u/Chuchuwacca

I’ve been troubleshooting Android Auto´s well-known issue where Android Auto screen constantly flickers/reloads when connected to the car.

After a lot of testing with the help of AI, it looks like the problem is related to Bigme’s per-app DPI optimization for Android Auto. Bigme seems to force one DPI value on Android Auto, but Android Auto can use multiple virtual displays with different DPI requirements. That can cause the projection UI to repeatedly crash/reload.

This ADB command fixed the flickering for me:

adb shell service call xrz_display_policy_service 7 s16 "com.google.android.projection.gearhead" i32 0

After running it, Android Auto became stable and the constant flickering stopped.

How to try it:

You need ADB/platform-tools on your computer and USB debugging enabled on the HiBreak Pro (find a guide for this).

Connect the phone to PC and first make sure ADB sees it:

adb devices

Then run:

adb shell service call xrz_display_policy_service 7 s16 "com.google.android.projection.gearhead" i32 0

You can then check the current Android Auto display policy with:

adb shell dumpsys xrz_display_policy_service | findstr /I "gearhead"

On Windows you should see a long text, find something containing:

isDpiSetting=0

That means Bigme’s custom DPI override for Android Auto is disabled which is what we are looking for.

Then connect Android Auto normally to your car and test it.

*Important*

This does not uninstall or modify Android Auto. It only disables Bigme’s per-app DPI setting for Android Auto package. On my HiBreak Pro, the setting also survives a normal phone reboot, so I don’t need to run the command every time.

However, I found that if I open:

Android Auto → E-Ink Center Bigme automatically enables the DPI setting again (isDpiSetting=1), even if I don’t change anything. So if you open Android Auto E-Ink Center, check it again or simply rerun the fix command afterward.

How to undo it:

To re-enable Bigme’s default DPI control for Android Auto:

adb shell service call xrz_display_policy_service 7 s16 "com.google.android.projection.gearhead" i32 1

You should then see again:

isDpiSetting=1

What to expect:

For me: Before the fix: Android Auto constantly flickered/reloaded making it unusable.

After the adb fix command: flickering completely stopped and Android Auto stayed connected normally.

Maps and other projected apps like youtube music work for me.

*I still have a separate issue where parts of the Android Auto dashboard look somewhat zoomed-in. That appears to be a different Android Auto/car display negotiation issue and not the original flickering problem.

So this is mainly a fix for the constant flickering/crashing, not necessarily every Android Auto display/scaling issue. My car is a Ford Escape, but the setting being changed is on the Bigme side, so I’m interested to see if it also fixes the same flickering issue with other cars/head units. If anyone with a HiBreak Pro has the same problem try it.