A beloved Android Auto mod is shutting down, just as Google lines up something official. | Image by Google
Fermata Xtream, the free mod that turned Android Auto into a live IPTV player, is shutting down its public beta. The developer walked away, leaving one final build on GitHub. It hits hard for the people who leaned on it, yet it surfaces just as Google rolls out official in-car video for Android flagships like the Galaxy S26 Ultra, while Apple's CarPlay inches the same way.
A fan-favorite way to watch TV in the car is going dark
Fermata Xtream was a mod of Andrey Pavlenko's open-source Fermata Auto, with one big addition: native support for Xtream IPTV accounts, so you could pipe live TV straight onto your car's Android Auto screen. The developer behind it, who goes by malebuffy, announced the wind-down directly on the r/AndroidAuto subreddit, which makes this about as first-hand as a source gets.
However due to some recent developments, I will not be able to continue.
Malebuffy77, developer of Fermata Xtream, r/AndroidAuto, June 2026
No reason came with the news beyond a vague nod to recent developments. The free build stays on GitHub, and the dev thanked the donors who funded it, though he locked the source months back after someone ripped off the app and sold it.
Fermata Xtream is shutting down. Where does that leave you on in-car video?
What it means for you, and why the doom is overblown
If you already have it installed, you are fine for now, since the free build stays on GitHub. Reinstall after switching phones, though, and you may be stuck needing an older Android 13 device or an AAWireless-style dongle, because newer Android blocks the easy sideload.
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Fermata Xtream's developer announced the end of the public beta on the r/AndroidAuto subreddit. | Image by Malebuffy77 via Reddit
Google just announced its biggest Android Auto overhaul in a decade, and full HD video while parked is the headline, rolling out this year to cars from BMW, Ford, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Renault and Volvo, as long as your phone runs Android 17. Shift into drive and the video slides to audio only, so a YouTube podcast keeps playing.
The reader reaction is grief mixed with hope. On the same thread, a fan asked the dev to open-source the full version so the community could carry it on, and the reply left the door cracked.
A reader asked the developer to open source the full version so others could continue it, and the developer said he might. | Image by Malebuffy77 via Reddit
And if you are an iPhone 17 Pro Max owner feeling smug that CarPlay got video first, pump the brakes. A recent report notes Apple flipped the feature on in iOS 26, but no carmaker has switched it on yet, so you are stuck in the same waiting room.
Neither official option lets you watch while the car is moving, which is what the mod allowed and why it lived in uncertified-app land.
Who really loses, and the cost no one mentions
The people who will really feel this are the Xtream IPTV crowd in the car, a small but devoted bunch. For everyone else, the sanctioned path is finally pulling up.
The free-versus-paid angle is messier than it looks too. The mod was free under a GPL 3.0 license with optional tip jars, but it was dead weight without a separate IPTV subscription feeding it, and the official route is not truly free either, since YouTube's in-car perks lean on a Premium plan.
Why I am not mourning this one
Full disclosure: I never ran Fermata Xtream, and I cannot test Google's video feature yet, since it has not reached my car. So I will not pretend I know the exact size of the hole this leaves.
What I do know is that a lot of people loved this thing, and they have every right to be annoyed it is going away. As a YouTube Premium subscriber, though, I am quietly glad a sanctioned version is on the way, because I would like to get my money's worth somewhere beyond my phone screen.
The open-source door the dev left open is the part I will be watching. If someone picks up where Fermata Xtream left off, this looks less like a goodbye and more like a pause.
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Johanna Romero is a Senior News Writer at PhoneArena, covering mobile technology news across Android, iOS, wearables, and the Google ecosystem she knows best. Drawing on 15 years in IT and tech support from 2007 to 2022, she brings a user-friendly eye for the practical features and lesser-known tricks readers care about. Google named her an official #TeamPixel member in 2022, and she also reviews the latest devices on her YouTube channel, JoJo the Techie.
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