Linux relay on other devices Advanced

Besides the UFI003, the OpenXPlay Linux relay can run on other arm64 Linux devices: boards, TV boxes and dongles. This page is for people who are comfortable with SSH and the command line. It shows how to tell whether a device can run the relay, how to install it by hand, and how to update and remove it. As always, nothing is installed on the head unit.

The UFI003 has its own guided installer: see UFI003 USB dongle as the relay. The Phicomm N1 has its own guide too: see Phicomm N1 as the relay. OpenXPlay Flasher can’t install other devices yet.

At your own risk

Installing the relay by hand on another device is at your own risk. Tell the community what worked and what didn’t, with the device, its system and the relay version.

Requirements

Requirement	Why it matters	How to check
64-bit ARM (aarch64)	Releases are built only for aarch64. They are static musl binaries, so the glibc or Debian version doesn’t matter to them.	uname -m prints aarch64; for the .deb, dpkg --print-architecture prints arm64	Required
systemd as init	The relay runs as the systemd service openxplay-relay.service.	ps -p 1 -o comm= prints systemd	Required
NetworkManager	nmcli builds every hotspot and Wi-Fi connection; its shared mode, with dnsmasq-base, hands out addresses (DHCP).	systemctl is-active NetworkManager	Required
BlueZ	The relay uses bluetoothd over D-Bus and the tools sdptool, hciconfig and btmgmt.	systemctl is-active bluetooth; command -v sdptool hciconfig btmgmt	Required for wireless and Carlink
iw	The relay reads the Wi-Fi adapter’s modes, channels and country with it.	command -v iw	Required
Bluetooth Classic (BR/EDR)	Wireless CarPlay talks iAP2 over RFCOMM, a Bluetooth Classic protocol. An adapter with only Bluetooth Low Energy can’t connect the iPhone wirelessly.	btmgmt info lists br/edr	Required for wireless
RFCOMM in the kernel	For the same reason. The UFI003’s kernel lacked it; its device package adds rfcomm.ko.	sudo modprobe rfcomm	Required for wireless
Wi-Fi that can run an access point (AP mode)	The relay’s own hotspot, the default network, needs it.	iw list shows AP under Supported interface modes	Required
Free ports	6975 TCP (admin page), 8443 TCP (head-unit page), 7000 upward (AirPlay), 5353 UDP (mDNS, which the relay answers itself).	ss -ltnup	Required
Apple accessory (MFi) identity	Without it, the relay only serves the admin page.	You supply it; see Add your CarPlay identity	Required
5 GHz Wi-Fi	The automatic band uses 5 GHz when a 5 GHz channel can host the hotspot, otherwise 2.4 GHz channel 6. 2.4 GHz only works (the UFI003 runs CarPlay on it); set the frame rate to 30 on the head-unit page.	iw list; iw reg get	Not required
A second Wi-Fi adapter that can be a 5 GHz station	In a real car, Carlink needs the relay to join the car’s 5 GHz Wi-Fi as a station on an adapter that isn’t running the iPhone’s hotspot. With one Wi-Fi adapter, the relay offers the browser output only. Carlink also uses Bluetooth LE; Wi-Fi Direct is optional.	nmcli device; btmgmt info lists le	Required for Carlink
A USB host port (USB-A), with usbfs and TUN/TAP in the kernel	For a cable connection, the iPhone plugs into a USB-A port on the relay; the relay drives it through usbfs and carries CarPlay’s network over a TAP virtual interface.	ls /dev/bus/usb /dev/net/tun	Required for USB

The relay itself is small. On 2026-10-15, the first development build of the Rust Linux relay, idle on a UFI003 (382 MB of RAM) with no CarPlay session, used about 2.9 MB of resident memory plus 1.5 MB for its output process, and about 5 MB of disk.

System
Debian 11 (bullseye), 12 (bookworm) and 13 (trixie)	The .deb is tested on each
OpenStick Debian 11 on the UFI003 (NetworkManager 1.30, BlueZ 5.55)	In use
Armbian trixie on the Phicomm N1 (NetworkManager 1.52, BlueZ 5.82)	In use
Debian 13 on a Raspberry Pi 5	The developers’ reference board; no device package for it yet

Commands to check a device

Run these on the device over SSH. The commands with sudo need root.

uname -m; dpkg --print-architecture; . /etc/os-release; echo "$ID $VERSION_ID"
ps -p 1 -o comm=
systemctl is-active NetworkManager bluetooth
nmcli --version
nmcli device
command -v nmcli iw sdptool hciconfig btmgmt
sudo iw list
sudo iw reg get
printf '' | sudo btmgmt --index 0 info
sudo modprobe rfcomm && lsmod | grep rfcomm
ls /dev/bus/usb /dev/net/tun
ss -ltnup | grep -E ':(6975|8443|7000|5353)\b'

Command	Look for
uname -m, dpkg --print-architecture	aarch64 and arm64; the rest of the line prints the distribution and its version
ps -p 1 -o comm=	systemd
systemctl is-active	active, twice
nmcli device	The Wi-Fi interfaces (type wifi); a name other than wlan0 needs a host profile
command -v	One path per tool; a missing line is a missing tool
iw list	AP under Supported interface modes; the 5 GHz channels and their flags
iw reg get	The Wi-Fi country, which sets the channel flags
btmgmt info	br/edr under supported settings, and le for Carlink
modprobe rfcomm	rfcomm in the module list; only a hint
ls	Both paths exist; needed only to connect the iPhone by cable
ss	Nothing, or only programs you can stop

For its own hotspot, the relay tries 5 GHz channels 36, 40, 44, 48 and 149 to 165. A channel can host the hotspot only if iw list doesn’t mark it disabled, no IR or radar detection; joining a 5 GHz network only needs the channel not to be disabled. If no 5 GHz channel qualifies, the relay uses 2.4 GHz channel 6.

Keep the empty printf in the btmgmt line: btmgmt hangs when its input is /dev/null. --index 0 is the first adapter, hci0.

After installing, the admin page’s Diagnostics → This host shows what the relay itself finds: RFCOMM; Bluetooth BR/EDR, LE and Secure Connections; AP and station support for each interface; the 5 GHz channels that can host the hotspot; the Wi-Fi country; and missing tools. Trust that view over these commands.

Install the relay

Take the newest linux-v release from Releases; it is linux-v0.1.6 now. Download the .deb and SHA256SUMS, check the SHA-256, then install the package with its dependencies:

V=0.1.6
base=https://github.com/OpenXPlay/OpenXPlay-Relay/releases/download/linux-v$V
curl -fL -O "$base/openxplay-relay_${V}_arm64.deb" -O "$base/SHA256SUMS"
sha256sum --ignore-missing -c SHA256SUMS
sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends ./openxplay-relay_${V}_arm64.deb

Set V to the newest version. File names write a pre-release such as 0.1.7-beta.1; inside the package, its version is 0.1.7~beta.1.

apt-get also installs bluez, network-manager, iw, dnsmasq-base and init-system-helpers 1.54 or later. The package:

• installs the relay to /opt/openxplay;
• adds the systemd service openxplay-relay.service, enabled and started on the first install;
• adds the update command /usr/sbin/openxplay-relay-update;
• adds two NetworkManager configuration files: Wi-Fi power saving off, and no random MAC address while scanning;
• adds a clock guard, which works with systemd-timesyncd and does nothing with chrony.

Removing the package keeps /var/lib/openxplay.

Install from the tarball instead

Download openxplay-relay-<version>-linux-aarch64.tar.gz and SHA256SUMS from the same release and check them. The tarball installs no dependencies, so install bluez, network-manager, iw and dnsmasq-base first. Then:

tar -xzf openxplay-relay-$V-linux-aarch64.tar.gz
cd openxplay-relay-$V-linux-aarch64
sudo sh rust/packaging/install.sh bin/openxplay-relay bin/oxp-relay web admin

Wi-Fi not called wlan0? Add a host profile

The relay reads an optional host profile, /etc/openxplay/host.json. A device package normally writes it; on other devices you can write it yourself. Every field is optional:

Field	Default
model	None
devicePreset	auto: detects MSM8916 dongles and the Phicomm N1 from the device tree, otherwise generic
wifiInterface	wlan0
carlinkInterface	Empty: another Wi-Fi adapter, chosen automatically
hotspotChannel	0: automatic
bluetoothAdapter	The lowest hciN
hotspotDownGapSeconds	15 (0 to 60): how long the hotspot stays down before the next one starts
secureConnections	pairing-off: Bluetooth Secure Connections off only while pairing is open; or untouched
bluetoothGuardStatus	/run/openxplay/bluetooth-guard.json

For example, for Wi-Fi on wlan1:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/openxplay
echo '{"wifiInterface": "wlan1"}' | sudo tee /etc/openxplay/host.json
sudo systemctl restart openxplay-relay

One invalid field makes the relay ignore the whole file and show the error in the admin page. Settings apply in this order, each overriding the one before: built-in defaults, the host profile, the admin page’s settings, the command line.

Open the admin page

On a phone or computer on the same network as the device, open https://<device IP>:6975 (hostname -I on the device prints its addresses). Where .local names resolve, https://openxplay-admin.local:6975 works too, and https://openxplay-car.local:6975 from a phone on the relay’s hotspot; many Android phones and car browsers don’t resolve them. The browser warns about the relay’s self-signed certificate; continue to the page. The first password is openxplay: sign in, then change it.

The optional admin hotspot OpenXPlay-Admin is off by default and needs a second Wi-Fi adapter. Once you turn it on in the admin page, join it and open https://openxplay-admin.local:6975 or https://10.79.0.1:6975.

Forgot the admin password?

sudo systemctl stop openxplay-relay
sudo /opt/openxplay/bin/openxplay-relay --reset-admin-password
sudo systemctl start openxplay-relay

The second command resets the password to openxplay and exits.

Add your CarPlay identity

Install packages never contain an Apple accessory (MFi) identity; you supply your own. In the admin page, open Settings → Identity and certificates and choose identity.pk8 and certificate.p7b, or a ZIP that contains both.

Or put the files in place by hand, owned by root with mode 0600, and restart the relay:

sudo install -D -m 0600 -o root -g root -t /var/lib/openxplay/mfi identity.pk8 certificate.p7b
sudo systemctl restart openxplay-relay

Without these two files but with another authentication source, choose a remote MFi server, or an authentication chip over I2C or a CH341 adapter, under Settings → Identity and certificates → MFi target.

Answer the setup guide

The admin page’s setup guide asks about:

1. Your car.
2. Output: the head unit’s browser, its Carlink app, or both. Carlink needs a second Wi-Fi adapter; with one, only the browser is offered. A Tesla’s browser needs its own adaptation; see Tesla. Wireless display and CarLife aren’t available on Linux.
3. iPhone connection: Wireless (the default), or USB cable with the iPhone plugged into a USB-A port on the relay through a USB-A to Lightning or USB-A to USB-C cable; the head unit still reaches the relay over Wi-Fi.
4. Network: This relay’s hotspot or Use the car’s hotspot. The relay’s own hotspot is OpenXPlay-Linux-XXXX with the password openxplay (WPA2), unless you set your own.
5. Get ready: work through what it lists.

Pair the iPhone

When Home asks you to pair the iPhone, tap Pair; pairing stays open for 10 minutes. On the iPhone, open Settings → Bluetooth and choose OpenXPlay Linux.

To switch to another iPhone or pair again: remove the old paired device on Home or in Settings → iPhone connection, forget OpenXPlay Linux in the iPhone’s Bluetooth settings, then open pairing again.

Open CarPlay on the head unit

Join the relay’s hotspot from the head unit and open https://10.77.0.1:8443/ in its browser. The relay takes the first free 10.77.x.1 address, and the admin page lists the head-unit address; with Use the car’s hotspot, open the address it lists. Accept the certificate warning the first time; Troubleshooting explains why it appears.

For the Carlink app, see Carlink app.

Update the relay

In the admin page, About → Check for updates shows whether a newer version exists; choose the Beta channel to see pre-releases as well. Download the new .deb and SHA256SUMS and check them as in Install the relay, then run:

sudo openxplay-relay-update openxplay-relay_${V}_arm64.deb

The update command installs the new version, waits for the relay to start and watches it for 15 seconds to make sure it doesn’t exit or restart; if the new version doesn’t come up, it puts the previous one back. Settings, pairings and the identity live in /var/lib/openxplay and stay as they are.

Command	What it does
sudo openxplay-relay-update --list	Lists the cached versions
sudo openxplay-relay-update --rollback	Puts back the newest cached version older than the current one

Versions installed with the update command are cached in /var/cache/openxplay/relay, at most 3 of them. Rolling back needs the current version in the cache too; the first version, installed with apt-get, isn’t there.

Logs and removal

Read the relay’s log since this boot, or follow it live:

journalctl -u openxplay-relay -b
journalctl -u openxplay-relay -f

To report a problem, export the logs from Logs in the admin page.

Remove the relay:

sudo apt-get purge openxplay-relay

The settings, pairings, keys and identity in /var/lib/openxplay are kept; delete them with sudo rm -rf /var/lib/openxplay once you no longer need them.

Not supported

Device or system	Why
OpenWrt, and other systems without systemd or NetworkManager	The relay needs both
32-bit ARM (armv7), x86 and RISC-V boards	There is no build for them
Bluetooth adapters with only Bluetooth Low Energy	Wireless CarPlay needs Bluetooth Classic (RFCOMM); a cable connection needs no Bluetooth
ESP32 and other microcontrollers	They don’t run Linux

Next

• Everyday use and settings: connecting on each drive, and the head-unit page’s settings.
• Trusted HTTPS: remove the certificate warning with a free domain name.
• Something not working? See Troubleshooting, and tell the community how your device did.