Configure manifest files

Configure your app's manifest files to integrate with Android Auto and Android Automotive OS (AAOS). To enable discovery and connection by these platforms, declare your media browser service in the manifest. Specify the required app icons, including a launcher icon for an attribution icon for use by system UI components such as media controls.

To learn more about manifest files, see App manifest overview.

Declare your media browser service

Android Auto and AAOS connect to your app through your media browser service to browse media items. Declare your media browser service in your manifest to let Android Auto and AAOS discover the service and connect to your app.

This code snippet shows how to declare your media browser service in your manifest. The next section of this guide, Create a media browser service, details the process of implementing the service.

<application>
    ...
    <service android:name=".MyMediaBrowserService"
             android:exported="true">
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.media.browse.MediaBrowserService"/>
        </intent-filter>
    </service>
    ...
</application>

Specify app icons

To represent your app in the system UI, specify the app icons that Android Auto and AAOS should use. These two icons are required:

Define the launcher icon
Define the attribution icon

Define the launcher icon

The launcher icon represents your app in the system UI, such as on the launcher and in the tray of icons.

By default, the android:icon attribute of your app's <application> element is used as the launcher icon:

<application
    ...
    android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
>

To use a different icon, set the android:icon attribute of your media browser service's <service> element:

<application>
    ...
    <service
        ...
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_car_launcher"/>
</application>

Define the attribution icon

The attribution icon is used in places where media content takes precedence, such as on media cards. Consider reusing the small icon used for notifications. This icon must be monochrome.

Figure 1. Attribution icon on media card.

You can specify an icon that is used to represent your app using this manifest declaration:

<application>
    ...
    <meta-data
        android:name="androidx.car.app.TintableAttributionIcon"
        android:resource="@drawable/ic_status_icon" />
    ...
</application>

Specify your app's label

By default, the value of the android:label attribute of your app's <application> element is used as the display name for your app on the car screen.

To use a different display name – or if your app has multiple media browser services – set the android:label attribute of the media browser service's <service> element.

Specify your app's accent color

Your app's accent color is used by Android Auto and AAOS to style playback controls and other UI elements.

By default, the accent color is pulled from the colorAccent item of the android:theme style resource of your app's <application> element.

To use a different accent color for your in-car experience, include a <meta-data> element for a different style resource containing a colorAccent item:

<application>
    ...
    <meta-data
        android:name="com.google.android.gms.car.application.theme"
        android:resource="@style/THEME_NAME"/>
    ...
</application>

Platform-specific configuration

In addition to the configuration detailed on this page, see the following sections for platform-specific requirements: