Netflix or Game Console on MACH E?

[mpshizzle]

Sweet....
I found this unit on AZ

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09JNXR6WB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

There you go! Just a word of advice as @scoopman said... Don't use your actual Google account on these devices. Most of them are Chinese and not very trustworthy with your password, so take that for what it's worth

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[scoopman]

That is what I am talking about......Please detail how it is hooked up? Thru a USB port/plug & play? Will the Joyauto work for Iphones/Ipads?

THX

Let me explain some more since this is a little interesting to understand what's going on here. This thing is a stand-alone gadget that plugs in to your USB-C or USB-A port in the front middle console. It's a separate stand-alone device that's an Android phone without a screen or battery, and it needs power from your USB port in order to turn on, which it does by starting up when you plug it in.
Although it runs the Android OS, this gadget has a special trick of knowing how to "speak" CarPlay over wired USB, and it fools the car it's plugged into thinking it is an iPhone running CarPlay. So your car happily puts the stream from the device on the screen and plays sound and provides touch input to the gadget -- and little does the car know that you're making an elephant fart on the screen. Which you can do unfettered while driving, BTW.

You'll be sideloading apps you get to the device, or more likely installing apps from the Google Play Store. Google most certainly didn't license their apps like YouTube and the Play Store to JoyAuto, so it's a hacked play store from some rando Chinese company. Who knows what strange stuff might be on the device .... so I'd just be a little careful not to sign in to the play store with a Google account that has a gmail and other data in it (such as on Drive) that you care at all about. Use a burner Google account, don't put your real digital life on this device.

That being said, it does really well for its singular purpose of media entertainment and light games while you are charging etc. You cannot play heavy games on it, it's got a meh Chinese SOC (processor) on it, and the CarPlay protocol is also just not set up to support 3D polygon gaming. But we played chess on it and had a good ol time.

The gadget also has a USB-A port on it that can accept a flash memory stick, and I have a large-ish one on there that works just dandy for storing media playable thru VLC or other players, and the flash drive works as a location to save protected content from the Netflix app.

You can have the JoyAuto plugged in at the same time as you also have other CarPlay devices on the Mach-E -- you use the Mach-E's Phone menu to choose between which connected phone is active.

A little more Android tech details here: This newest device has a cheapo version of the CarPlay UI as a launcher as well. It's not the best, but I find I can launch another launcher to gain more functionality. The device has non-standard Android hackadoodle stuff on it so it seems unhappy when you use expert moves to get full Android Settings loaded and change the default launcher to something else. What is interesting is it appears they are using an Android TV codebase. So the device is a little strange.

Think this should answer most of the questions on this thing. It's pricey, definitely a fun party trick, especially if you road trip and find yourself at EA often enough.

 

[scoopman]

YES


Anyone who doesn’t find farts funny is unwelcome in my car.

My kids have loaded up 10+ fart apps on the thing. If you want farts, I mean FARTS, Mach-E plus this gadget is ON POINT.

 

[scoopman]

There you go! Just a word of advice as @scoopman said... Don't use your actual Google account on these devices. Most of them are Chinese and not very trustworthy with your password, so take that for what it's worth

This one is a little lower spec, will be slower etc. You want to have 4gig of app memory if you can, otherwise these devices page memory so much it really slows down the system. The devices all also allow you to connect your iPhone to the device as a a pass thru to do CarPlay.

I wouldn't do this -- the connection will have much more latency (lag), and you won't be able to use portrait mode on your big Mach-E screen, which is a big deal with CarPlay.

 

[Mercleven]

I’ve tried both and honestly, I lean toward the game console option in my Mach-E. There’s just something fun about using downtime to play a few rounds, especially on sites like pin up casino. The screen quality is more than good enough, and it makes long waits way more tolerable. That said, Netflix is great for when you want to just chill. Both options are awesome depending on your mood.

 

[Citizen0]

iOS 26 will introduce "video in the car", though it has to be supported by the auto manufacturer and apps of course. This wont' give you console access, but will hopefully open up more streaming apps during charging sessions or other times when parked.

https://9to5mac.com/2025/06/12/carplay-video-ios-26/

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