[Android General] kclfc:
2018 Honda Civic Hatchback

I've been following this thread since I got the car a couple of weeks ago. I was really excited to hear that it was possible (for 2017) and then I was really disappointed when I saw that it wasn't working on the 2018, until the passcord was found and then i got excited again. I really like the input everyone has given so I'm contributing my experience too. Hopefully it's of use to someone.

I know the online hack is available but I'm still cautious about hacking my head unit because it's closely linked to the Honda Sensing systems (somehow) and I rather like the ACC and LSF.

I'm at least curious so I've tried to be as informed as I can and test what I _think_ will be safe enough (at least enough for me to be able to fix myself).

I'm trying to follow the manual steps for the hack and I've made small progress but still haven't got the adb connection working.

I wanted to first make sure the steps up to the root worked before I tried the online version of the hack.

Before I tried the root hack, I first got browser based videos working:

I can't remember what guide it was but I switched the "Cancel Android Restriction" option to bring forth the browser and gallery apps. I had to disable the "Memory Refresh" option in the settings of the car so that the head unit wouldn't refresh - this basically does some form of reboot that clears the settings and removes the browser and gallery shortcuts. Obviously youtube and any other web page works as long as you have wifi (or mobile hotspot) and while in P (park).

To make it work on the move, I followed the guide on civicx "2016-civic-ex-na-finally-video-while-driving.9983". I found that I didn't need to change the vehicle model number (steps 1-5). I just followed the instructions from point 6 onwards and the browser and gallery were available on the move. Step 10 is to open the "about:debug" page, which basically opens the javascript debug console, to allow you to see the USB file system in the next step "file:///". I book marked both "about:debug" and "file:///usbdrive2" to make it easier to navigate once i'm in. If you use only the gallery you don't need to do that but I found scrolling in the gallery a real pain. Note that the browser can't read into a folder that has spaces - the URL shows %20 and then won't show any contents of the folder. If you're using online resources, like youtube then you probably don't need that bit.

Of course, the stock player doesn't play all files and sometimes crashes if you try to fast forward some files. (Crashing apps might be a serious issue when you're on the move because the whole head unit freezes up for a minute.) So the next step really is to get the root working and install MX Player or something with better codecs.

I looked through the code from the github repo "codeage/root-honda" and it looks pretty straight forward. I would be able to run those commands independently and reverse the effects if needed. So I figured I would try that first:

The first step is to enable developer mode but we all know that the passcord changed for the 2018. Then we found out what the passcord was and it works fine. The developer mode and USB debugging options enable no problem (except.....)

The second step is to connect the head unit up to the laptop. Switching the head unit from HOST to DEVICE is pretty easy, except that the connection is never made to the laptop. The screen just shows the status as "disconnected". I've tried with both a Mac and a Ubuntu laptop. Mac doesn't respond at all but the Ubuntu shows the files in the file manager but the adb won't connect to the device. I guess this is the protection they've put in to prevent adb connectivity.

I've confirmed that the cable works by connecting from my laptop to my android phone and the connection works just fine when the head unit is in HOST mode.

I'm going to settle for using the browser and stock player for the time being and wait for developments. I'm not really watching the videos myself and only need it when the kids are in the car, which is very seldom anyway.

I can post my version numbers if anyone wants them.