Unlock hidden web browser - how to

[ckt]

Seems that connecting to open WiFi hot spots with captive portal page. One can use this to browse to Google search.

I.e. connect to Starbucks wifi, wait for captive portal to load, accept terms, at bottom of page select YouTube Starbucks icon, select help that'll take you to googles help page, search for make Google my home page. On that page click on the www.google.com link. From there you can go where you want.

Netflix page can load, but it's video does not. But maybe other streaming services may work?

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[kdonnel]

There was a similar way to get access to the built in browser a year or so ago that was closed once talked about publically.

I wonder if Ford will work with Starbucks to get this one closed as well?

The prior method worked on all network connections including the at&t connection built into the car.

Interesting find.

 

[ckt]

There was a similar way to get access to the built in browser a year or so ago that was closed once talked about publically.

I wonder if Ford will work with Starbucks to get this one closed as well?

The prior method worked on all network connections including the at&t connection built into the car.

Interesting find.

When I tested with an xfinitywifi captive portal, it worked until I went out of range. So it can't use the built in at&t network

 

[dj_stang]

There was a similar way to get access to the built in browser a year or so ago that was closed once talked about publically.

I wonder if Ford will work with Starbucks to get this one closed as well?

The prior method worked on all network connections including the at&t connection built into the car.

Interesting find.

God forbid customers use the capabilities of the vehicle. I remember when all Teslas spontaneously combusted when they included a web browser with the car 5 years ago.

 

[kdonnel]

I tried to recreate on my home wifi captive portal but could not get links to be clickable in my terms of service. Not sure you can with the default Unifi captive portal.

I did try redirecting a successful session to www.google.com and the car really did not like that. I got a warning that the certificate was not valid but was able to click through and then the sync screen just froze, eventually went black, and then came back to the settings page where I was when trying to connect to my home captive portal.

 

[kdonnel]

I managed to recreate it by forcing a redirect to a non SSL page in the captive portal.

And then from the site I redirected to I was then able to navigate to Facebook using links that were on the page.

Should be possible to have a redirect site with more useful links but still mostly useless as it only works during the captive portal process and does not give you a URL bar to enter any URL. You can only click links that navigate you to predetermined sites. A search engine could be one of those sites though.

We already knew that there was a reasonably capable browser built in. Maybe one day Ford will provide the browser as an app in the Entertainment tab.

 

[YunniorO]

God forbid customers use the capabilities of the vehicle. I remember when all Teslas spontaneously combusted when they included a web browser with the car 5 years ago.

Exactly. I fail to understand how YouTube is any different in park/while charging than using a web browser.

 

[Trax]

There was a similar way to get access to the built in browser a year or so ago that was closed once talked about publically.

I wonder if Ford will work with Starbucks to get this one closed as well?

The prior method worked on all network connections including the at&t connection built into the car.

Interesting find.

Why? So silly. I mean having a browser while traveling would be great, especially on a big screen. All they need to do is disable it when driving and it would still be useful.

 

[RickMachE]

To me, them spending time on this vs. other things should only be done when they have the excess staff / resources to do so. There are many other technical / UI things they should work on before this.

 

[MacherAWD]

Exactly. I fail to understand how YouTube is any different in park/while charging than using a web browser.

I wonder if security is a concern. With an open browser you might download a virus that could reach havoc on Ford or your car?

 

[ckt]

I managed to recreate it by forcing a redirect to a non SSL page in the captive portal.

And then from the site I redirected to I was then able to navigate to Facebook using links that were on the page.

Should be possible to have a redirect site with more useful links but still mostly useless as it only works during the captive portal process and does not give you a URL bar to enter any URL. You can only click links that navigate you to predetermined sites. A search engine could be one of those sites though.

We already knew that there was a reasonably capable browser built in. Maybe one day Ford will provide the browser as an app in the Entertainment tab.

Nice, woul

I wonder if security is a concern. With an open browser you might download a virus that could reach havoc on Ford or your car?

That's likely it, additional liability they don't want to budget for. I think Tesla is the only one allowing web browser

 

[kdonnel]

I wonder if security is a concern. With an open browser you might download a virus that could reach havoc on Ford or your car?

I assume the same.

 

[Skip Towne]

Why is no browser reasily available? My bet is revenue...

Consider that Google paid Apple $20 BILLION last year for the privlidge of being the default search engine on iPhone, I imagine there is contracting to be done here between Ford and the browser titans before you get to a browser easily in your parked car.

Just sayin' - money. It's behind a lot of business decisions.

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