Not a self driving car topic, but I thought it was worth having a thread discussing the Subaru mirrorlink feature. Ever since I used a Garmin unit, I decided I would never pay for a navigation unit in my car again (although sometimes you have to get one now in order to get the other self-driving features you want in some cars – fortunately not Subaru). Then, once I started using Google maps and Waze which has real time traffic adjustments far better than what I had with Garmin, and also Waze has the ability to notify of police and red light cameras, I haven’t bothered with my Garmin any more. I now have a magnet which holds my phone to the vent in the center of the dash. This worked well on my Prius, but not quite as good on the Subaru. Since I like to have my phone plugged in to keep it charging, I find that the phone cord gets in the way of the nice infotainment screen on the new Subaru.
I was excited when I saw that the Subaru comes equipped with Mirrorlink. Simply put, Mirrorlink allows you to display your phone screen directly on the infotainment display screen. In the case of the Subaru Legacy/Outback, the display is a nice 7″ display. Even though the current Mirrorlink requires the phone to be connected by USB, that wouldn’t bother me one bit. I already keep my phone plugged in anyway, and now I could just keep it tucked into the armrest or the storage under the temperature controls. I could keep google maps or Waze on the screen and it would be like having a great navigation unit.
The bad news is that it does not work with almost all of the new phones (solved – see posts below). After trying and trying to get it to work, and reading other forums posts, I came to the conclusion that I probably won’t be able to get it to work. I was hoping that the 2016 Subaru models would have updated the software but they haven’t done that yet. The problem appears to be that the Mirrorlink unit in the Subaru uses Mirrorlink version 1.0. The newer phones user Mirrorlink 1.1 and the two are not compatible. I emailed Subaru asking if they had suggestions, as I can’t even plug my phone into the USB port to charge my phone – it causes my phone to think it is connected to Mirrorlink and the screen goes blank. Obviously, I like to have my phone available for navigation use while I’m driving. Subaru’s response was:
In order for your phone to work with the Mirrorlink function in your vehicle, it must be running Mirrorlink version 1.0., which is the version found in the Subaru head-unit. For these phones you may also have to install the gateway app, like Drive Link, on the phone. Without this app, compatible Mirrorlink devices won’t work. This app is what allows connectivity to the available apps maintained by the Mirrorlink consortium. Once installed, you can see and access the apps offered and maintained by Mirrorlink. Here’s the link for users of android devices: https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta … .scm&hl=en.
You can also check for Mirrorlink approved devices and the versions that they are running by visiting http://www.mirrorlink.com .On the home page click on Device Developers/Certified Product Listing.
The latest version of Mirrorlink is version 1.1. This version is not backwards compatible with version 1.0. Subaru engineers are looking into the option of offering a possible update to the current Mirrorlink version found in our vehicles. Such an upgrade may be possible as a firmware update, and we hope to be able to offer this feature in the near future.
So far I have not found a way to run Mirrorlink 1.0 on my Samsung Galaxy S5. I was thinking I could try rooting my phone and install an old android operating system on it, but then I’ll miss out on the features of the newer operating system. It seems people with the Galaxy S3 are able to run Mirrorlink 1.0 and get it to work, but no luck for phones that came out in the last 3 years it seems.
If I find a reasonable solution and/or hear of an update to the Subaru software, I’ll post it here. If you are aware of a fix, please share!
The link they provided to the Google Play Store is to the app called Drive Link, which unfortunately requires Android versions 4.1-4.3 in order to work. So perhaps if I downgraded my OS to 4.3 it could work, but that seems a bit extreme. I’d have to weigh the benefits with the loss of whatever features are in Android 5.0 which is what the Galaxy S5 is currently running. Android 4.3 was Jellybean, and then 4.4 was Kit Kat. Android 5.0 is Lollipop, which has many improvements over the 4.3 version. I am not even sure I can run 4.3 on the Galaxy S5, as it came with 4.4.2 or 4.4.4 I believe. Lollipop seems to have Mirrorlink 1.1 already a component of the OS, so I’m not even sure that an app would be able to override it and run Mirrorlink 1.0.
I’m not too optimistic that Subaru will update their units to be compatible with 1.1, but that would certainly be the best solution.
I contacted Samsung, first my email. On the good side, I did get a response within a day. The bad side is that the response told me how to connect my bluetooth to the car. Obviously whoever read the email (human or robot) misunderstood my question. I next tried the online chat function and that was more helpful. While the person was a bit slow to respond, I think the final answer is probably accurate:
I see that your device is running on Android™ version 5.0, Lollipop which is compatible with the mirror link 1.1. There is no alternate option to load the 1.0 version on your phone.
And I also contacted the mirrorlink website. Here’s their response:
Hello Rick,
We are sorry to hear you are having problems activating MirrorLink®. Please understand that the Car Connectivity Consortium cannot provide support services for specific products. The Consortium creates and develops the MirrorLink® specifications that manufacturers like Samsung and Subaru use to create products. However, once those products are sold on the commercial market, it is the responsibility of the manufacturers to provide the necessary technical support to consumers. The CCC does not have the ability to provide these services to consumers.
For the current MirrorLink® Certified Product Listing please visit https://cert.mirrorlink.com/ProductListing/.
Best regards,
CCC Administration
So, at this point I’m thinking I’m out of luck until Subaru does some sort of update. Hopefully they’ll get mirrorlink working soon, or a similar functioning alternative, like Android Auto. I’ve seen that Subaru said they are working with Android Auto, but so far I don’t believe they have implemented it on any of their cars. Hopefully it is something that can be easily added to the existing hardware as basic screen mirroring functionality would be an awesome feature.
I sent a follow-up email to Subaru asking for any updates. To my surprise, I got the following response:
My apologies, as your vehicle head unit has Mirrorlink 1.1. This is the newest version. I provided you the wrong reply, thinking that you had a 2015 model. My apologies.
In order for your phone to work with the Mirrorlink function in your vehicle, it must be running Mirrorlink version 1.1., which is the version found in the Subaru head-unit. For these phones you may also have to install the gateway app, like Drive Link, on the phone. Without this app, compatible Mirrorlink devices won’t work. This app is what allows connectivity to the available apps maintained by the Mirrorlink consortium. Once installed, you can see and access the apps offered and maintained by Mirrorlink. Here’s the link for users of android devices: https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta … .scm&hl=en.
Have a good day.
I found a version of Drivelink that would run on my phone, but whenever I connect my phone to the car, the app closes itself. That obviously doesn’t help. It is interesting that if I use a crappy USB cable to plug in my phone, nothing happens (other than my phone charging slowly). If I use a good quality USB cable, after a few seconds, my phone displays a message that my phone is connected by MIrror LInk to the car, and then the phone screen goes black. Unfortunately, the Mirrorlink app on the Subaru remains grayed out. For some reason I’m thinking when I tired this 6 weeks ago, the Mirrorlink app would turn white. When I would select it, it would pause for a while and then I would get an error message. If that was the case, I’m not even able to replicate that issue now.
Bottom line seems to be that the Mirror Link feature is not readily compatible with most phones. Looking around online, it seems that many of the other cars with Mirror Link have similar issues, so it isn’t unique to Subaru.
At this point, I’m not sure it is as much of a problem as I originally thought. I keep my phone attached to a magnet on my vents just above the right side of the infotainment screen and I’m able to run whatever apps there that I want without disturbing whatever is running on the infotainment. If I did ever get Mirror Link working, the radio and other display options wouldn’t be available. I would probably just play music through I Heart Radio through my phone, but that probably isn’t a reasonable option for most people who have data limits.
So bottom line is that Mirror Link doesn’t seem to work (even though it is apparently running Mirror Link 1.1 on the head units in the 2016 Subaru Legacy / Outback) but that probably isn’t that big of a deal.
I have been able to connect my Samsung S5, running Mirrorlink 1.1 to my 2016 Subaru Outback (with nav, eyesight). The trick seems to be that you need to have a Mirrorlink-certified app on your phone in order for anything to happen. I had Sygic and Rockscout loaded, and after choosing Mirrorlink on the headunit the icons for these two apps was displayed. Sygic seemed Ok, except that it wouldn’t take any input once we were underway, and Rockscout started, but wouldn’t do anything. After considering the selection of apps certified to work with Mirrorlink i decided that it wasn’t worth the effort to troubleshoot the apps further since I already had better functionality on the headunit in native mode. Drivelink, running under Mirrorlink 1.0 would apparently mirror anything that was on the phone, so that something like Waze would be shown. There is, so far, no such mirroring app for Mirrorlink 1.1, so only certified apps will function.
Thanks for the information. I have Glympse on my phone which I think is a certified app, but I’ll try one you mentioned and see how far I get.
I think I remember seeing someone had made an app that would allow you to mirror your device. If I find it I’ll be sure to share the info.
Amazing. It actually works! It turns out I needed Glympse for auto. I also installed Sygic. Plugged in my phone and the mirrorlink option lit up under apps. I selected it and it showed the two mirrorlink apps on my phone. Tried them both and they look to work just fine. I also saw online a way to use the app called button savior which may give you access to the programs multitasking in the background. There is a version that requires root and a version that is for non-root phones. I’m going to test it out now.
Thank you so much for sharing the info! I’ll need to update my initial post that it looks like mirrorlink does work with newer 1.1 mirrorlink phones. Pretty cool. Especially if I can get waze running.
What was also surprising is that the radio kept playing even with mirrorlink activated. And I could change channels and everything.
Using Button Savior non-root version on my galaxy s5 does not let me get to the multitasking screen or access other apps. Whenever the phone leaves an authorized mirrorlink app, the car’s screen changes to “mirrorlink in use” or something like that. Sometimes my phone screen turns on and I can use the phone and sometimes the screen stays black. When I go back to a mirrorlink app, it shows up back on the car’s screen and works exactly as it should.
Sygic seems like a reasonable replacement to navigation for people like me who don’t have a navigation unit, but I’m dependent on Google maps or Waze to help me deal with traffic. I’m hoping I can find a way to get one of those on the infotainment screen. I also am now going to find out what apps are authorized for mirrorlink, in case I can’t find a way to show other apps on the screen.
I am sure the “mirrorlink in use” is by design to keep people from using unauthorized and potentially unsafe apps while driving. I did see a video where the Button Savior app did show the multitasking apps screen on the head unit, but I think that was a Panasonic unit. I don’t remember which phone or os they were using. I’m thinking my next step will be to root my phone and see if the Button Savior root version works differently where mirrorlink won’t lock out the other screens, but I’m not that optimistic.
If anyone else has found a workaround, please share!
Things at least are looking much more promising for some good uses of mirrorlink.
Was just able to connect S6 active and Subaru Outback 2016, seems all the version issues described all over the internet are not accurate. However, as this post suggests all you need is a MirrorLink “certified” app installed on the phone. You will know if you have any on the phone by going to “More Connection Settings”/”MirrorLink”/”AvailableApps” on your phone. Keep in mind they need to be certified, list is found here http://www.mirrorlink.com/apps
Good luck.
On my Sprint Galaxy S5 you can go to settings / connect and share / mirrorlink – and then it shows the authorized apps on the bottom of the screen. The good news is that it works. The bad news is that I have not figured out any way to mirror the phone’s screen other than the authorized apps. Every time I try to go to another screen I get the “Mirrorlink is now in operation” on the car’s screen. I’m guessing it is the headunit that blocks out unauthorized apps and full screen mirroring. Hopefully someone finds a workaround. With the current apps, mirrorlink is pretty useless. It’s frustrating that it is so close to be something great, but they locked out the real utility. I’m sure they are worried about distracted driving which is maybe a real problem, but they should automatically authorize apps that are meant to be used in the car – like Google Maps and Waze. Perhaps Google doesn’t want to authorize those as they will likely be part of Android Auto which is a competing product. I’m not sure if there is any reason to be restrictive though.
Please post exactly what to do for this Tech-Dummy. I have a Galaxy S5 and a 2016 Outback.
First, you can’t use a cheap cable. With a cheap cable, the car never detected my phone.
Next, download at least one app to your phone that works with mirrorlink. The only apps that worked for me were Glympse for auto (regular version didn’t work) and Sygic. Rockscout may also work, but I didn’t have any compatible programs for it so I’m not sure.
Then, plug your phone into the USB port of the car. When you go to apps on the car, the mirrorlink app may initially be grayed out. On my phone, I usually automatically get a message that mirrorlink is connecting and then the phone screen goes blank. Once or twice I went into settings and scrolled down and there is an option for mirrorlink. I can’t actually click on the option on my phone as it gets selected automatically, but on that screen it does list any apps certified for mirrorlink use that are installed on my phone. After less than a minute, the mirrorlink option on the car lights up and I can select it.
After selecting mirrorlink, there are icons for whatever apps I installed on my phone. I can select them and they operate on the car screen the same as they would on the phone. Unfortunately, the apps I want to use are not certified for mirrorlink so I can’t use them.
I haven’t come across a workaround yet, so I hope someone figures out a way to make other apps work. At this point it is useless as I don’t really need Glympse on the big screen, and Sygic doesn’t work as well for me as Waze or Google Maps.
Does that help you get it to work?
Yes, thank you! I will try tomorrow .
Ok. I have a Samsung Galaxy S5.
The Good News: MirrorLink is recognized when I used my S5 cable. When the MirrorLink first started, I had to select connect to auto via USB on my phone. Once this occurred I could select MirrorLink on my Subaru screen and it found the Glympse for Auto app that I had downloaded. When I connected the first time I was told that I needed to download Glympse regular app. Once that was complete, I could use the Glympse Auto App.
The Bad New: Glympse for Auto is next to worthless.
Exactly. Super disappointing that all of the approved apps are pretty useless. It would be so much more useful if it wasn’t locked when using non-approved apps.
I have a 2016 forester and a samsung galaxy s6 as well as a note 5. Neither of the phones work with mirrorlink. I have sygic and a couple other certified apps installed. When i connect to the usb port, it says its connected on the phone, but the HU mirrorlink app stays grayed out. Im connecting to the usb port in my armrest compatrment as there is no usb port on the HU itself. Am i doing something wrong?
On your phone, when you go to settings>mirrorlink does it show any mirrorlink apps at the bottom of the screen? It should. If there are apps listed there, it should work. Have you tried a different cable? I know a cheap cable didn’t work for me, but my phone didn’t say it was connecting then either.
On the Legacy, the USB ports are located under the dash in the center console, next to the cigarette lighter adapter port.
I’m not sure when the 2016 Forrester became available but I guess it is possible it didn’t get the updated mirrorlink version 1.1. That’d be a question for Subaru.
I have a Samsung Galaxy S6 and an 2016 Forester.
MirrorLink does NOT work and neither does the StarLink app. I am using the samsung usb cable that came with my phone.
The phone has two “certified” mirorlink apps. RockScout and Sygic Car Navigation.
Radio ModelID:13FSDANA-CA01
The phone says it is connected by usb.
Neither MirrorLink or StarLink work with the Galaxy S6 connected. (Both buttons on car radio are NOT enabled)
———————–
OK. I gave up on trying to get the Samsung Galaxy S6 to work with my car.
Bought an old Samsung Galaxy S3 SGH-T999L. Installed two apps: Starlink and DriveLink from Google app store.
Everything is good. StarLink and MirrorLink are both enabled on the car radio (turn on radio and phone, wait a little bit, connect phone using usb cable to radio)
MirrorLink does work.
Have y’all tried the official android auto app in the Google play store? Says it’s mirrorlink compatible.
Revoltlution,
Where do you see that the Android Auto app is compatible with mirrorlink? I have the app installed, but it does not show up under my MirrorLink applications in the settings menu, which makes me think it is not compatible. I hope your information is accurate, but at this point, I can’t see that information anywhere I’ve looked.
I just received my factory order 2016 Forester with EyeSight/Nav. After reading many, many posts about this issue I decided to give it a shot and try to get MirrorLink working. Here’s what I have:
– 2016 Forester XT w EyeSight/Nav delivered 2/2016 – all defaults set on the HU
– Samsung Galaxy S5 (no root, TMO branded) with a fresh restore running Android 5.1.1, full bars on LTE
– Sygic + Sygic Auto, Glympse, Rockscout – all latest, both show up under certified apps in the MirrorLink settings menu.
– 2 known good USB cables – 1 normal USB cable and 1 Samsung USB cable with the extra connector
1. When I plug in the phone for the first time, lots of magic happens and it auto configures and pairs Bluetooth with the car (neat!).
2. After some time, on the HU Apps display, the StarLink, aha, and Pandora options light up. This happens usually after the phone connects to the car via Bluetooth. The MirrorLink option remains unlit.
3. After some more time, the phone goes into MirrorLink mode which means you can’t really do anything with it (button presses do nothing) and all you can do is tap the screen to show the MirrorLink status.
4. The MirrorLink option on the HU still remains unlit even though the phone seems perfectly happy.
I poured over the phone’s logs (adb logcat) looking for anything out of the ordinary. I can clearly see the phone preparing its response to the HU’s request for available apps. This response includes the certified apps above. The only thing that looks like a possible error is:
CODE: SELECT ALL
D/AcmsEventListener( 7811): Received: com.samsung.android.mirrorlink.ML_STATE
D/AcmsEventListener( 7811): got intent for appID null for reason null
W/ContextImpl( 7811): Calling a method in the system process without a qualified user: android.app.ContextImpl.startService:2117 android.content.ContextWrapper.startService:534 android.content.ContextWrapper.startService:534 com.samsung.android.mirrorlink.acms.receivers.AcmsEventListener.onReceive:44 android.app.ActivityThread.handleReceiver:3482
D/ActivityManager( 792): retrieveServiceLocked(): component = com.samsung.android.app.mirrorlink/com.samsung.android.mirrorlink.acms.api.AcmsService; callingUser = 0; userId(target) = 0
There are no exceptions relating to MirrorLink.
The one thing I forgot to do was to get the software version of the HU audio and nav so we can compare versions. For those of you that have gotten this working, can you post your versions? I’ll post mine tonight.
I also have an S3 coming and will post my results when it arrives next week. Thanks to all who’ve shed some light on this!
The information I have is that the 2016 Legacy / Outback have MirrorLink 1.1 but the 2016 Forrester may still have MirrorLink 1.0
I haven’t seen anyone get the Galaxy s5 or s6 working with the Forrester.
I don’t understand the code you posted, but maybe someone else does. I was really disappointed when I got everything working only to find out that there is no way to just mirror the device on the screen. The current MirrorLink apps are not worth the hassle.
I hope someone can come up with a hack to allow simple screen mirroring. That would be far more useful.
I’ve now tested a Samsung S3 with my 2016 Forester and can confirm it works with the DriveLink app. Things are pretty buggy and I guess I’m lucky when it works. So far I’ve only been able to get maps working and can’t seem to figure out how to get music apps connected. I have seen there are hacks out there to allow full screen mirroring without the DriveLink app popping up when it detects a non sanctioned app on the screen.
I also noticed there is a page in the online manuals that indicates an S4 will also work but I haven’t tested this. The list of compatible phones in the 2016 Forester manual differs from the page in the Outback manual (further supporting the 1.0-1.1 difference between the two models).
I did email Subaru and asked them when they were considering an HU update to bring the Forester to Mirrorlink 1.1. The support person indicated it would not happen before May 2016 but would likely happen in Q3/Q4 of this year. Something to look forward to 🙂
What version of Android is the S3 running?
My S3 is running the latest stock 4.3 (T999UVUENC2, it’s a T-Mobile branded phone. I have an S4 queued up and will test tonight 😀
Wow, getting the S4 to work with my 2016 Forester was quite a journey. I’m posting this here in case someone wants to go down this path as well 🙂
I went went an S4 because the S3 is just too slow. It also heats up and feels like it’s about to melt and won’t keep a charge while it’s working so hard to drive the display. I bought a Samsung S4 SGH-M919 (T-Mobile branded) with a cracked screen on ebay for pretty cheap. The OS it came with was 4.4.something and Drivelink won’t work with anything more than 4.3. So, my first task was to downgrade the OS to 4.3. For Android 4.3 on the SGH-M919, the magic OS version is M919UVUEMK2. I flashed this on the phone using Odin and everything seemed to be ok and Mirrorlink was working. However, the phone’s sound drivers were totally screwed and the phone wouldn’t make a sound either through its own speakers or the car’s.
After Googling around a bit, I discovered a few other people had similar issues, possibly stemming from the fact that you can’t flash the 4.3 bootloader over 4.4.+ since Samsung has this insane bootloader protection garbage called Knox. That’s when I found this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthr … ?t=2544612. Using the details in this post, I flashed the modem firmware not from the latest, but from one version up: M919UVUFNB4. When I flashed the entire OS from this version, the phone worked fine (but Drivelink didn’t since it’s 4.4.something). After a few tries, I finally got this working: sound good, LTE good, WiFi bad, mirrorlink bad. Whenever I tried to turn on WiFi, the phone would throw a strange security error about an app trying to hack the phone.
It turns out the modem firmware I installed has a WiFi kernel module driver that isn’t signed in a way the OS will accept. So, when I tap on the WiFi button, the kernel tries to load the module, knox rejects it, and the kernel refuses to load the module. It turns out this was happening for Mirrorlink as well. After some more Googling, I found this very helpful post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthr … ?t=2578566. Thankfully, there’s a kernel exploit to remove this validation step and load unsigned modules. Yay!
Here’s where things get messy. The offsets in the post didn’t apply to my kernel so I had to unpack the OS firmware, find boot.img, unpack further until finally I had the raw zImage kernel. Linux is sneaky and zImage is actually a self executing decompressing kernel so you have to extract the payload and decompress it a bit further. You can find a tool to do this here: http://www.enck.org/tools/split_bootimg_pl.txt. You’ll want the piggy file.
Now that you have the kernel, the real fun begins. Fire up your favorite disassembler (I used Ida) and search for the “verification succeeded” string. You can follow along with the post, making a note of the offset of the BNE instruction. Modify the code here: https://github.com/jeboo/bypasslkm with this offset. Next, you’ll have to recompile the app using the NDK buildchain (not a trivial thing, but there are lots of tutorials out there). Finally, load the app on your phone and run it. If all goes well, the first thing you’ll notice is the ability to turn on WiFi.
Now, load this version of Drivelink on the phone: http://www.colmoschinxtreme.com/android … elink.html. There’s no need to install the TMServerApp.apk. Next, try plugging the phone into your car and see if the Mirrorlink box lights up. Sometimes it takes a couple of tries (unplugging and replugging).
Lastly, since this kernel hack doesn’t survive reboots, I whipped up a quick little Android app to run the bypasslkm code via JNI. I’d be happy to post the code if it helps someone (just reach out: [email protected]). When I turn on the phone, I run the app and everything works as expected.
I imagine you can avoid a few of these pitfalls by buying an unbranded phone with an unlocked bootloader. I wish I’d known this before but I’m quite happy with the results. It’s always a good story when you have to break out the disassembler to get your car working 😀
I’ve posted the app code here: https://github.com/asm/bypasslkm.
The full mirroring function is worth the effort of getting a new phone. You can use the dial pad while the car is in motion, use your own GPS, and view blind spots using the phone’s camera app, which displays the camera view through the HUD display. The MirrorLink 1.1. function is not worth talking about, since the app usage is limited. It’s easier, but far less functional. 2015 models are going to be much more valuable unless Subaru dealers have the ability to flash the old firmware.
Problems in Android 4.4.+ are due to the Tmserver’s incompatibility with API 19/20. But even in Android 4.2, running on the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini, the APIs are still incomplete for getting DriveLink to run. The easiest method then is to use a compatible Tmserver with an S3, odexed, then configure the open-source API for the Android version you are running. You have to remove the API that supports the current 1.1 MirrorLink standard, but otherwise that would be the easiest method to getting the app working on KitKat.
If given the option to upgrade your HUD to 1.1. standard, don’t do it.
I know this is a simple answer, but for those of you who do not care if your mirror link works, you just want to charge your phone without the screen going black…simple solution. In the USB end of your charger, the part that goes into the port…look closely,( I needed readers) lol… there are 4 sets of wires… the two outer wires are charging wires and the two inside wires are data transfer wires. cut a small piece of tape and cover the two inner wires, this will make it a charging only cable…you can also buy charging only cables on sites like Amazone for a bout $6.99 for 2 cords. Doesn’t make the problem go away but you can use your cords to charge!!! Just a simple chick trick…
I recently purchased a 2017 Outback and was excited by the prospect of MirrorLink. I have been able to use Sygic Car Navigation on my Samsung S5 using any USB cable. No major issues. 🙂
I find Sygic to be inferior to Google maps. With Sygic you need to pay for traffic information, which is the main purpose of me using Google maps on a daily basis.
I’ve given up hoping I can easily mirror the primary apps I use in the car onto the infotainment unit screen. I just use one of those vent magnetic phone mounts and keep my phone just at arms reach, in the upper right corner of the infotainment screen. It’s not too elegant, but it is mostly functional and I can keep my phone plugged in and the cord is mostly out of the way to the right of the display.
Standard disclaimer, PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK.
First and foremost, I would like to thanks asm for his assistant in getting Mirrorlink working on my phone.
I was able to get in touch with him and clarified the steps in his post, https://www.autoautomobile.net/2016-subaru-legacy-outback-mirrorlink-issues-t22.html#p92
He also was kind enough to provide the bypasslkm apk to save me the trouble of trying to build it myself.
If you have the need to run stock firmware follow asm’s method, here’s the summarized version of his steps.
1. Downgrade to M919UVUEMK2 (4.3)
2. Upgrade *only* the modem from M919UVUFNB4 (see http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2544612 for details on which file to flash)
3. Build and install the bypasslkm app (https://github.com/asm/bypasslkm). You’ll know it worked if you can enable wifi.
4. Install Full Mirroring(http://www.colmoschinxtreme.com/android/item/drivelink.html)
I have the T-Mobile version of Galaxy S4, it was on 4.4.4 (M919UVUFOK3). The goal is to downgrade to 4.3 (M919UVUEMK2).
However, I was not able to downgrade using Odin. After fiddling with it for a few days, I eventually was able get it to work.
The unexpected bonus is, the custom rom I used does not require the trouble of running bypasslmk.
Everything seems to be in working order, sound, wifi, mirrolink,…I was not able to test phone call since I did not have an active sim to test.
So if you don’t mind rooting your phone and running a custom rom, here are the steps I took to get mine working.
1) Use Odin to downgrade to 4.4.2 (M919UVUFNB4)
2) Root
https://autoroot.chainfire.eu/
2) Flash CWM custom recovery using Odin
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2405433
3) Install Wicked v10 custom rom (Touchwiz based Jellybean 4.3) using CWM
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthr … ?t=1804260
The rom called for waiting 5 minutes on reboot, but mime just stuck on boot screen.
Here’s what I did to get the phone to boot. You might have to try it more than once.
a) Pull battery
b) Boot into CWM (Vol up + Home + Power)
c) Wipe cache
d) Wipe data – factory reset
4) Once phone booted normally, install Drive Link.apk (don’t need to install TMServerApp)
http://www.colmoschinxtreme.com/android/item/drivelink.html
Enjoy full mirroring Mirrorlink.
Thanks for the detailed post. Unfortunately, that only works with downgrading to the older versions of Android.
Also, the last link you posted is no longer up. It looks like it was up on December 15,2016, so I don’t m on if the site is down for good or just temporary. I’ll leave the link for now. I’m able to get a cached version of that page from Google, but the download link is also broken. Here’s what I got from the cache of that website:
Drive Link – Full Mirroring
3.8/5 rating (230 votes)
Last update: 23 Agosto 2015
File size: 35.48 MB
Version: 1.1.043 r1
Downloaded: 165625
Author: Au{R}oN
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== FEATURES ==
Full Mirroring
Shortcuts Support while connected to the headunit
Re-Enabled Multiwindows Sidebar
Automatic Rotation Forced ON upon launch.
Removed Warning Messages at Launch.
Minor Tweaks
Removed “Vehicle in Motion” message (require a rooted and deodexed ROM)
== SUPPORTED DEVICES ==
At the moment, the app is confirmed working with:
Galaxy Note II
Galaxy S III
Galaxy S IV
with the following car units:
Sony XAV-701HD
Sony XAV-601BT
JVC NSX1
JVC NSX600
JVC NSX700
Alpine ICS X7
Alpine ICS X8
Piooner AppRadio 3
Every OEM unit which is MirrorLink capable SHOULD work too. (Toyota, Peugeot, Citroen and Subaru are confirmed)
It work with Stock Rom and it SHOULD work with any TOUCHWIZ Based Rom (like Revolution HD ROM).
If you have non-touchwiz based rom you have to install Touchwiz framework to run Drivelink!
Android version must be at least 4.1.2, but not higher than 4.3.
It doesn’t work with Android 4.4 Kikat and 5.0 Lollipop! (currently)
If you have any suggestion, bug reports, phones and car unit working confirmation please feel free to contact me at the email address provided above or via this XDA Developers Thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthr … 47&page=96
== TO DO LIST ==
????
== INSTALLATION ==
The installation is the same, whatever your unit is. But, you may need to perform some additional steps if you have an Alpine Units, or if you do not have bypassed the handbrake signal.
Pre-Requisites
Debug USB Must Be ON
Unknown Sources must be ON
DO A BACKUP COPY OF YOUR TMServerApp.apk (located in system/app)
Copy “Drive Link.apk” anywhere in the phone.
Open ANY file manager on the phone (even the stock one), browse to the folder where you previously copied the apk.
Tap on It and Install it.
Enjoy Full Mirroring!
** Below Steps requires ROOT and a DE-ODEXED ROM and are required ONLY if you have an Alpine Unit or if you doesn’t perform the handbrake hardware bypass, which result in a “Vehicle in Motion” Message Error **
Open “ES File Explorer” (you can download it for free from Play Store)
Tap the left Phone Button
Select Root Explorer -> Mount R/W -> Tap “RW” on both fields -> Click OK
Browse to the folder where you previously copied “TMServerApp.apk “, copy it.
Browse to “system/app” folder and paste “TMServerApp.apk” (select overwrite)
REBOOT THE PHONE (very important)!
== NOTES ==
I’m not responsible for any damage caused to phone and or car unit, remember that watching videos and use applications while driving may be prohibited based on your local law.
Unistall any other version of Drive Link before install this one.
== F.A.Q ==
= I can’t add Apps from the Shortcuts Menu =
This issue is totally random, i still don’t know why and when it happen, anyway, it can be fixed with this simple step:
* Run Drive Link and THEN connect the phone to the car unit.
= The Mirroring is laggy and not Smooth =
Blame Samsung and Car Unit Manufacturers. The only way to get a smooth and fast mirroring is by using an MHL certified car unit (NSX600, NSX700 and AppRadio 3 for examples), but this will not solve the issue until Drive Link will recive MHL support.
== CHANGELOG ==
= 1.1.043r1 =
Updated Drive Link to the latest official version 1.1.043, which brings some optimizations and bug-fixes provided by Samsung. (Note: This version DOES run on Android 4.4 Kitkat and 5.0 Lollipop, but it won’t mirror the phone due to TMServerApp incompatibility with Kitkat and Lollipop)
Translated some missing strings for the Italian Language.
= 1.1.028r1b =
Thanks to Mina Gerges i discoverd that some phones use a little different version of TMServerApp. Due to this an additional TMServerApp.apk has been added in the package. This file MUST be used ONLY if you recive the error “Unfortunately TMServerApp has stopped working” everytime you connect the phone to the unit while using the first version of TMServerApp. DO NOT use it if your Drivelink is working correctly.
= 1.1.028r1 =
Removed “Vehicle in Motion” message which prevented running apps (or use some functions) if hand-brake wasn’t ON or wire wasn’t grounded. (replace TMServerApp.apk is required)
= 1.1.027r4 =
Added Support for Alpine Units
= 1.1.027r3 =
Fixed a bug caused by the previous Warning Messages Elimination which prevented voice synthesizer to automatically start and reading weather, events etc.
Optimzed custom code
= 1.1.027r2 =
Set first-launch Volume Level to 100% (this will affect only brand new installations, if you have previously installed drive link, volume level will be unchaged)
Removed all startup warning messages
= 1.1.027r1 =
True Full Mirroring
Shortcuts Support while connected to car unit
Restored Multiwindows Sidebar
Automatic Rotation Forced-On on Launch.
Please consider supporting my efforts.
Copyright © 2016 Col Moschin Xtreme.
I wanted to bump this thread up hoping if anybody was able to replicate and get the system working. I have a 2016 impreza with the 6″ display and was thinking of purchasing an s4 soon if this works.
The interface in the subaru audio is so lagging and slow that its going to be this method or replacing the unit altogether.. any progress will be appreciated. thank you!
I am beyond frustrated with Mirrorlink. I have the new Note8 (ATT) and a 2016 Subaru hybrid.. It does everything wrong. Now I just want it to use the USB in my car strictly to charge my phone and NOTHING ELSE! Question is, how?
Agreed. I’m beyond frustrated and disappointed with the implementation. I wound up using a cigarette lighter USB charger that I had laying around. Whenever I plug my phone into the regular USB, Mirrorlink takes over and blanks out my phone.
Some solutions I found on other sites:
An easy work around is to use a charge only USB cable. Any usb cable can be easily used as charge only by cutting a small piece of cellophane tape and covering the 2 middle connectors, while leaving the two outer exposed. The two outer pins deliver power, so you will still be able to charge, but by blocking the data connections, you prevent the car from trying to connect to mirrorlink.
The other solution posted:
Go into the app manager in settings > show system settings > Samsung mirrorlink
When you have that window open (for me the disable option is greyed out), plug the charger cable in and then immediately press ‘Force Stop’.
If you press force stop before plugging it in it’ll still launch the mirrorlink.
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