Beetle Launcheruser manual

Written for the BYD Sealion 7 (DiLink 5.0, Android 11). What is on each screen, and what every item in Settings does.

A lot of this is not finished yet. It is being built by one person for their own car. Unfinished items can disappear without notice.

This document is generated from the launcher source. The settings and their order come straight from the app's own list, and both languages come from the same dictionary the app uses. When Settings changes, this changes with it.

Installing

You only do this once. The exact commands are on the download tab of the home page.

It is easier from a phone

Put your phone on the same Wi-Fi as the car, connect to wireless ADB with one of these apps and install the APK straight from it. No computer, no cable.

atvTools — iPhone and iPad. Paid, about US$1, iOS 14 or newer.
Bugjaeger — Android. Free.

Bugjaeger is Android only. On iPhone use atvTools.

From a computer

Download the APK. There is a release build and a debug build; normally you want the release.
Grant one permission. WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS — with it, the launcher switches wireless ADB on by itself at every start.
Make Beetle Launcher the home app. You do this under Settings › System.

AdbKick is built into the launcher. You do not need to install it separately, and if you already have it the launcher does not call it.

After that it checks for new versions on its own. It follows the release build only. Debug builds are fetched by hand under Settings › About.

The screens

Swipe left and right between pages. Their order, and whether each is used, is set under Settings › Pages.

Dashboard — page 1

The first page: what the car already knows, laid out as tiles.

The dashboard on the centre screen: range, battery, charging, odometer, door locks, this trip and average efficiency. — Dashboard — drag the tiles into order in Settings

Vehicle controls — page 2

It calls the same public SDK the stock app uses. It does not touch firmware.

A grid of vehicle control tiles under tabs for locks, lights, climate, seats, comfort, charging and alerts. — Vehicle controls — the ones you use go in Favourites

Navigation

Turn-by-turn guidance on Korean map data. It can be sent to the instrument cluster as well.

The map screen with the map itself blurred for privacy, and the radio panel alongside it. — The map — blurred here because it is home

Internet radio

Korean stations over the internet. You can add and remove stations.

A grid of Korean radio station tiles with the broadcaster logos blurred. — Radio — tap a tile and it plays on the right (broadcaster logos blurred)

Internet TV

Live television on the centre screen. You can add and remove channels.

Live television filling the centre screen with the picture blurred, and channel tiles below. — TV — pick a channel from the row below (picture and logos blurred)

Instrument cluster — display 1

The screen beyond the steering wheel. The launcher puts its own screen up there, and the colours follow the drive mode.

The instrument cluster in four drive modes — Eco in green, Snow in blue, Sport in red and Normal in teal. — Cluster — Eco, Snow, Sport, Normal

Settings — screen by screen

Open “launcher settings” from the right-hand end of the dock. The list on the left is the screens; the right-hand side is that screen's items. Below is that list, in the same order.

There are no descriptions in the app. Settings is a place to change things, not to read, so the explanations were taken out — and became this document. Outside Korea, “speed cameras” and “navigation” drop off the list: they depend on Korean data.

System

Things that apply to the whole launcher — the home button, wireless ADB, language. This is the first screen to visit after installing. The first few rows are indicators, not switches: they show you the current state.

Language: The launcher's language. Set it to English and the speed-camera and navigation screens drop off the list — they depend on Korean data. Choose: 한국어 · English
Region: Which country the weather, maps and similar services look at. Choose: Korea · Overseas
Accessibility service: An indicator. It has to be on for the launcher to tap through stock screens for you. The first few rows of this screen are indicators like this — they show state, they are not switches.
Wireless ADB: An indicator: whether wireless ADB is on right now.
Self-grant: An indicator: whether the launcher holds the WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS permission.
Notification access (track info): An indicator. Without it the launcher cannot read the name of the track that is playing.

System setup

Open ADB screen (portrait): Opens the stock ADB settings screen.
Rotate to portrait when enabling: For cars where the stock ADB screen only appears in portrait.
Enable wireless ADB: Turns it on right now.
Self-grant via wireless ADB: Grants the permission to itself. Once it has it, wireless ADB comes on by itself at every start.
Gemini control: Control the car by speaking. It needs a Gemini key.
Gemini model: Which model to use.
Home button: Where the home button takes you. Choose: Beetle Launcher · Stock home
Back button: What the back button does. Choose: Beetle Launcher · Stock home
Default home = Beetle Launcher: An indicator. If this is not set, the home key does not reach the launcher. Reinstalling the app clears it, so set it again then.
Hand to another app: Hands anything the launcher does not understand to the car's own voice assistant.

Split screen

Split-screen support: This car cannot put the home app into split screen. Hand the home role back to the stock launcher and Beetle Launcher can go into a split.

Dashboard

Picks the tiles on page 1. Drag them to reorder.

Font: The typeface for the whole launcher. It changes as soon as you pick one.
Tile style: How the tiles are drawn. Choose: Outline · Box only · None
Top clock · date: Whether to show the clock and date at the top of the first page.
Wallpaper: The wallpaper — the stock one, or one of six ATTO 3 stock themes.
Full screen: Hides the Android status bar and uses the whole screen.

Tile layout

Button: Reset layout

Cluster

Decides what goes on the screen beyond the steering wheel (display 1).

Speed tile gauges

Cluster screen

Turn-signal camera: Puts up the side camera on whichever side you signal.
Cluster display: Turn this off and the cluster screen is not used at all: the dials move to the cluster and leave the launcher.
Keep cluster view: When the car flips the cluster back to its own mode — the right-hand steering-wheel button does this — put our mode back once.
Hold cluster: When another app covers the cluster, put our screen back a moment later. Nothing arbitrates that screen — whatever drew last is what you see — so putting it back is the only defence.
Stay above TMap: Draws the cluster as an overlay window so it sits on top of TMAP's own cluster.
Sport flame: The cluster catches fire in Sport mode. It redraws at 20fps, so turn it off if it costs too much.
Background type: Where the wallpaper comes from. Choose: Solid · Stock background
Solid color: The colour used when the background is set to a flat colour.
Darken photo: Darkens the background photo so the numbers on top of it stay readable. Choose: 0% · 20% · 40% · 60% · 80%

Cluster gauges

Speedometer: How the speed itself is shown. Choose: Digital · Analog
GPS speed: Speed measured by satellite. It differs from the car's own speed by a few km/h. Choose: Hidden · Dial
Motor RPM: Motor revolutions. Choose: Hidden · Dial
Motor torque: Motor torque. Choose: Hidden · Dial
Motor temperature: Motor temperature. Choose: Hidden · Dial

Info panel

Now playing: The track that is playing.
This trip: Distance and efficiency for this trip.
Tire pressure: Pressure at all four wheels.
Switch with wheel button: Press the info button on the steering wheel to page through the panels — that button becomes our remote.

Three zones

Three zones: Splits the cluster in three so two info panels fit.
Center info: What goes in the middle of the cluster.
Right info (initial): What the right-hand panel shows to begin with.

Car functions

The controls on page 2. “Edit items” picks which ones show, and automations run several of them at once.

Style: How the page-2 controls are drawn. Choose: Boxes · Icons

Button: Edit items

Automation

Edit: Pick what shows and what is hidden.

Button: Load examples

Button: Add sequence

Dock

The bar that is always at the bottom of the screen, whatever page you are on.

Dock row placement

Bottom: Whether the dock sits at the bottom of the screen. Choose: Bottom · Top
Dock size: How tall the dock is. Choose: Small · Normal · Large
Show apps in dock: Whether app icons sit in the dock.
Icon labels: Whether names appear under the icons.
Media app: Which app the music controls talk to.
Dock apps: “Edit apps” picks what goes in the dock.

Sound

The sounds that play when something happens — drive mode, gear, start-up, reverse.

When drive mode changes

Mode voice: Says the drive mode out loud when it changes.
Sport exhaust sound: Plays an exhaust note in Sport mode.
Lower music during mode announcement: Ducks the music while the announcement plays. An app cannot go louder than the system volume, so the only way to be heard is to make the music quieter.

When shifting

Gear voice: Says the gear out loud when you change it.

Wheel voice button

Voice control with wheel button: Use the voice button on the steering wheel to talk to the launcher.

On startup

Greeting: Greets you at start-up, with something that suits the time of day.

When reversing

Reverse distance voice: Reads out the distance behind you while reversing.

When pressing a switch

Switch feedback: What happens when you press a control. Choose: Sound · Voice
Switch volume: How loud that sound is.