How to get an Android head unit online
Three ways. Put a SIM in the card slot and make sure the 4G antennas are connected, join a WiFi or Starlink network under Settings and WiFi, or turn on the hotspot on your phone and join that. The Play Store and any online app needs one of the three.
What this gives you
The unit stops depending on a phone. Maps update, apps install, music streams and traffic works from the unit itself, which is what makes it a computer in the dash rather than a screen for a phone.
On a touring build it also means the head unit can ride on the same satellite connection as everything else in the vehicle, rather than needing its own signal.
Before you start
- For a SIM, an activated data SIM. One is not supplied with the unit.
- For a SIM, the 4G antennas connected. There are two of them on the rear panel and both matter.
- For WiFi or Starlink, the network name and password.
- For a hotspot, a phone with data and enough battery, because hotspot is hard on it.
Step by step
- Join a WiFi or Starlink network
Go to Settings, then WiFi, select the network and enter the password. A Starlink network joins the same way any home or office network does. The unit takes both 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks. Starlink hardware is not supplied and connects to the unit like any other router.
- Or use a phone hotspot
Turn the hotspot on at the phone, then join it from Settings and WiFi on the unit exactly as you would any other network.
- Or fit a SIM for a connection that does not depend on anything else
Insert the SIM into the card slot and check both 4G antennas are connected. A SIM with no antennas gives you a connection that keeps dropping rather than no connection at all, which is what makes it confusing to diagnose.
- On a smaller carrier, enter the APN by hand
A SIM from a reseller often needs its access point settings typed in. Use the values that carrier publishes, exactly as written, rather than the ones for the network it runs on.
- Set the time zone, the date and the time
A wrong clock blocks a Google sign in and blocks some apps from activating, and the error it gives you never mentions the clock. Set it before you go hunting for a connection fault.
- Update the Play Store before you sign in
Open the Play Store, press the three dots for the menu and select Update. Doing this before signing in prevents most login and app problems.
- Get back on WiFi now and then
Google system and service updates are what keep the unit stable, so it is worth parking near a known network occasionally and letting the Play Store run its updates.
If it does not work
- Nothing appears in the WiFi list: check the hotspot is actually switched on at the phone rather than just enabled in a menu.
- Shows connected but nothing loads: on a caravan park or roadhouse network that is usually a captive portal. Open a browser on the unit and finish the sign in page. On a SIM it is usually the wrong APN for a smaller carrier.
- SIM shows no service: power the unit off, re-seat the SIM, power back on, and confirm the plan is active with the carrier. Check both 4G antennas while you are in there.
- Connected but apps will not activate: check the date, time and time zone. Incorrect system time is a common cause of activation failures.
- Play Store will not sign in at all: install the latest software for your unit and try again. That fixes it in almost every case.
Worth knowing
If the phone is being used for wireless CarPlay it cannot also stay on a separate WiFi network at the same time, because a phone WiFi radio joins one network at a time. Running CarPlay wired over USB frees the phone WiFi for something else.
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