorola MA1 dongle offers wireless Android Auto capabilities)about it. And Asking the Indian courier partner to recheck, they reverted that duty not required and sent the item.

@gary - sorry, it is too late now. after the first time I paid the duties, the courier company completely stopped responding to me. It is literally a scam and the seller cannot help in this as well.

[dipdawiz]

Originally Posted by sridhu

...
- Does it work with a Pioneer AVH-Z5090BT?
...

Found that the AAWireless website https://www.cpeb.it/ has a list of HU supported by the device so far. The list is also crowd sourced based on the info from the end-users. Z5090BT does not seems in the list yet.

Though in general it says if your HU (inbuilt or after market) has wired Android Auto support it should work.

They have a decent FAQ and troubleshooting section too. With different people's problems and solutions.

https://cpeb.freshdesk.com/support/home

[sach.sri]

Thanks for putting up this thread. However, i have another issue with Android Auto - not connected to this thread - which makes android auto more of less un usable for me.

All my controls for radio or any other music app go away - i cannot change stations, etc with either my steering controls or from the buttons on the HU, unless i change out of AA mode.

IS this common, if so, any solutions for this issue? would be really appreciated

[subie_socal]

Originally Posted by sach.sri

All my controls for radio or any other music app go away - i cannot change stations, etc with either my steering controls or from the buttons on the HU, unless i change out of AA mode.

Could you also mention the make of the vehicle or the head unit(in case its aftermarket)? With my limited experience in my uncle's 2021 Nexon, the steering controls work as it is supposed to, when AA is connected.

[sach.sri]

Originally Posted by subie_socal

Could you also mention the make of the vehicle or the head unit(in case its aftermarket)? With my limited experience in my uncle's 2021 Nexon, the steering controls work as it is supposed to, when AA is connected.

It is XUV500 2016 model.

[sridhu]

Originally Posted by sach.sri

...

IS this common, if so, any solutions for this issue? would be really appreciated

I have wireless AA (pioneer 9350 ) on my Crysta

Works flawlessly. Had to add a steering wheel adapter harness to make it work. With stock HU, I am not sure.

[gary]

Originally Posted by praveen789

@gary - sorry, it is too late now. after the first time I paid the duties, the courier company completely stopped responding to me. It is literally a scam and the seller cannot help in this as well.

I wrote to AAWireless. They responded by saying they will talk to the courier company. After I got their response, I wrote to the courier company for a refund. They asked for my UPI id and I got my money back. Everything over emails, except one call from the courier company.