calimoto Is Now Compatible With Android Auto đ
Hooray, the wait is over: calimoto is now compatible with Android Auto!
Android Auto is a Google system that connects your Android smartphone to your carâs infotainment system. This way, you can easily display calimoto on any Android Auto compatible screen.
Your benefits with Android Auto
- Less distraction while riding
- A larger and clearer view on your display
- Easier and safer controls
- Less strain on your smartphone
More about Android Auto
You can find more information on how to set up and use Android Auto in the Google Support.
Information regarding the launch
Since this is our first version with Android Auto, you may still encounter some bugs or display issues.
If you notice anything or have specific feedback, please reach out to our Support team with as much detail as possible, including screenshots or screen recordings.
Thank you for your support and patience đ.
Ride safe and enjoy the road. Now with Android Auto! đïž
Comments
Hi Nicholas,
It's not really the same though, is it? If you have a screen that won't work with gloves, or your phone is in your pocket, the bleeping or whatever isn't really such a distraction as you can't interact with it.
As to the point about map reading on the move, well, this shouldn't really be happening. You should look at the route before you set off ideally and have an idea where you're going - again to save from distraction. If that's not possible then you have the voice prompts. Â
Hi Alex,
All fair points tbf. It's not changed my personal opinion though. I knew I'd get some backlash from this post as everyone nowadays can't seem to be without the latest gadget. haha.
@Mark the reason I've chosen to buy an Android Auto device, is the fact that mounting a phone to the bike already did cost me two phones. And yes I've been using expensive mounts with vibration dampers.
The phone gives me more distraction than the Android Auto device. The screen interacts great with gloves.
I do love calimoto due to its curvy round trips, but already found multiple apps with the same option supporting AA. I do like calimoto and therefore still have my subscription. Also as a supporter in the hope they further develop the app and start supporting AA.
And I agree with large A to B trips you should have an idea where you are driving. But for me the fun calimoto should bring is the curvey round trips on small bumpy back roads I normally would never ride. This way I discovered great routes nearby my home I would never ride on my own decision. It also helped me discovered wonderful places when being on a holiday on the bike. And like I said at the start, not with my phone mounted anymore.
For me AA isn't another tech gadget. It's a replacement of my phone, giving better overview instead of the glittering phone screen. With less app notifications then the phone gives.
So rather than excuses and fobbing off, why dont you give your customers, remember that, customers, a time frame when you are going to complete AA compatability? No long winded excuses no complex answers. Just a date your aiming for. I would never have bought if I knew its not compatable. Remember talk straight to your customers. Very disappointed, in your service.
Well, apparently at least a year further after start of this discussion. Still words about the "ground work" and still no compatibility. This season's premium is already been paid for, but this summer i will get my carpuride as well. If after this riding season your developers still did not succeed, i will cancel my subscription as well. Would these developers have been working in my company, they would not be my developers for very long anymore.
This is exactly why itâs important to have this discussion â to help them see how essential this feature is. Every delay and postponement is forcing us to spend time and effort looking for alternatives to their app. They say they understand and are working hard to deliver it.
I believe in speaking my mind and sharing my experiences openly, regardless of how it may be received.
I'm still monitoring this thread, by curiosity. I cancelled my premium last year (me and my wife, so 2 premium). I didn't Beleive to see one day that Android version as their initial response was clearly they didn't want to do it... Until realizing that response goes ballistic from user.
1 years later, 2 motorcycle season will have passed, and lot of hope seen here.. For something that not seem to come. There is lot of alternative everywhere, AA compatible (and even carplay at the same time ). So those know that center on only one ecosystem not helping to see their client pool grow, and keeping them on their product...
Will see where it goes next year, but I believe next year will be a groundhogs day...
Really hoping this get resolved soon. More and more riders are using Android Auto devices and currently I have to plan in Calimoto and than try and match plan a rout in Google maps which is a pain!
Hoping your team get this resolved soon.
And it's not just motorcycle riders who use Calimoto - I had been testing and introducing it to my car club. The idea was to have an alternative to the Garmin units many in the club still use to follow the .gpx routes we design for our group rides and rallies. And the twisty roads option was perfect for those who designed their rides on Calimoto. It worked well as a phone app and was adopted by a few members, but when I found OsMand and it's ability to work on our in-car infotainment screens using both AA and iOS we've made a wholesale move to OsMand.Â
I will relook at Calimoto when the AA version is released.
SacredCheese, fair point, about seasons, I was thinking about UK.
Hey @ZADSoft,
Trust me, I feel this one deep in my soul. And youâre absolutely right, no-one is happy about the two years.
When calimoto first launched, Android Auto simply didnât exist yet, and we started with a completely different mapping system on Android. In hindsight, maybe we wouldâve done a few things differently⊠but alas, here we are. The switch to Mapbox has been a massive rebuild, not just a bit of new code slapped on top. Itâs the foundation for everything thatâs coming next.
The good news is, weâre getting close to having Mapbox fully set up. And while I still canât give a release date for Android Auto (and trust me, I asked), I can say that Iâve finally heard an internal, rough ballpark estimate. I can't pass it on, but letâs just say⊠for the first time regarding this topic, I could actually exhale a little.
And yes, weâve noticed the trend too: more and more riders are switching to external displays. Every motorcycle event we attend has a new wave of devices. Thatâs why we want to make sure this is done right, not rushed out the door half-baked. Because youâre spot on, this is something people want to use and stick with. And we want that too.
Thanks for still being here. Even when itâs frustrating.
It's absolutely shambolic that more than a year since this thread was started, still no sign of AA support, and Calimoto is not even prepared to make a statement around it's estimated release date. In the meantime the world is moving on, more and more people are adopting the dozens of android auto / car play systems on the market designed for motorcycles and Calimoto are losing out to the competition who already got their act together with AA compatible apps such as MyRouteApp. Definitely a Kodak moment for Calimoto - a good lesson on how to make your business irrelevant.
Hey @downerhouse, @h.a.visser,
we understand where the frustration is coming from. Android Auto has been one of the most requested features for a long time, so itâs completely fair that many Android riders are eager to see it finally arrive.
The good news: itâs not far off anymore. Android Auto is already in alpha and weâre currently working through the remaining steps to get it ready for release. We still canât share an exact date yet, but it will be coming soon â and weâll update you here as soon as we can communicate something more concrete.
Thanks for your patience and for keeping the feedback coming.
I really don't want to encourage anyone to abandon the good ship Calimoto but have a look at Motobit fully AA compatible right now.
Focus on Calimoto? Ok. Two years of development that other players managed 18 months ago. Android users paying the same as Apple users for two years for only part of the functionality. Calimoto, the biking season has started here in Europe, are you being fair to this community of Android bikers by wanting to limit discussion to your failure?
My first opportunity to test the new AA version. Great step forward, well done @calimoto..
A few issues, I had to manually open calimoto on the AA device (Chigee AIO 6). I also notice it did not sync with the phone. I had previously started a route on the phone and expected the AA device to pick up the current route. Instead, I had to close Calimoto on the phone and restart it on the phone and then the AA device worked/sync'd.
I notice a few turns were not announced
I'd also like to see speed limit and current speed. Other than that, great to see the progress in Q1. Well done ..
Hi Again, some more feedback for @Calimoto. On the AA device, without an active route, the map does not track with current location. although I noticed the position marker moving on the map at the start of the journey, the map does not change from the start location and so the current position marker goes out of sight.
It would also be good to have a larger (current) position marker as it was very small and difficult to see when you are moving, etc.
My testing: I have also given this feedback via the Google playstore (Beta send feedback to developer)
Route loaded fine from my S24, however the map stayed still and I saw the route line slowly disappearing when riding. Audio instructions carried on though. Looks like a map sync issue fro the phone.Â
My wifes S25 was a little better but intermittantly had the same issue.
Hi everyone,
First of all, a big thank you to all of you who have already joined the beta program and taken the time to test Android Auto on real rides. We really appreciate the detailed feedback youâve been sharing here đđđŒ!
This is a group reply, but please know that all the individual points youâve mentioned are being collected and reviewed by the team.
As youâve noticed, the current version is still quite basic. That is very much intentional. After such a long wait, it was important for us to finally get a first working version out there rather than holding everything back until itâs feature complete. This allows us to see how it performs in real conditions and, just as importantly, what youâre missing most.
A quick note on expectations: for both Android Auto and CarPlay, all third party navigation apps are limited in what can be shown on the screen. Google and Apple enforce fairly strict guidelines to keep the interface clean and reduce distractions while riding or driving. So some elements from the phone app cannot be transferred one to one.
That said, there are definitely improvements coming. Some of the points youâve raised, like behavior around reconnecting, route handling, and general usability, are exactly the kind of things weâre focusing on now.
We already have an update ready on our side and are currently waiting for Googleâs approval. So itâs worth keeping an eye out over the next days and weeks as new versions roll out.
Weâre really happy to finally have something in your hands and to be able to build this together with your feedback. Thanks again for your support and for riding with us.
Ride safe!
Mine is set to "when using the app" and "Precise Location" but my phone is set to stay unlocked when attached to my headset. Screen is turned off.
Hi, a couple of months further, any progress yetđ?
I've the Chigee installed on my bike and ready for the first rides of the year. It would be nice to kick of the season with calimoto as my navigator.
As a premium user, i hope it will be available soon. I am sceptical like a lot of us here. I believe there are a huge number of potential users out there just waiting. My wife for one! Dashcams are selling like hotcakes at present. Take advantage of this. Release it as a beta and then we can choose!
I start using alternative. I only using this app to prepare in advance my ryde. So when I saw those first comments from Calimoto stated it won't happen, i start looking somewhere else, and not considering renew my premium (that I don't really use the benefits)
Alex, what did you try? I've tried a few so far.
Hey, let's keep it cool, let us wait the result in a couple of month.... I'm for sure looking forward to it! And if they need any Beta-Testers, let me knowđ
Heh heh, the notion that I'm going to plan a route on Calimoto, where the whole idea is to have a random wriggly route, and then learn the whole thing before I set off, is ludicrous.
As I said, with Do Not Disturb set, I don't get bleeps and squeaks from the screen. So there's nothing to interact with anyway.
If you think you are somehow at an advantage using your phone screen over a Chigee embedded device, then that's great, we are all very happy for you. Ride safe and have fun. I think the rest of us will continue to use our Android Auto devices and either hope Calimoto get an Android Auto app developed, or find something else that works for us (I use Calimoto to plan the route, then export it to OSMand, which works really well).
Nicholas / Desmond,
It's not a stupid reply, it's been misinterpreted and I caveated with the voice prompts. I'm not expecting anyone, myself included, to memorise a route end to end. That's not what I said at all. However, you should have an idea (I say again 'an idea') where you're going so you're not riding blind and causing issues to other road users. I used to be a professional driver and I've seen this countless times with people being in the wrong lane etc etc and there is always a satnav or phone involved and it's clear they've not looked at their route and with that satnav taken away they would have no idea at all how to get home.
And Desmond - I once rode from Cambridgeshire to Munich without a satnav and during the ride I only looked at my map once to clarify the route in Germany. That journey was two full days so I'm sure a 3-hour ride is manageable to get an idea where you're rolling off to. I.e, I'm looking for signs to Frankfurt, then Munich.
So yes, I do feel it's advantageous to use a mounted device so it can be removed when not in use. If you don't want to mount it, put it in your pocket and listen to voice prompts.
As I initially said, for me (I say again 'for me') Calimoto has enhanced my riding experience 'as is' and that's what tech is supposed to do.
@Herre I hear your points, and I'm sorry to hear that you've lost two phones owing to mounting them. I'm just talking from my own experiences and preference. I'm not against AA integration per se - which I tried to get across in my initial post. They're just not for me and I just don't think it's the dealbreaker than some on this thread are making out. I'm using the Oxford CLIQR mount w/ universal case (i.e., the case is mounted with the phone inside) on my V-Strom and had no issues thus far with phone security; I simply mount behind the screen and go. Hopefully, this configuration will continue working for me without the issues you have faced.
Out of interest, going from your past experiences, are you not worried about your AA device dislodging? Or is the mount more permanent?
@mark the phones I've lost was on naked bikes (Vmax and a triumph bobber). So for sure not only vibrations from the bike, but also vibrations due to also catching up wind.
The AA device is a Chigee AI0 Lite. A permanent mounted device, build for motorbikes. Chosen it as it also has dashcam which also offers blind spot detection which comes in handy in heavy highway traffic. I have it mounted on my Triumph Tiger behind my screen. I ride the whole year round. The bike is my dedicated way of transportation for commuting, to the office, visiting clients, riding to training locations. Also during winter etc. That is also one off the reasons to get the phone off the bike. Phone discharged very quickly below zero, although it's water resistant it time from time started nagging having water in the charging port etc.
Mark : Reason why i don'T want to mount my phone on my handle bar... simple .. I lost one when attached with a RAM mount.. on the highway... So Pixel gone + Ram mount..Â
In my pocket, the only way to loose the phone is if a 6 wheels hit me, and pass over me.. but in that case, loosing my phone will be my last issue...
I change my bike for a new one, mostly because it came with Android Auto.. so i was suprise at that moment to discover that Calimoto were not complatible at all ..,, So i past my last year manually build my ryde on the web app of Harley, and push the map on my Infosystem after.... Not that different they what i was doing with Calimoto.. that was using Caliweb to build my map, and select it on the phone... I never used the auto-mal feature that came with premium, but purchase the premium just to encourage their business...
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