Basic controls
TessDrive behaves like the tablet in your hand — because underneath, it is one.
- Tap — tap anywhere on the screen to interact, just like a phone or tablet.
- Swipe — swipe to scroll, browse, or navigate within an app.
Going back
Swipe in from the left edge of the screen to act as the Android "Back" button — it takes you back one step within the app you're using.
Returning to the home screen
While inside an app:
- Press and hold at the very top of the screen. A small bar appears once the hold registers.
- Then, without lifting your finger, swipe down.
Swipe in from the left edge to go Back. A hold-then-swipe from the top exits fully to your TessDrive home screen.
The docks
Two docks sit at the bottom of the home screen:
- Recent apps (center) — your most recently opened apps, newest first, updating automatically as you use them. Choose how many it holds (3, 4, or 5) in Settings → Appearance.
- Shortcuts (right) — a fixed dock with Settings and the Play Store, always in the same spot.
Managing your apps
Long-press empty space in the grid to open the App Picker — a full list of every launchable app on your device. From there you can:
- Show or hide apps from your home grid
- Rename any app
- Change an app's icon
Long-press a grid icon to open the same options, scoped to just that app.
Changing an app's icon
When editing an icon you'll see a few choices:
- Current — the icon in use now.
- Play Store — the official icon, fetched from Google Play.
- Archived — a previously used icon, kept on hand.
- Custom — your own icon. Insert an SD card with a 512×512 PNG and browse to select it.
There's also a refresh button at the top-right of the icon picker — tap it to re-fetch the latest official icons from the Play Store for every app.
There's only one Archive slot: whenever you switch icons, whatever's in Current moves into Archive — replacing whatever was archived before.
Settings
Reboot — restarts TessDrive; found at the top of the Settings screen.
Network
- AP Password — change the password for your TessDrive WiFi network (8–63 characters).
- Manage WiFi / Uplink — opens Android's native WiFi settings, where you can connect TessDrive to a network or hotspot for internet. Swipe back to return when you're done.
Appearance & feedback
- Theme — Auto / Day / Night — Auto follows your Tesla's light/dark mode; Day and Night lock it.
- Touch glow — a visual ripple where you tap, in your choice of five colors.
- UI sounds — toggle sound effects for on-screen interactions.
- Volume — a speaker button at the lower-left of the home screen opens a slider to set the streamed audio's volume.
- Home icon size — make the home-screen app icons larger or smaller; the grid re-flows to fit, adding pages as needed (the bottom docks stay fixed).
- 24-hour clock and Show seconds — format the on-screen clock.
- Recent-apps dock size — 3, 4, or 5 apps.
Most settings apply instantly — no need to save. The AP Password is the one exception; tap Save to commit a new one.
Software updates
- Version & Build — shows your current software version, its date, when it last checked, and your device build identifier (useful for support).
- Check for updates — checks for and installs an available update right now.
- Check for updates daily — TessDrive quietly checks once a day.
- Allow beta updates — opt into in-development builds before they're released. They may be unstable; turning it off returns you to the stable build.
Updates are cryptographically signed and roll back automatically if anything goes wrong, so an update can never leave the device broken.
