Integrate unbundled apps

Apps that include Dialer, Media, Car UI Library, and SMS are considered unbundled apps (that is, they are unbundled from the Android platform). Such apps include the logic for receiving data from the phone companion app and UX on the car side, including settings for association and feature enrollment. APKs built from unbundled code work with several versions of the platform.

Check out the code

To check out the unbundled code, run the following:

repo init -u https://android.googlesource.com/platform/manifest -b ub-automotive-master
repo sync -cq -j4

To learn more about working with AOSP source code, see Initialize the Repo Client.

Build the code

You can build the code using Android Studio or from the command line.

Android Studio

To build the code in Android Studio:

In Android Studio, import the following build file:

packages/apps/Car/libs/aaos-apps-gradle-project/build.gradle

Ensure the Gradle JDK is set to Version 11 or higher:

Figure 1. Set Gradle JDK to Version 11 in Android Studio.

Command line

To build the code from the command line:

Set the Android SDK location using one of the following methods:
- Create packages/apps/Car/libs/aaos-apps-gradle-project/local.properties and then set the sdk.dir property it contains. Android Studio can do this automatically when opening a project. For example, use sdk.dir=/Users/MY-USERNAME/Library/Android/sdk.
  
  or
- Set the ANDROID_SDK_ROOT environment variable with the path to the Android SDK.
Open a command prompt or a shell window.
Go to packages/apps/Car/libs/aaos-apps-gradle-project.
Run the following command:
```
./gradlew assemble
```

Minimum required API levels

Each unbundled app works on Android platforms with a version equal to or greater than its minSdkVersion. The following table lists the minimum API version supported by each app:

App	Minimum API level
Calendar	29
Car UI library	29
CompanionDevice	29
Dialer	31
Media	30
Messenger (SMS)	30
AOSP Host	29

Integrate a prebuild into a system image

If the Android platform version is supported by the app (see the table in the previous section), you can add the APK to the system image. However, the integration steps differ between Android platform versions.

Android 13 and higher

Android 13 and higher doesn't include source code for unbundled apps, but you can include a prebuilt APK in the platform build for use cases such as CDD compliance testing or provisioning privileged apps. To specify the APK, use the android_app_import Soong rule, as shown in the following example:

android_app_import {
    name: "CarMediaApp",
    apk: "CarMediaApp.apk",
    privileged: true,
    certificate: "platform", // Media must be signed by the platform
    required: ["allowed_privapp_com.android.car.media"],
}

Android 12 and lower

Android 12 and lower includes source code for unbundled apps, but you can still specify a prebuilt APK to include. Because the Soong default is to give precedence to the source code over a prebuilt, it's necessary to set the prefer flag to true inside the android_app_import rule, as shown in the following example:

android_app_import {
    name: "CarDialerApp",
    apk: "CarDialerApp.apk",
    privileged: true,
    presigned: true, // Dialer can have its own signature
    required: ["allowed_privapp_com.android.car.dialer"],
    overrides: ["Dialer"],
    prefer: true, // The prebuilt replaces a source target with the same name
    }

Unbundled app details

App/Distribution	Privileged unbundled system signed	Privileged unbundled non-system signed	Unbundled don't need to be on system partition
App - Calendar			X
App - CompanionDeviceSupport		X
App - Dialer		X
App - AOSP Host		X
App - Media	X
App - Messenger (SMS)		X
Update distribution	OTA	OTA or Google Play	OTA or Google Play