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AI Box Fix

SIM, Wi-Fi & GPSReviewed

Turn On the Box's Hotspot Automatically at Boot

AI box hotspot off after every start? Make a MacroDroid macro or use CarCar Launcher's auto-modem option. Carlinkit TBox Ultra, Ambient, MGears Mstick4.

Quick answer

Install MacroDroid on the box and create a macro that switches the Wi-Fi hotspot on, triggered when the mobile network connects or at boot with a short wait before the action. Six of the ten owners who reported trying a macro got a hotspot that comes up on its own, and the community FAQ recommends it. If you use CarCar Launcher, its automatic modem option can do the same without a macro, although it worked for only one of the three owners who tried it.

Symptoms

  • You switch the box's Wi-Fi hotspot on, and after the next start it is off again
  • The car's head unit or a dash cam that uses the box's internet has no connection until you open Settings
  • The hotspot toggle in your launcher is on, but no hotspot appears after a reboot
  • The hotspot comes back on 5 GHz although you chose 2.4 GHz, and a 2.4 GHz device cannot join
  • Settings show the hotspot on, but the car will not connect to it

Applies to

Connection to the car
CarPlay and Android Auto
Firmware in confirmed reports
Carlinkit TBox Ambient: 2025-11
Highest risk on this page
Safe
Status
Workaround confirmed by the community

Why it happens

Android does not remember that a Wi-Fi hotspot was on when the device restarts. A phone rarely restarts, so few people notice; an AI box restarts every time you switch off the car. The stock Carlinkit software has no setting to bring the hotspot back, so something has to switch it on after each boot: an automation app such as MacroDroid, or a launcher with a built-in option.

Two related annoyances have their own causes. The hotspot band can reset to 5 GHz on each start, which locks out devices that only speak 2.4 GHz. And a firmware update can change the hotspot password, so a car that saved the old one silently fails to connect.

Fixes, ranked

Switch the hotspot on with a MacroDroid macro

  • Safe
  • Time: 10 minutes
  • Worked for 6 of 10 reports
  • Recommended in the community FAQ
  1. Install MacroDroid from Google Play on the box.
  2. Tap Add macro.
  3. Add a trigger. The version owners found most reliable fires when the mobile network connects; look under MacroDroid’s connectivity triggers. The alternative is Device boot.
  4. If you chose Device boot, add a wait action of several seconds before the next step. One owner was emphatic that the macro only works every time with a delay.
  5. Add the action HotSpot On/Off → Enable.
  6. Save the macro, grant every permission MacroDroid asks for, and install its helper app if it requests one.
  7. Restart the box and check that the hotspot comes up without touching anything.

The community FAQ recommends this approach for any box, and owners confirmed it on a TBox Ultra 1, an MGears Mstick4 and boxes they did not name, including one running from a power bank in Android Auto mode. One owner set it up in five minutes with the “network appears” trigger, and a second owner whose power-on macro never fired switched to that version and it worked.

It does not work everywhere. On a TBox Ultra 1, a macro with the boot trigger turned the hotspot on when tested by hand but never by itself; an Ambient owner’s macro stopped working after a firmware change, and owners of a TBox Plus and another box could not get it to run at all. If yours fails, try the other trigger before giving up, and check that MacroDroid is excluded from battery optimisation.

Keep the hotspot on 2.4 GHz after a restart

  • Safe
  • Time: 5 minutes
  • Worked for 2 of 2 reports
  1. Open Settings → Network & internet → Hotspot & tethering → Wi-Fi hotspot.
  2. Set AP band to 2.4 GHz.
  3. If a launcher switches the hotspot on (CarCar Launcher, for example), set the same band in its hotspot settings; in CarCar, turn on compatibility mode.
  4. Restart and confirm the 2.4 GHz device joins.

A TBox Ambient owner on the November 2025 build needed the box’s hotspot for a dash cam that only supports 2.4 GHz; after every restart it came back on 5 GHz until CarCar’s compatibility mode fixed it. Another owner found CarCar started the hotspot on 5 GHz regardless of the box’s setting, and setting the band in both places solved it.

CarCar Launcher: turn on automatic modem start

  • Safe
  • Time: 2 minutes
  • Worked for 1 of 3 reports
  • Recommended in the community FAQ
  1. Open CarCar Launcher → Settings.
  2. Turn on the option for automatic modem (hotspot) start.
  3. Restart the box.

A TBox Ultra 2 owner who had to open Settings after every start had a working hotspot as soon as the option was on. Two other owners enabled it and still got no hotspot. A helper noted that on some boxes the Android setting that allows hotspot and Wi-Fi at the same time stopped the launcher’s auto-start; the Ultra 2 owner had that setting on and saw no difference, so try switching it off only if the option fails.

Hotspot on, but the car will not join: check the password

  • Safe
  • Time: 3 minutes
  • Worked for 1 of 1 report
  1. Open Settings → Network & internet → Hotspot & tethering → Wi-Fi hotspot and read the Hotspot password.
  2. On the car’s head unit (or phone), forget the box’s network.
  3. Join again with the password shown on the box.

A TBox Ambient owner whose hotspot showed as active but whose car would not connect discovered the password had been reset without notice. Matching it on the car fixed it. Another owner on the same model has a hotspot that hangs in software, with the correct password, and has to toggle it off and on; that is not solved yet.

Things to try (unverified)

  • A box running without a CarPlay session. One owner powering a box from a plain USB port, with no CarPlay connection, got a hotspot that devices could join but with no internet. A helper said the SIM only works while the box runs its car session in CarPlay mode, and suggested switching the box to Android Auto, as in switch between CarPlay and Android Auto. The owner did not report back.
  • The phone as the trigger. Some owners run MacroDroid on the phone instead: when the phone connects to the box by Bluetooth, the phone’s own hotspot switches on and the box joins it. That shares the phone’s data rather than the box’s SIM, which suits owners without a SIM in the box.
  • The hotspot works but the box has no data. Fix the SIM first: AI box SIM card not working. If data is missing only after the car has stood overnight, see no mobile data after sitting overnight.

If nothing works

Note the box model and firmware date (Settings → About), which launcher you use, the MacroDroid trigger and action you set up, and whether the macro runs when you test it by hand. If it runs by hand but not at boot, the trigger or a battery restriction is the problem, not the hotspot itself. MacroDroid’s own support pages cover trigger behaviour.

If no method brings the hotspot up after a restart, ask Carlinkit support ([email protected]) whether your build blocks tethering changes from apps, and mention the build date. Until then the manual toggle in quick settings is the fallback. If the box is meant to be a permanent in-car router, start here compares the box families.

Related fixes

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Changelog

  • Last reviewed against new community reports:
  • Confirmed by 10 community reports on Carlinkit TBox Ultra, MGears Mstick4, Carlinkit TBox Ambient, Carlinkit TBox Ultra 2.
  • Page updated:

"Confirmed" means a community member reported that the fix worked on their unit. We have not tested it on our own hardware. How we verify.