IssueTracker

This issue does not reproduce with dev preview 4.

Closing this issue as per comment #2 from reporter.

Additionally, launcher will force close when pressing the home button while in Car Dock Mode.

I am having the same issue please fix

I have this issue as well. I hope it can be fixed quickly!

Hey Google,

Please solve this, really need a safe app for my car.

- A

I too am experiencing this behaviour - Car Home app is not able to "take over" Home key and Launcher crashing upon exiting the Car Mode. I am using Google's CarHome/CarHomeLauncher (v. 2.1) installed in /system/app on my Galaxy Nexus. This has worked properly on 4.1.2 that I ran before upgrading to 4.2. Please fix ASAP!

Car Mode is essential to a safe commute. Please fix!

I, too, would like to know why car mode is being phased out. It sure makes using the phone in a car dock MUCH easier.  What gives, Google?

I am also experiencing this behavior. This greatly reduces the utility of my device as I use this feature all day every day.

Losing the ability to use a car dock is a major safety concern for me. Add this to the Bluetooth problems and you have one damaging update with 4.2!

My main use of the nexus 7 as a car media centre has been ruined since the 4.2 update. Bluetooth audio qualityis now shocking and the inability to use the home button for return to car dock app means its unsafe. Please fix 4.2 quickly!!

I have the same issue. I use Car Dock Home v3.  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.cwfk.ig88.carhome3

Same issue with Nexus 4

Yes, we have an app that utilizes this ability and I can confirm that it no longer works on 4.2.

Do we need to wait for someone to die before you guys acknowledge this bug ? Obviously I'm kidding but come one Google. Start fixing this, otherwise you just go iOS way on it when this is standard behaviour.

I use this behavior every day, on every drive.  Car Home has become an integral part of my routine and one of my favorite Android features.  Please bring this functionality (and the native Car Home app) back quickly!

Please FIX!!! I can't live without Car Dock with all the commuting I do.

I use CarHome Ultra on my Galaxy Nexus daily and since Jelly Bean 4.2 update the home button takes me back to the Android Launcher.  Please fix this bug ASAP

Please fix it. This is for safety at driving!

This is UNSAFE.  Please FIX ASAP!

Please Fix or add own google car dock

This is clearly a bug introduced in 4.2 - regression. Home button should navigate to home of the default car dock app.

Another problem is that there is no setting in the menu to start car mode manually.

But there is also another bug. Google's own app "Car Home" in not compatible with Google's own Galaxy Nexus. Really Google?!

Why you are treating drivers so badly?

Agreed, this is a bug that needs fixing.

Same problem, please fix

SpinningHead has created a patch for this issue. We still need a fix from Google/Android, but this solves the problem in the mean time.

Go Here:
http://thespinninghead.com/wordpress/?p=408

Or Search the Play Market for 4.2 Car Mode Patch

Can't install:

"This app is incompatible with your 3 Samsung Galaxy Nexus.
3 Samsung Galaxy Nexus
This item cannot be installed in your device's country."

I'm in UK and have bought my phone from 3 but it was flashed to stock takju image.

Galaxy Nexus: This item cannot be installed in your device's country.
Asus Nexus 7: This item cannot be installed in your device's country.

I live in Poland, currently I am in Chile. Cannot install this on any of my devices.

I owned a Motorola ATRIX before the Nexus 4 that I am currently using and everything is great about the phone except the Car Dock function so when i found CarHome i was relieved but unfortunately the Android software limits its interface and makes it unsafe as a dedicated Car Dock for my Nexus 4. Really disappointed that my Gingerbread OS on my ATRIX is better suited for this than the new Jelly Bean OS.

It'd be really nice to see some sort of official comment from Google on this issue.  This seems to be a pretty serious regression.  #23, Google's Car Home app sadly hasn't been updated in ages; even an "old" phone like the HTC Ruby is not on the app's compatibility whitelist, but that's more an issue for that app itself, and it doesn't appear that Google has much interest in updating that app any longer.

Google doesn't give a shit about this. That's it.

i sold my Nexus 4 while its still hot. hard decision but with Google only selling 375,000 units and not being able to catch up to issues like this on their phones i would rather wait till they get that together. until then i'll use my old ATRIX with CAR DOCK from Motorola and built in and bug free car dock software.

Maybe the problem is in launcher. Carhome crashes only Apex and no any other launcher.

"Carhome crashes only Apex and no any other launcher."

I would be surprised  you had  tested *every* available launcher.

For example, before I downgraded to 4.1.2, the issue was also present under Nova Launcher

This has absolutely nothing to do with the launcher crashing. The issue is that the "car mode" feature built into Android is broken in Jellybean. Car hope apps that utilize this function are supposed to be able to override the home key when the phone is in case mode so that pressing the home key returns you to the car mode app's home screen instead of the launcher home screen. This way, the car home app remains accessible while driving. I have tested this with a few different car home apps and launchers all with the same result. So it's definitely an Android problem, not a launcher issue. The crashes you're experiencing are a separate (but possibly related) issue.

 This is just one  of many things that Google seems to have broken or removed, starting with ginger bread.

 Dear Google,  we're all getting tired of this.

This issue is a dealbreaker.

Dealbreaker might be extreme; Car Home Ultra already has a workaround which I suspect is just a launcher that looks for the CHU app running and goes to the situationally correct home; I just (now) hit the 'recent apps' button to go back into CHU.  I'd prefer a working Home button, and I can't imagine this being too devilishly difficult of a bug to track down.  I'd give it a whirl myself, but I barely know Java from a hole in the ground.

This doesn't seem to be a "bug", in the sense that they don't know about it anyway.

The code seems to have been removed intentionally.
https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/master/policy/src/com/android/internal/policy/impl/PhoneWindowManager.java
Line 4334 (or method void startDockOrHome() in case the line changes).

And here's the exact commit where this was removed:
https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/7c135205f2f4c192299ad0215276e9e481bccaa5%5E!/#F0

They say car docks are still usefull, but maybe you need a real dock like the atrix has.  Maybe carhome ultra  is not seen as a real car dock.  

Here's the more troubling comment at the top of the class: Remove dock home support.

We still have dock apps and dock mode, just not home-key
capture.

Doesn't look good!

This is not an app issue, this is about the removal of home button override for any app that registers for it.

Samsung has removed Car Dock Mode completely in Android 4.x!

I would imagine that HTC and Motorola will keep it in their builds since they are also in the hardware car dock business.

It is just troubling that Google/Android have decided to remove it from core android with nothing in the mentioned in the SDK release notes. It's even still in the javadocs: http://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/Intent.html#METADATA_DOCK_HOME

I agree, it doesn't look good, for us or Android.  Starting with Gingerbread, Google has been steadily removing useful features/functionality from Android: preventing user apps from disabling/enabling GPS and airplane mode, permanently linking notification and ringer volumes, etc.  They're closing the gap between Android and iOS, and NOT in a good way.

Also, it's not a stretch to think that if HTC and Moto control the presence of a real Car Dock Mode, they would also opt to lock the phones down to their own crappy car dock apps...

It was telling when the Nexus 4 came out. It was the first nexus phone without a car dock.

The Galaxy Nexus didn't have a Car Home either.

Thanks for tracking down that commit. You have got to be kidding me, Google. I buy the overpriced Samsung car dock from Google Play for my Galaxy Nexus, which I'm almost afraid to use, since its design makes me fear that I'll break my phone, and now you remove a useful feature from your operating system which makes it unsafe to use at all for its intended purpose.

Thanks for nothing.

Now that's a little bit hyperbolic, don't you think?  "Unsafe to use at all"?  A big Google Voice Search widget opens Google Now, which gives you access to a lot of functionality, hands-free for calling, texting, and even sending emails.

Yes, I would like to see Car Mode either restored to its original status or just removed entirely (in which case apps like Car Home Ultra _will_ still work, but shouting that the sky is falling and that Android is not safe to use isn't very constructive.

(as an aside, perhaps we should try to raise awareness of this issue to beyond this venue; getting this issue starred by a couple hundred people _might_ just get the Android dev team to at least recognize that removing Car Home is a step backwards.  Or at least get some sort of official comment on this.

I don't use Google Now in the car, and regardless, the problem is getting back to the Car Home, not getting to something else from it. So yeah, maybe I was exaggerating, but evidently I'm not the only person who thinks that this is a needlessly unsafe change to Android. I was just annoyed when I looked at that diff, because it just unceremoniously gutted this functionality and added nothing in the way of an explanation, just a debug print and a silly comment.

Maybe we can get this reverted in Cyanogenmod 10.1, at the very least.

I agree in principle, but would like to point out that while, yes, the home button functionality is no longer there, you can hit the previous apps button and then your car home app of choice which will still be there. Not optimal to be sure but at least the workaround is there.

Yeah, I think everyone who has a problem with this issue is aware of the workarounds, as well as the problems those workarounds cause while trying to use them while driving a car, hence words like "unsafe" peppered throughout the comments here.

I would hope that even things such as hitting the home button if and when this functionality is restored is something that is only done at stoplights. looking at the phone to hit the home button is no less unsafe than hitting any other button.

The back button works OK, unless you are down several layers in another app. Then you end up tapping back several times which can have different effects.

For those of you who are rooted you can work around this for now.  I have setup a tasker profile that does the following when I am connected to my vehicle's Bluetooth:

1.  Enable alternate launcher (I use apex as my alternate for the car)
2. Disable primary launcher.
3. A few other things not relevant to this topic.

Steps one and two can be done via the "Secure Settings" apparently available in the play store.  This works as a tasker plugin to offer functionality that tasked does not. The disabling of launchers is the equivalent of freezing an app in Titanium if you are familiar with that.

Inside apex launcher, which I use exclusively in the car, I have setup Desktop Visualizer Widgets resized so that they are nice and big in the car.

When I disconnect from Bluetooth my gasket exit tasklist reenables Nova launcher and disables apex again.  

I should also point out that if there is only one launcher installed then Android treats it as the default so there is no need to set default launchers when using this method.  (Just make sure you are disabling all the launchers except the one you want to use - I keep the stock launcher in a frozen state at all times since I never use it.)

Hope this helps!  Only takes 5 or 10 mins to setup.

Typo above: Steps one and two can be done via the "Secure Settings" _APP_ available in the play store.

okay so trying to follow what previous poster suggested with Tasker and Secure Settings.  

is what you describe the "Package Options" setting of Secure Settings?  If so, I can enable/disable alternate home apps, but it does not seem to make them the default home or to make them the foreground activity doing this alone.

Is there any chance of posting the XML from Tasker to do this, or further describing how to actually make this work?

You would help me to not crash into things while driving...

Its the package state setting inside secure settings. Let me know if you have any further questions.

thanks ....  so I now have things working where the launcher is properly changed between one and another in two separate tasks, but I have to manually hit the "HOME" button for it to actually bring up the launcher that is selected.  

The Tasker command App | Go Home doesn't appear to work after doing the switch in a Task.  

Any ideas of how you made the launcher not only be enabled/disabled, but for the selected launcher to gain focus?

BTW also for anyone else looking into getting around Google's removing this feature, you need to purchase the premium version of Secure Settings (for $1.50) to use the "Package State" function.  Well worth it, Secure Settings rocks.

it works for me some of the time...havent bothered to troubleshoot yet.
 let me know if you find a permanent solution to the "go home" problem.

it works for me some of the time...havent bothered to troubleshoot yet.  let me know if you find a permanent solution to the "go home" problem.

+q.. Please fix this.. Really depend on this functionality

Ah!   problem solved.

You have to insert the Tasker command "Task | Wait" for a couple of seconds before trying the "Go Home" command.  Prob the newly activated launcher needs a little time to load into memory and initialize itself.  A delay of 5 seconds just worked consistently, but need to do more testing to see how low I can bring that time down.

Thanks for the tip on how to accomplish this work around to completely simulate car mode for the cost of Tasker + Secure Settings.

And -1 to Google for removing such an essential feature for no reason.

Hi Andrew, this is the Solution I found to nearly eliminate the delay.


instead of using the "go home" task to open your "car launcher" create a task ON SECURE SETTINGS to "load app" and chose your "car laucher".You need to create this task on secure settings, if you do it On tasker it wont Work.

Hope This helps!

Awesome Xavier .... you have now saved me 3 seconds every time I enter and leave my vehicle!!

Please fix it

Please fix it

Another 4.2.1 user desperately wanting car mode re-enabled.

Unacceptable. Luckily, I know enough to be able to build with offending commit reverted, but the average user who relies on this functionality will be left with nothing but workarounds.

Please fix it, i think it is essentially ofr a relatively secure usage of a phone as a navigation system while driving

I've used #53's (and others) suggestion's but instead of using another recognized home screen launcher, I'm still using Car Home Ultra. I normally use ADW launcher so I disabled that and the default system launcher but now my home button does nothing. I'm mostly satisfied with the results but the problem is that it won't associate with the home button like it should when it's in car mode. If there were a setting within Tasker or Secure Settings that would allow a custom app to be associated with the home button then the workaround would be complete for me. Currently I can only use either the task manager or the back button to get back to my car launcher.

@dave32 you need to also install this along with Car Home Ultra and make it your default home.  See link below.  Written by author of Car Home Ultra.

Also be sure to check to simulate car dock mode in Car Home Ultra's settings.

Only drawback is when boots up from being off, sometimes I get a FC on this fix program, then it works fine.  Also it is hard-coded to only work with the stock launcher when not in car mode, but that's okay by me as a tradeoff (it beats driving into a tree because I was futzing with my launcher!)

Once you do all of this, it works.  I have a Nexus 7 installed in my dashboard and everything works great -- Car Home becomes home when the car is on, and stock launcher is it when the car is off and Tasker does its thing.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=spinninghead.homepatch

[Comment deleted]

@andrew: thanks for the link, but I only get fc's when I try to use that apk with Android 4.2.1...

Thanks Andrew! I tried using that before I discovered this thread and ran into issues since I had more than 1 launcher installed. Now that I've disabled them it works for me.

@heynma I had force close issues too but here's what I did. If you're not in car mode have the car home patch disabled through Secure Settings along with any other launchers you don't want to use. In my case I also disabled the system launcher and only left ADW available to be associated with the home button. Then in tasker my car dock profile disables ADW and enables the Car Home patch. Now everything works like a charm and if I didn't have to go through this trouble I wouldn't be able to tell it's patched.

Please google. Remove this bug. It is annoying and can cause distraction while driving. The android should priortize safety.

Please google. Remove this bug. It is annoying and can cause distraction while driving. The android should priortize safety.

Car docks are an important way that I use my phone.

To anyone who uses/is thinking of using AOKP, I posted in their forums asking them if they could look into this, and they've got a commit waiting to be verified/merged. You can keep an eye on it here: http://gerrit.sudoservers.com/#/c/5293/ 

Please fix the issue.  Need ability for car home to work.

This is very annoying... Can't really use my phone for navigation this way... Please fix this...

This issue needs to be fixed asap.

I think I found a more useful workaround using Tasker. I created a profile with two contexts: one for your launcher app and one for car dock mode. For the task have it load app: Car Home Ultra (or whatever you are using). When docked and you press home it goes to the launcher for a few seconds and then Car Home launches automatically. Not perfect but it worked great for me.

Fix this please

Please fix this problem so I can use my Car Home app. We should not go back to an older phone with an earlier version of Android just to be safe on the road!! Please google, please fix it!

I have experienced the same issue with 3 different apps.  Patches released by developers do not work.  Please fix, as this can be viewed as a safety issue.

Please fix this already, using android in a car dock makes no fun since Jelly Bean :(

Car mode was a great addition to android. Please bring it back in Key Lime Pie!!!

Same issue here. Please fix!

@ #86, Google should not wait until KLP to fix this, it needs to be fixed now.  Seriously, Google, are you listening?  Pleaes fix this!

Please fix

Definitely a retrograde move, but political maybe? "The authorities" are getting very twitchy about any kind of phone use in cars, even treating hands-free as dangerous. Maybe Google could be regarded as culpable if they explicitly support car mode in Android? Mad of course, because people will still use their phones, even just as sat-navs, but without features that would actually make them safer!

It's not a political move. Car Mode wasn't removed, just the ability for car mode apps to override the home button was removed.

Yes, but this change so neuters Car Mode that it's pointless it being there. It's like removing it without saying you're removing it. It's no longer a "mode", it's just launching an app that registers as a "car panel".

Please star the issue (top left of the page) if you care. Google will *not* read this otherwise!

This is an feature that I use daily, please Google consider fixing this for 4.2.2.

Consider this another request to fix the issue.  

Yeah. This is absurd. C'mon GOOG!

this is highly annoying, it must be fixed somehow. I have absolutely no idea what even the reason was to removed e that functionality in first place...

this is no solution, but a workaround requiring a rooted phone, tasker with secure settings plugin, and some experience with apktool & signing:

- make sure you have only one launcher active on your phone
- decompile you car home app with apktool, extract the manifest.xml and add '<category android:name="android.intent.category.HOME"/>' to '<intent-filter>'
- using apktool again, recompile the app with the changed manifest.xml, and sign it.
- uninstall old version of car home app, install modified version
- when clicking home button, it should offer your launcher and car home
- in tasker, create profile car-docked, and set app state of car home to enabled when docked, to disabled when undocked
- select car home as your default launcher

now, when docked, car home will be default home app and therefore started when clicking home button.
as soon as you undock, app will be disabled, so your normal launcher app will triggered.
as soon as you dock again, car home will be enabled again, ...

works like a charm :)

For those who install custom ROMs, AOKP JB-MR1-Build-3 has fixed this issue.

Does anybody know if someone from Google is actually reading these comments?  Is it possible they aren't even aware this Issue exists and we're just wasting our breath here?

@russellc:  They know about it.  It was completely intentional, as evidenced by this comment from the commit that removed the intent:

"// We don't have dock home anymore. Home is home. If you lived here, you'd be home by now."

Dear Google, please tell us WHY this feature has been removed. I also feel it makes car mode less safe, and I use car mode every single day for up to 3 hours!

don´t forget to "star" this issue...

Has anyone tried Android 4.2.2?

Just installed 4.2.2. It has not been fixed :-(

Please resolve this issue

Yes. Having Car Home app makes my driving experience safer.  For me, the car mode was one the features that set android apart from iPhone.  

This is a serious problem for me.  Between this and the bluetooth issues it's like Google decided that Android phones were no longer to be used in cars.  Even in 4.2.2 the bluetooth no longer auto-connects to my car like it used to.

Please Fix The Home Button In Car Mode!

Please Fix The Home Button In Car Mode!

Add me to the list of irrate car users, please fix this ASAP!

Google, please fix the home Button in car mode! Thank you.

This makes driving more dangerous. Please put this feature back to how it used to be.

How stupid. Please restore this functionality ASAP.

Google, please fix the home Button in car mode! Thank you.

Google, please make the home Button in car mode work again and re-integrate Google Car Dock software again. I've been using this for two years on my Nexus S and am extremely irritated that this key functionality is just gone on my new Nexus 4.

Come on, stop kidding.

please bring the homebutton for the car dock back

Google, please fix this issue. Not only does it make driving more dangerous, but it's incredibly irritating.

The car dock feature is extremely important to me, and not having it in working order is a huge detriment.

Google, please kindly fix this issue!

This may not be feasible for everyone, but for those of you willing (and with supported phones), it seems CyanogenMod reverted this commit and the fix should be available on the next nightly builds (if it isn't already).

http://review.cyanogenmod.org/#/c/31988/

Tengo el mismo problema... Por favor reparten esto...

I too have just upgraded to a Nexus 4 and am disappointed to find that car home apps don't work correctly on it. Hopefully a fix is on it's way.

Please fix

Please fix this. Removing this feature was evil

Just a reminder for those of us who use custom roms: AOKP has fixed this as of their JB-MR1 build 3, and Cyanogenmod just recently fixed this as of their 3/8 nightly I believe.

CM user here, saw this issue fixed in the CM changelog but honestly I'm not going back. Here's my setup, should work for aosp and custom roms alike.

1. Since I don't use an official dock, I've stuck an NFC tag on my dock to trigger a CM profile I've set up for in the car. The car profile enables bluetooth and gps and disables the lockscreen. If you don't use CM or the profiles feature, NFC Task Launcher would work. And if you don't have a phone with NFC or you use an oem dock, I would imagine you could use Tasker to accomplish something similar.

2. I've created an additional screen in my launcher. In depreciating the feature Google stated that there is no more car home, just home. So this extra screen is essentially my new car home. On it I've super sized a few icons that I use the most (phone, nav, music, etc). You could also use an app like Car Widget to accomplish the same thing.

3. Here's what ties it all together - Daydream. Enable it for dock mode and, if you're like me and have no oem dock, enable it when charging.

In the end I place my phone in the dock and plug in the car charger. The NFC tag registers as soon as I unlock and enables my CM car profile. Two swipes on my launcher and I'm at the screen I've set up for the car, ready to launch music or nav. Pressing home from those apps takes me back to the last home screen I was on, my "car home". As my screen times out, Daydream kicks in. This is important to me for two reasons. My galaxy nexus screen is already burnt in from excessive car dock use; Daydream should eliminate that problem. The other has to do with the NFC tag. Everytime my screen turns off or has to be unlocked the NFC tag on my dock is triggered again. In this case it would trigger the previous CM profile. So by disabling the lock screen and using daydream I prevent the NFC tag from triggering again. One touch on daydream takes me right back to the screen I was on.

Hope that helps. I don't see Google going back, and even though my custom rom re-enabled the feature, I won't either.

One of the main reasons for going Android from iphone was for car dock support.  I need this function to make my galaxy note 2 the perfect choice for me.

I can confirm this issue on stock Verizon Galaxy nexus 4.2.2

This is an issue with Android 4.1.2 on my Verizon Wireless Motorola Razr Maxx.  Please bring back the "car mode home".  Very disappointing.  4.2 Car Mode Patch from TheSpinningHead is not available to install on 4.1.2.  Help.

Another vote for restoring car mode home.

Please resolve this issue.

"One of the main reasons for going Android from iphone was for car dock support."

Bingo.

Please fix this!

Please restore this feature. I really get confused when pressing home button. Everytime I need togo back to the app in order to get back my driving screen mode. Please fix it or at least make it optional. Thanks

Piling on, please fix!

Why was this feature removed in the first place. It breaks several OEM manufacturer's apps.

Bring it back!

Please restore this feature!

Fix it please

+1. Please add car dock back to android.

Won't this issue be fix? I am trying several options to get this to work. But failed. I have a feeling that Google will continue to ignore this.

Please add car dock back to android.

Please look at what people are saying.  Googlers

This is completely backwards to what it should be. Please change it back to what it used to be.

Please fix it in Android 4.3!!

Bump

What a shame that you forgot about people who have to phone and to write messages (text to speech) while driving...

Fix it please it's really important for post of drivers...
Your soft was really useful.

Please fix

Please, fix it

Please fix

please fix

Please fix, I drive to work and back 2 hours a day. Need it for safety...

Bring car mode back!!

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