B116 ARC Android Auto Feedback

Thanks everyone for the feedback. Oddly enough Android Auto shows up on in-house builds, probably there are more limitations around Open Beta track than we anticipated. Will look deeper after the holidays. Really wanted to share it with you guys before Xmas, but apparently, we will have to go through a few more battles with google.

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I got Roon ARC to show up in Android Auto by enabling developer mode for android auto and then enabling unknown sources… tap on version in android auto app at the bottom 7 times to enable AA developer mode and then use overflow menu at the top right to go into developer settings, scroll to bottom and enable unknown sources… will report back how it goes on wireless AA in a 2019 Mustang Bullitt.
Using a CARLINKIT 2022 CARPLAY AI BOX (USB Android dongle) for wireless AA.

AA Works in my Mustang as per above setup… however, no album, artist or any info in main menu. The Now Playing Queue works though.

For those wondering what app im using on my phone (Zfold4) it’s a custom layout i made in an app called car launcher. (sitting in wireless charging cradle)

ROON ARC Android Auto by Hilton, on Flickr

ROON ARC Android Auto by Hilton, on Flickr

ROON ARC Android Auto by Hilton, on Flickr

@Hilton_Kelly your developer trick worked. Nice find. Same here with the ‘now playing’ screen working - pause, prev and next track as well. The queue works as well. But nothing else seems to work at the moment from the library or home screen. So initiating the play from the phone will show the track on the head unit. I can also report the ARC player does play nice with coolwalk (the newest android auto design) and it sits alongside the map while driving.

Thanks devs - looking forward to continued improvements - but just getting it there is a great first step.

Had a 5 hour drive with multiple stops today and AA ARC worked fine, started playing on its own every time and only one glitch i noticed was the first track after restarting the track time counter wasnt working and then it worked for the next track after that. Otherwise all good. I was driving in areas that varied from 5G to 4G and never had any drop outs. Roon Radio was playing most of the time after the first album completed and had no issues. So nice to have Roon Radio in the car!

While using android auto these days, the problems detected are mainly 2 (in addition to the one already reported of no content displayed in the various Home, Albums, etc…):

  • When you start Android auto, ARC is not always available in the apps but if you start playback from your phone, the music is streamed from the speakers of the car (however, nothing is displayed in android auto)

  • Sometimes when starting Android Auto, ARC is available in the apps and you can see the “now playing” screen normally, but the audio is coming from the speakers of the smartphone and not from the speakers of the car (a restart of android auto and ARC does not solve the problem)

Anyone else on Android in the UK not got build 116 yet?

I have had all the other builds really quickly but stuck on build 111 since before Christmas and I check 5 times a day in the hope that it is there the next time

I doubt that anybody has received B116 from Play Store. I’m not in UK but haven’t got it neither.

I guess that all the users so far used APK way. Release notes stated that this build was stuck in Google review and that still may be the case…

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Ah I thought they said it was slower to the Play Store not that it had not been submitted.
Thanks for the reply Piotr, I don’t feel quite so alone anymore :slight_smile:

I will be patient and wait for the official beta to be released in the Play Store

My Android Auto experience so far:
I also only got to see the app after enabling developer mode as described by @Hilton_Kelly.
I do not see any albums or artists. It just says: no elements (keine Elemente).
Also when going to Overview it says no elements.
So the only way of getting some music is to start playing in ARC before connecting with Android Auto.
Then it seems to play fine. I also tried live recordings and it seems perfectly gapless.

After an album is finished different tracks follow as chosen by Roon the usual way.

Another issue while playing: sometimes the track timing is not shown. Then it is 0:00 during the entire track and the timing ring also does not work. Seems to be a 50:50 chance with every new track if it works or not.

Thanks very much for getting this Android Auto going. For me this is really a huge Roon improvement.

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Another issue while playing: sometimes the track timing is not shown. Then it is 0:00 during the entire track and the timing ring also does not work. Seems to be a 50:50 chance with every new track if it works or not.

Try pressing the play/pause button on the android auto screen. Instead of pausing the track, you will see the timing ring resume correctly

Hey all, thanks for your patience and hope you’ve all had a good holiday.

We are still working on play store submission for B116+. There are a few requirements we need to sort out with Google.

If you’ve updated to B116 using the APK you would have to have activated developer mode in order to use Android Auto.

More updates coming soon…

I have developer mode on but no joy.

Made a new thread here for Android Auto specific feedback. :slight_smile:

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I have a doubt: is the design/layout of android auto decided by Google or can Roon decide to customize it?

General comment…Works OK so far - but with bugs…No albums or artists are shown…But once you get this working within Anroid Auto (starting from your phone) works great and I must say the sound quality is just great. Thanks all for this…Looking forward to imrovements.

Hey Greg, welcome! Do you mean that you are unable to start ARC’s Android Auto app from the head unit of your car?

So, in Developer mode and having allowed apps from unknown sources, Arc is working on my head unit.

Few bugs, playlists and artists aren’t showing up and albums only show up intermittently.

When it does show up, it works really well and Roon radio works great.

I did find a couple of times that the track time wasn’t showing up properly and after about 60 minutes, the play queue didn’t start when I got back in the car, but that sometimes happen with Qobuz, so it might be an Android Auto issue.

Still no luck for me, even with the dev trick, nothing is showing on Android Auto. (Android 12 and Note 10).

Michael,

In my opinion, ARC Android Auto has two potential advantages over either the AA implementation of Qobuz or Tidal.

  1. The ability to play music from both services and,
  2. The ability to access all your music by artist. Roon automatically indexes artists in Room ARC. This is a feature that neither Qobuz nor Tidal does.

To me, ARC AA has to have features that the others don’t. When you consider that any AA version is operating in a car with wind and road noise, quality has to take a back seat, as long as it is comparable with the competition.

My conclusion is that being able to access by artist, information which is available in Room ARC, makes or breaks the Roon ARC AA app. Right now, if you do an A-Z search by artist, you get a small sample of all artists.

Today, I do not see a reason to use Roon ARC AA. Quboz, even with its short comings, is to me a better alternative.