dmd docs
DMD Mini Launcher
A lightweight home screen built for the dashboard. Mini Launcher replaces the standard Android home with big, glanceable cards — weather, media, shortcuts, notifications and a full phone dialer — in an automotive theme designed to be read and tapped at a glance while riding.
Table of Contents
Overview
Mini Launcher is an ultra-lightweight home screen (launcher) for your DMD device. Instead of a grid of app icons, it presents the information you need on the move as a set of large, high-contrast cards on a single home screen — the current weather, what's playing, your most-used shortcuts and your latest notifications.
It runs full-screen with no status or navigation bars, and keeps every tap target large so it's easy to use with gloves or a quick glance. When it's set as your home app, pressing the device's Home button always brings you straight back to this dashboard.
The colours are yours to set — a dark theme tuned for in-vehicle readability, a light one for bright daylight, or automatic switching. See Appearance & Settings.
It also brings your phone along. An iPhone pairs directly, with no app to install (iPhone Notifications); an Android phone needs its companion app, DMD Phone Link, which exists only to feed this dashboard.
Card-Based Home
Weather, media, shortcuts and notifications on one glanceable screen
Built for the Dashboard
Big tap targets, high-contrast themes and full-screen for use while riding
Phone Built In
Acts as your dialer — contacts, call history and incoming calls
Setting Mini Launcher as Home
Mini Launcher only takes over the home screen once it is selected as the default Home app. On DMD devices it comes pre-installed, so you just need to choose it.
Android asks which launcher to use when more than one is installed.
Select it from the list and pick Always so it becomes your default home.
Pressing Home now always returns to the Mini Launcher dashboard. You can switch back to the stock launcher at any time from Android's default-apps settings.
Weather Card
The weather card shows the current conditions and temperature for your location. It uses the device's GPS directly and a free, key-less weather service, so there is no account to set up and nothing to configure.
Compact View
On the home screen the card shows the current temperature, condition and icon at a glance.
Expanded View
Tap to expand for an hourly forecast strip, detail chips (such as UV and wind) and sunrise / sunset times.
Media Player
The media card mirrors whatever is currently playing on your device — from any music, podcast or streaming app — and lets you control it without leaving the home screen.
- Shows the current track title, artist and album artwork.
- Play / pause and skip controls right on the card.
- A clean seek bar to scrub through the current track.
- Works with any app that exposes standard media controls — no per-app setup.
Shortcuts
The shortcuts card gives you one-tap access to the apps you reach for most. It comes with a set of ready-made shortcuts and can be fully customised.
Default Shortcuts
Navigation
Device settings
Android settings
Google Maps
Custom Shortcuts
You can define your own set of shortcuts to any installed app. Open the shortcut editor to pick the app, choose an icon from the built-in icon palette and set a colour for each slot. Your custom shortcuts are saved on the device and restored every time the launcher starts.
Notifications
Mini Launcher surfaces your notifications right on the home screen so you don't have to swipe down a status bar you can't easily reach while riding.
Notifications Card
Shows your latest notifications. When a new one arrives, the card flips to show it, then flips back. Tap to open the full notification list.
Heads-Up Banner
If you've hidden the notifications card, new notifications appear as a brief banner across the top instead, so nothing is missed.
Phone & Dialer
Mini Launcher includes a complete phone experience, designed for the dashboard. When set as your default phone (dialer) app, it handles calls end to end — placing them, showing incoming calls and keeping your call history.
Contacts
Browse and call your contacts, with photos, straight from the dialer.
History & Missed
Recent and missed-call tabs, with a badge on the Phone button so you can see missed calls at a glance.
Incoming Calls
A large, full-screen incoming-call screen that's easy to answer or decline, even over the lock screen.
Call Screening Modes
A quick selector in the dialer lets you decide which calls come through — useful when you're on the move and don't want to be interrupted:
Take All Calls
Every call rings normally. This is the default.
Only Favorites
Only calls from your starred (favourite) contacts ring. Everyone else is declined silently.
Silent Mode
All incoming calls are declined silently — no ring, no screen — until you switch back.
Which device places the call
If both your head unit and your linked Android phone have a SIM, either can place an outgoing call. Settings › Place calls from decides which one:
Automatic
The default. Uses the head unit when its own SIM is working, and your linked phone otherwise — including when the unit has a SIM that can't actually make calls (data-only, or not registered on a network).
Ask each time
Shows a short "Call from" picker on every call. Tick Always use this device in the picker to stop being asked and pin your choice.
This device
Always the head unit's own SIM. You keep the unit's call screen, mute and speaker controls.
Your Android phone
Always the linked phone. The call audio stays between the phone and your helmet intercom; the head unit shows and controls the call.
You can set Ask each time before your phone is even linked — the picker simply stays out of the way until a second device can actually dial, then starts appearing on its own. Pinning a device is safe too: if the one you picked can't dial at the moment (SIM removed, phone out of range), Mini Launcher falls back to whichever device can, rather than dropping the call.
The picker is fully remote-controller navigable: up/down to move between the devices and the Always use this device tick, Button 1 to choose, Button 2 to cancel.
iPhone Notifications
If you carry an iPhone, Mini Launcher can mirror its notifications over Bluetooth so they show up in the notifications card alongside everything else — the same approach used by the DMD2 app.
Pairing an iPhone
Open Settings → Add iPhone in Mini Launcher and follow the pairing flow. Once bonded, incoming iPhone notifications appear in the notifications card and heads-up banner, with the correct app name and icon.
Android Phone & DMD Phone Link
An Android phone can be mirrored too — calls, messages and notifications on the dashboard, with answer, decline and decline-with-a-message from the head unit.
It needs one thing installed on the phone: DMD Phone Link. That app is not a separate product — it is the phone half of Mini Launcher, and it does nothing on its own. Everything it offers appears here, on the dashboard. Unlike an iPhone, where the ability is built into iOS, Android has no equivalent, so an Android phone can only be mirrored if something on the phone offers to do it.
Linking a phone
Install DMD Phone Link on the phone and start it there. On the phone, turn on Make this phone visible; then here, open Settings › Android Phone › Link Android phone and pick it. Pairing is done from the head unit — the phone only makes itself visible and chooses which paired unit to link with.
Calls, messages & notifications
Arrive on the dashboard as cards. Answer, decline, or decline with a message from the head unit. You choose what leaves the phone — all calls, known numbers only, or favourites only; the same filters for SMS; and notifications per app. They also appear inside DMD2-Next, with the real app name and icon, so you see them without leaving navigation — exactly as a mirrored iPhone's do.
Sending files to the unit
Share a GPX, KML, KMZ, GeoJSON, TCX, FIT, CSV or PDF from any app on the phone and pick DMD Phone Link. It travels over the link and opens in DMD2-Next on the head unit — no cable, no cloud.
Sharing the phone's internet
Two ways, and the app explains the trade-off: Bluetooth is one tap and easy on the battery but slow — fine for weather and traffic, not for maps or files. A hotspot needs a little setup and more battery, but is fast.
One link, then left alone
The link is a direct Bluetooth connection between the two devices — nothing goes through a server. Turn on Start automatically and it comes back by itself after either device reboots.
Sensors Card
A compass with the current heading, plus pitch and roll gauges reading the device's own orientation — useful for seeing how steep that climb really was.
Quick Dial
Three slots for the people you call most. Tap an empty slot to pick a contact, tap a filled one to call, and long-press to clear it.
If the head unit has no SIM but an Android phone is linked, the call is placed by the phone instead — you do not have to choose.
Devices
Live readings from the hardware on your bike, each as its own tile: OBD (engine data), TPMS (tyre pressures), PowerBox, CAN and the BMW Sync Box. Add a device once and its tile appears whenever it is connected.
HUB, Groups & Locations
Sign in to your DMD HUB account to bring the social side onto the dashboard: your feed, the riding group you are in, and your saved locations — all readable at a glance without opening the full app.
- Feed — recent posts, with comments.
- Group — who is riding with you right now.
- Locations — your saved places, ready to navigate to.
Appearance & Settings
Open Settings from the top bar to change how the launcher looks and what it shows.
| Setting | What It Does |
|---|---|
| App Theme | Dark, Light, Follow System, or Light Sensor — which switches automatically with the ambient light. |
| Accent Colour | Six colours. Changes the highlights across the whole launcher, including the background glow. |
| Cards | Show or hide the media, quick dial and notifications cards, so the home screen only carries what you use. |
| Units | Metric or imperial, and 12- or 24-hour time. |
| Navigation App | Which app the Navigate button opens. |
Touch Lock
Locks the touchscreen so rain, a glove or a branch cannot press anything. Use the lock button on the home screen's bottom row; unlock the same way.
Updates
Mini Launcher keeps itself current. Open Settings › Updates to see the version you are running and tap Check. When a newer one is published, tap Update to download it, then Install — nothing is replaced without you asking.
All Apps Drawer
Everything installed on the device is still one tap away. Open the all-apps drawer from the home screen to see the full list of installed apps and launch anything that isn't on a shortcut.
Device Compatibility
Mini Launcher is made for DMD Navigation hardware and is pre-installed on supported devices. On non-DMD hardware the app is locked and cannot be used as a launcher.
Supported Devices
- DMD T665, T865X and T880X
- DMD Norte
- Other DMD Navigation branded devices