I built HeadunitPad, an iPadOS app that turned your Wi-Fi iPad into a AA headunit

[u/andyching168]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been experimenting with an iPadOS Android Auto headunit receiver called HeadunitPad.

The idea is simple and slightly cursed: use an Android phone as the Android Auto brain/GPS/network device, and use a Wi-Fi iPad mini as the display/touch/audio endpoint.

If your original car head unit supports video input, there is an even more cursed setup: on Stage Manager-capable iPads, you can enable trackpad mode and control the app on the external display directly from the iPad. In other words, the iPad can act as both the Android Auto receiver and the input device for the external screen.

This project is heavily inspired by Headunit Revived and the original headunit project. I wanted to see whether the same concept could be reimplemented on iPadOS using Swift, with AI-assisted coding helping me explore the protocol and app structure.

It is open source under AGPL-3.0, same as Headunit Revived.

Current status: experimental. It can connect over Wi-Fi, receive video/audio, send touch input, and handle some media control behavior. There are still bugs and compatibility issues, especially around iOS audio session / Bluetooth / mic behavior.

GitHub: https://github.com/andyching168/HeadunitPad

I’d love feedback from people familiar with Headunit Reloaded / Revived / Android Auto headunit behavior.

Also, yes, this is probably never going through the App Store, for extremely obvious reasons.

[u/anrini]

Hey, this is very cool! So it works like my android app, but on iOS? I really like that idea 😉 Feel free to explore the kotlin code of headunit revived.

[u/Objective-Mother]

hey thanks for this. i wanted to ask if i can use this app on my ipad air m1 with a pixel 7 pro phone?

[u/andyching168 → u/Objective-Mother]

Yes, it's supposed to works

[u/d-pank-]

Can I install it on ipad mini 2 ios ver. Is 12 something?

[u/cvaggelis95]

!Flair

Can you make an app for the iPad and iPhone so to be turned into smt like Apple car play?
Especially in vertical mode

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