While the vast majority of the changes made to Android for Jelly Bean’s version 4.2 refresh have been well received, a few differences such as the reworked Bluetooth stack and the removal of the ability for car apps to hook to the home button have irked many users. Thankfully, there is a fix for the latter, coming in the form of an Xposed module.
Taking advantage of XDA Recognized Developer rovo89‘s incredibly versatile framework, Senior Member MohammadAG has created an open source module that restores car dock mode in Android 4.2 to how it worked in previous versions. While users could previously bypass the limitation by using either a custom ROM such as CyanogenMod 10.1 or a third-party app such as this one, the former is (obviously) not available to those who aren’t on CM10.1 and the latter doesn’t allow an additional press of the home button to return users to the launcher’s default home screen.
While the module itself has only been tested on the developer’s own Galaxy S III, it should be compatible with any device running Android 4.2, as long as the manufacturer hasn’t removed startDockOrHome(). Installation is just as simple as with any other Xposed module, and just as safe as well. Continue to the modification thread to get started. And if you’re curious to see the code involved, head over to MohammadAG’s Github.