Your screen, as it is
Android’s screen capture hands CarCast each frame the moment it’s drawn. Any app, including maps, music and messages.
Works with Android Auto
Your phone,
on the dash.
Mirror any app from your phone to your car’s display. Sharp, smooth, and with about one frame of added delay.
- Up to 60 fps
- ~1 frame delay
- No internet permission
- Frame rate
- 60fps
- Added delay
- ~1frame
- Video encoding steps
- 0
- Bytes sent off your phone
- 0
Straight to the glass
No encoding. No network. Just the picture.
Most mirroring compresses your screen into a video, sends it somewhere, and decodes it again. CarCast skips all of that: each frame is drawn straight into Android Auto’s display surface on your phone’s GPU, and Android Auto carries it to the car like any navigation app.
Typical screen mirroring
- Capture
- Encode video
- Copy through CPU
- Send over network
- Decode
- Display
CarCast
- Capture
- Draw on the GPU
- Car display
Drawn on the GPU
An EGL/OpenGL renderer draws the frame into the car’s surface, sized to its display so pixels are scaled once.
On your dash
Android Auto carries the picture to the car, wired or wireless, the same way it does for navigation apps.
Features
Made for the car, not just a bigger screen.
Pick your picture
Choose between frame rate and detail, and decide how a tall phone screen fills a wide car display.
Measure the delay yourself
Don’t take our word for it. The built-in latency test shows a running clock on your phone. Film the phone and the car display together, and the gap between the two clocks is the delay. Each lit cell is one frame.
A live phone preview shows frame rate, latency, output resolution and dropped frames while you cast.
-
Control it from the car
Tap, drag and pinch on your car’s touchscreen and the phone responds. Optional and off by default.
-
Only while parked
Hide the picture whenever the car reports it’s moving, or can’t report its speed.
-
Stops on its own
Sharing ends when the car disconnects, after two minutes with nothing watching, or when the phone locks, if you like.
-
Keeps its cool
When the phone gets warm, CarCast backs off gracefully instead of stuttering.
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Start from the car
Open CarCast from the car’s app launcher and confirm on the phone. No fiddling with the phone at the wheel.
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Always one tap from Stop
A notification is visible the whole time you’re sharing, with a Stop button.
Private by design
Your screen never leaves your phone.
CarCast doesn’t ask for the internet permission, so it can’t send anything anywhere. Frames live only in graphics memory, and nothing is recorded or saved.
Read the privacy policy- No internet permissionNothing can be uploaded, by design.
- Nothing recordedFrames never leave the graphics chip.
- No account, ads or analyticsThere’s no one to sign in to and nothing tracking you.
- Touch control can’t read your screenIt only repeats the gestures you make on the car.
Setup
On your dash in about a minute.
-
Install CarCast
Open it once and allow notifications, so the car can ask you to confirm on the phone.
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Allow it in Android Auto
In Android Auto settings, tap Version about ten times to turn on developer mode. Then open Developer settings and turn on Unknown sources.
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Connect and start
Plug in or connect wirelessly, open CarCast from the car’s app launcher, and tap Start.
Screenshots
A closer look.
FAQ
Questions, answered.
Why isn’t CarCast on Google Play?
Google Play doesn’t allow screen-mirroring apps on Android Auto, so CarCast is installed directly. Android Auto then only shows it once you enable “Unknown sources” in its developer settings. The in-app setup guide walks you through it, and it takes about a minute.
Which phones and cars does it work with?
Any car with Android Auto, wired or wireless, and an Android phone running Android 10 or newer. CarCast sizes the picture to your car’s display, so pixels are scaled only once.
Why is one of my apps black on the car screen?
Apps that block screenshots, such as banking apps and some video services, appear black. Android doesn’t let any app capture them, CarCast included.
Can I watch video while I drive?
No, and you shouldn’t. Only use CarCast in ways that are legal where you are. Turn on “Only while parked” and the picture hides whenever the car reports that it’s moving.
Does it drain the battery or heat up the phone?
Frames never leave the graphics chip and nothing is encoded, so the work per frame is small. If the phone does get warm, CarCast lowers its frame rate gracefully instead of stuttering, and sharing stops by itself after two minutes with nothing watching.
What can touch control do?
Tap, drag and pinch the picture on your car’s touchscreen and your phone responds. It uses an Android accessibility service that can only perform the gestures you make on the car screen. It can’t read what’s on your screen, and it’s off until you turn it on.
Put your phone on the dash.
CarCast is in beta for Android 10 and newer, with Android Auto.
Email for early access