Secret menu Mk2 - Pin

[yakup]

Not sure whether I will have time to make a proper guide but can video record what I've done.
Actually quite simple.
What I did :
1) Gain access to "Secret menu" with code 200519 or so...
2) Set ADB Test flag to true (I assume activate ADB debugging)
3) Connect your laptop to the usb-c plug (Not the one for AA the other one)
4) adb install Netflix.apk or whatever

Tricky part is launching them since the SAIC launcher is somehow locked but you can launch apps with ADB but still not what we want.
What we want is to have external launcher like Nova launcher so the same way of installing Netflix.apk install Nova Launcher.

5) Launch Nova launcher with adb command :
adb shell am start -n com.teslacoilsw.launcher/com.teslacoilsw.launcher.NovaLauncher

From there it is regular Android...set default Launcher to Nova and continue to configure and customize your tablet as you wish.....

The nice thing is all the vehicle related HU features like switching camera etc still kept and even the original launcher still there when you click the home logo on the screeen and when you click physical button you have Nova launcher appearing giving you full access....

Netflix, Spotify, Tivimate, SmartTubeNext everything works perfectly !

I think this is a great news for all MG owners !!

[ Edit moderator: quiet → quite ]

 

[Shortman]

Not sure whether I will have time to make a proper guide but can video record what I've done.
Actually quite simple.
What I did :
1) Gain access to "Secret menu" with code 200519 or so...
2) Set ADB Test flag to true (I assume activate ADB debugging)
3) Connect your laptop to the usb-c plug (Not the one for AA the other one)
4) adb install Netflix.apk or whatever

Tricky part is launching them since the SAIC launcher is somehow locked but you can launch apps with ADB but still not what we want.
What we want is to have external launcher like Nova launcher so the same way of installing Netflix.apk install Nova Launcher.

5) Launch Nova launcher with adb command :
adb shell am start -n com.teslacoilsw.launcher/com.teslacoilsw.launcher.NovaLauncher

From there it is regular Android...set default Launcher to Nova and continue to configure and customize your tablet as you wish.....

The nice thing is all the vehicle related HU features like switching camera etc still kept and even the original launcher still there when you click the home logo on the screeen and when you click physical button you have Nova launcher appearing giving you full access....

Netflix, Spotify, Tivimate, SmartTubeNext everything works perfectly !

I think this is a great news for all MG owners !!

[ Edit moderator: quiet → quite ]

Question. Did you get a chance to test any audio apps like Poweramp or VLC ? I am wondering if those apps would be able to play music on a USB drive plugged into the car.

 

[Tommasov]

Not sure whether I will have time to make a proper guide but can video record what I've done.
Actually quite simple.
What I did :
1) Gain access to "Secret menu" with code 200519 or so...
2) Set ADB Test flag to true (I assume activate ADB debugging)
3) Connect your laptop to the usb-c plug (Not the one for AA the other one)
4) adb install Netflix.apk or whatever

Tricky part is launching them since the SAIC launcher is somehow locked but you can launch apps with ADB but still not what we want.
What we want is to have external launcher like Nova launcher so the same way of installing Netflix.apk install Nova Launcher.

5) Launch Nova launcher with adb command :
adb shell am start -n com.teslacoilsw.launcher/com.teslacoilsw.launcher.NovaLauncher

From there it is regular Android...set default Launcher to Nova and continue to configure and customize your tablet as you wish.....

The nice thing is all the vehicle related HU features like switching camera etc still kept and even the original launcher still there when you click the home logo on the screeen and when you click physical button you have Nova launcher appearing giving you full access....

Netflix, Spotify, Tivimate, SmartTubeNext everything works perfectly !

I think this is a great news for all MG owners !!

[ Edit moderator: quiet → quite ]

This is game changing, but what about the car warranty?

 

[DBedford]

This is game changing, but what about the car warranty?

That’s been blown!!

 

[yakup]

Question. Did you get a chance to test any audio apps like Poweramp or VLC ? I am wondering if those apps would be able to play music on a USB drive plugged into the car.

I don't see the point since Spotify but I guess it will work....I'll give it a try when I'll have time..

 

[DarkDudae]

I don't see the point since Spotify but I guess it will work....I'll give it a try when I'll have time..

All this stuff is really interesting. Is it possible to revert the installed apps to recover the original screen? Did you manage to install HUR for wireless Android Auto? Have you tried some navigation apps such as Waze or Google Maps?

 

[yakup]

All this stuff is really interesting. Is it possible to revert the installed apps to recover the original screen? Did you manage to install HUR for wireless Android Auto? Have you tried some navigation apps such as Waze or Google Maps?

Actually all the original stuff is working as usually, you don't loose any screen or app.
When you click the Home button on the tablet you get your original MG screen full functional as day 1.
When you click the physical Home button, Nova appears and then you can launch any app you have installed. I tried Waze and it is working the only thing is that the route and itinerary is not centered 100% correctly I would say or it is because the screen is wide but can't remember if it was the same from AA. I have tested Spotify, SmartTubeNext, VLC is working but I didn't had time to test mp3 on usb as asked by another dude....I haven't tested HUR because I'm not hasseling connecting a phone even wirelessly whereas you could have all-in natively especially when switching drivers or kids watching Netflix while waiting ... but I guess it will work...I can also give it a try but not now.....you can really use it as any other Android tablet, even enabled Dev options from Android settings and so on...

Currently I don't have much time but what I would like is to have the same settings as MG's but with 2 windows only 1 for Nav (left side) and 1 for Music, Media(right side) ...

Actually it will even be better just using original launcher but adding the new apps to the list of Media sources (originals DAB, BT, Amazon music + Customs like Netflix, SmartTubeNext, Spotify etc..) and to the list of Nav apps I would just add Waze and Tomtom go ....I guess it could be done if there was a parameters or config file which defines which apps appears in which window ...

Or maybe it is better to have it aside just in case you want to have the car to its original state so you just uninstall everything and it is just done.

I don't know if anybody tried apart of me ?

Or if you want I can make a quick video so you have a better idea of what I'm talking..

Cheers

 

[yakup]

Hi, here is the video.

TO MAKE THINGS CLEAR :

I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE OF ANYTHING AT ALL INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO BRICKED SYSTEM, BROKEN CAR, HAIR LOST, DISPUTE WITH WIFE, ACCIDENT, FIRE OR NUCLEAR WAR!!!

 

[Tommasov]

Hi, here is the video.

TO MAKE THINGS CLEAR :

I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE OF ANYTHING AT ALL INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO BRICKED SYSTEM, BROKEN CAR, HAIR LOST, DISPUTE WITH WIFE, ACCIDENT, FIRE OR NUCLEAR WAR!!!

Great. I'm wondering if this apply to MG 4 too, but as far as i know the ADB is locked even when enabled in engineering menu

 

[leonkernan]

My worry is they seem to be making this harder with each new version. Once this is out there they'll really lock it down.
The MG4 SE is already asking for passwords instead of pincodes.

If you could pull the apk files with ADB, it might be worth doing some disassembly and checking for strings. There might be some common elements in there.

edit: especially that engineer mode apk that appeared in the menu. I'd love to get my hands on that file if possible.

 

[Coulomb]

If you could pull the apk files with ADB, it might be worth doing some disassembly and checking for strings.

I'll tentatively put my hand up for this kind of reverse engineering. It may even be possible to do some limited decompilation, though almost certainly not to the point where it can be recompiled.

Patching is however a distinct possibility.

I'm pretty rusty on .apk work, but I have done a tiny bit of patching of the unofficial Thai app for the MG ZS EV Mark 1. Mainly to list all the ECU firmware versions; the original app didn't list the OBC's firmware version or some such.

I'm more at home with machine code. That makes me a rare breed these days. Or crazier than most

[ Edit: list all the ECUs -> list all the ECU firmware versions.]

 

[leonkernan]

I'm happy to do it too, got some experience pulling apart those aftermarket Android headunit firmwares.

I've been trying to get hold of an update file for the MG4 as well, since that will have the password I need saved within it.

 

[kiwi]

Call me when you work out how to enable the AM radio band.

 

[apial]

Nice work! I have a ZS EV with Ismart light. I do have access to the engineering menu, which is different from the regular Ismart und unfortunately there is no possibility there to activate ADB.

 

[pdev]

@yakup Did you manage to get Google apps working on it as well? I see you have play store installed in the video. I tried, but the store app doesn't open and Youtube just crashes. Maps seems to work as long as google play services aren't installed.

 

[yakup]

@yakup Did you manage to get Google apps working on it as well? I see you have play store installed in the video. I tried, but the store app doesn't open and Youtube just crashes. Maps seems to work as long as google play services aren't installed.

Nope.. Play Store didn't work neither...Actually you just see a splash screen launching in milliseconds but not visible...I was thinking it is because PlayStore installed alone and not with all openApps packages including Play Services and Framework ??
What would be very nice is editing the original launcher so that we can add Tomtom and Waze to the list of Nav apps and also Netflix, SBT and Audible to the list of Media Apps could be cool.
I don't know how they did to get a list of apps in the window ? Their launcher is something like com.saic......EULauncher.

I don't know if we could mimic the same with Nova Launcher ? Or have a striped version of the AA Launcher ....Or if we could just unlock AA Launcher so that one can install any app into it ...There is something called AA XLauncher Unlocked but requires rooting etc and even not sure if it allows installing any app...

Looking around if any other launcher exists with 2 resizable windows because splitting screen doesn't work even if Activities are forced to be resizable from Settings...

Still a lot to solve.

 

[leonkernan]

Nope.. Play Store didn't work neither...Actually you just see a splash screen launching in milliseconds but not visible...I was thinking it is because PlayStore installed alone and not with all openApps packages including Play Services and Framework ??
What would be very nice is editing the original launcher so that we can add Tomtom and Waze to the list of Nav apps and also Netflix, SBT and Audible to the list of Media Apps could be cool.
I don't know how they did to get a list of apps in the window ? Their launcher is something like com.saic......EULauncher.

I don't know if we could mimic the same with Nova Launcher ? Or have a striped version of the AA Launcher ....Or if we could just unlock AA Launcher so that one can install any app into it ...There is something called AA XLauncher Unlocked but requires rooting etc and even not sure if it allows installing any app...

Looking around if any other launcher exists with 2 resizable windows because splitting screen doesn't work even if Activities are forced to be resizable from Settings...

Still a lot to solve.

Most of those launchers on aftermarket units whitelist a specific set of apps. Normally it’s a set of specific app ids hardcoded into the apk.
Another reason to pull the files, we might be able to change that.

 

[DarkDudae]

Maybe Google Play Store won’t work… but you can try Aurora Store.

 

[Deleted member 14300]

Sorry to jump in, but has anyone broken the MG4's engineering code for the SE? I want to turn Lane Killer off permanently.

 

[Andy L]

Does this only work on the connected version of the ZS as Waze and such need connectivity? The non connect ZS only works for the Ismart app as far as I know.