Petal Maps has become a great tool for car drivers. It’s a GPS navigator with great features but it’s not that easy to install in Android devices. Petal Maps is a Huawei app and Android Auto is from Google. Those two technology giants are not in good terms and the user can’t fully enjoy the experience.
If you use Android Auto Petal Maps could be a very useful app. That’s why we explore an alternative way to install and use Petal Maps in Android Auto even if they are not officially compatible.
Use Petal Maps in Android Auto although it’s not official
Petal Maps comes from Huawei and the Chinese company doesn’t use Google services in phones and tablets. Android Auto depends exclusively on Google services and the official arrival of Petal Maps may not ever occur.
However, you can use Petal Maps on Huawei HiCar, the equivalent to Android Auto from the Chinese developer. There’s also a trick to use the app in your car screen unofficially.
Use Fermata Auto to load Petal Maps
The easiest solution to force the use of Petal Maps in Android Auto is using it on your phone and then broadcasting it to your car screen. There are different apps to do this like CarStream. Although one of the most popular ones is Fermat Auto. It’s an extraofficial app for Android Auto, totally free and you can enjoy four apps in one.
Fermata Auto
The traditional Fermata Auto, it’s very similar to a media player for your phone. You can watch TDT channels, local videos from your storage device and YouTube. It includes a web browser player based experience.
Fermata Mirror
This app shows your mobile phone with a special launcher that you can customize with certain apps. It lets you use any app in Android Auto including YouTube, WhatsApp and others. The system also forces the horizontal view on your phone.
Fermata FS Mirror
A fullscreen version of Fermata Mirror. You can watch YouTube videos when you stop the car and you don’t have to watch Google Maps as your background app.
Fermata Media Service
The multimedia player from Fermata according to Google specifications. It doesn’t play videos but audio files. It’s the same as Fermata when you install it from the Google Play Store.
In order to run Petal Maps in Android Auto you have to open Fermata Mirror. Download the APK from Github and activate developer mode in Android Auto. You have to be able to install apps from unknown sources in order to run Petal Maps. If you can’t find Fermata Mirror, try the following:
- Open Developer mode menu.
- Select App mode.
- Open Car apps and you should see Fermata Mirror there.
The first time you run Fermata Mirror you need to grant permits for your phone synch. The app has to be running and broadcast the phone screen into your Android auto. Once you have all the permits active select the Add Petal Maps option in your launcher. Now you can run Petal Maps from your Fermata Mirror interface.
It’s not a perfect solution but it works fine
The main flaw of using Petal Maps in Android Auto is that the app only runs in horizontal when you are driving. The rest of the time it’s on vertical perspective. Before starting the navigation experience it will be fairly uncomfortable as most of Android Auto screens are panoramic and horizontal ones.
The aspect ratio from the screen may also don’t fit with your Smartphone. In those cases you will see two big black fringes at the top and bottom. However, when the broadcasting experience fits and you are driving, the Petal Maps user interface is interesting for your car. As the possibility of official compatibility is pretty remote, it’s not a bad idea to set it like this.