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Remove the Left Navigation Bar and Floating Button

Hide the left navigation bar on Carlinkit (4545 → Other) or Ownice (1260 → Other), turn off the floating button in Display, or disable it over ADB.

Quick answer

For the floating button, switch off Settings → Display → Floating button, which worked for one TBox Plus owner, and if your firmware ignores it, disable the floating-button system app over ADB, which worked for another. For the left bar, the community FAQ's route is Settings → Other → Factory settings → 4545 → Other → System navigation bar → Off (code 1260 on Ownice); recent firmware also has the switch under Settings → Display.

Symptoms

  • A bar of icons down the left side of the screen takes space from your navigation app
  • A round floating button sits over apps and gets in the way of map controls
  • You installed a launcher or a gesture app and no longer need the stock controls
  • The floating-button switch in settings does nothing on your firmware

Applies to

Connection to the car
CarPlay and Android Auto
Firmware in confirmed reports
Carlinkit TBox Plus: 2024-04-17
Highest risk on this page
Advanced
Status
Workaround confirmed by the community

Why it happens

The stock interface on Carlinkit and Ownice boxes gives you two ways to get around: a system navigation bar down the left edge, and a floating button that opens home, back, recent apps and split screen. Both belong to the box’s firmware rather than to ordinary apps, so they are controlled from the engineering menu or from Display settings.

How the floating button is tied to the bar has changed over time. On the June 2023 TBox Plus firmware the floating button could be turned off only on builds that also had the navigation-bar option; the May 2023 build had a plain menu switch. Later builds put a floating-button switch in Display settings, but owners report that it does not work on every unit.

Fixes, ranked

Turn off the floating button in Display settings

  • Safe
  • Time: 2 minutes
  • Worked for 1 of 2 reports
  1. Open Settings → Display.
  2. Find Floating button and switch it off.
  3. Reboot and check that the button is still gone after the restart.
  4. Before you drive, check you can still reach the home screen through your launcher, the side bar, or a gesture app.

A TBox Plus owner on the 17 Apr 2024 firmware reported that, unexpectedly, this build turned the floating button off correctly from settings, where earlier builds had not. Other owners give the location as Settings → Display → Floating button on current firmware.

It is not reliable everywhere. One owner found the switch had no effect on a TBox Plus and on an Ultra 4, and a helper app’s “disable floating ball” option did nothing either. If that is your case, go to Fix 2.

Disable the floating-button app over ADB

  • Advanced
  • Time: 30 minutes
  • Worked for 1 of 1 report

Warranty warning: this uses developer or engineering access. Follow the undo steps afterwards; some sellers refuse warranty claims on units with debugging left enabled.

  1. Connect the box and a computer to the same Wi-Fi network.

  2. On the box, open Developer options, turn on Wireless debugging, and pair the computer with the pairing code. The ADB how-to covers enabling Developer options on these boxes.

  3. On the computer, list the packages and look for the floating-button app:

    adb shell pm list packages | grep -i ball

  4. Disable it for the current user, using the exact name the list returned:

    adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.sd.ball

  5. Reboot the box and confirm the button is gone.

  6. Turn Wireless debugging off when you are finished.

A TBox Plus owner on Android 13 tried the settings switch and a helper app first; neither removed the button. Following another owner’s directions, they paired a desktop ADB tool with the box over Wi-Fi, disabled the floating-button app, and reported it gone. Owners name the package differently (one gives com.sd.ball, another describes a “floating ball” app), so list the packages first and use what your box reports.

Use wireless debugging rather than USB debugging. Owners who left USB debugging enabled on a TBox Ultra got “Device not supported” in the car until they turned it off; see device not supported after enabling ADB.

Turn off the left navigation bar in the engineering menu

  • Advanced
  • Time: 3 minutes
  • Recommended in the community FAQ

Warranty warning: this uses developer or engineering access. Follow the undo steps afterwards; some sellers refuse warranty claims on units with debugging left enabled.

  1. Open Settings → Other and tap the Factory settings label at the top edge of the screen.
  2. Enter 4545 on Carlinkit boxes, or 1260 on Ownice boxes.
  3. Open the Other tab.
  4. Switch System navigation bar off, and save if the screen offers a save button.
  5. Reboot if the bar is still there.
Engineering menu, Other tab (4545 on Carlinkit, 1260 on Ownice). Reconstructed screen, labels may differ by firmware.

On recent firmware the same switch is duplicated in Settings → Display → System navigation bar. TBox Ultra owners who could not find it in the 4545 menu were pointed to the Display switch on the January 2026 Carlinkit firmware. One reply notes that the box restarts when the switch is turned off properly; if yours did not, check that the switch really is off.

The CarCar Launcher FAQ gives this path for both Carlinkit and Ownice, and it is the same switch you must turn off before using any third-party launcher; skipping it causes the loop described in stuck on “Loading phone”. Several owners asked for the path and thanked the people who gave it, but none reported the result, so the badge shows the FAQ recommendation only. Protocol switches and moving the box to another car can turn it back on, so check it after either.

The switch sits in the engineering menu, so this fix carries an Advanced label: change only this one switch there.

Things to try (unverified)

  • Add standard Android buttons with a navigation-bar app. The TBox Plus owner from Fix 2 used a navigation-bar app to get back, home and recent-app buttons once the floating button was gone. Other owners recommend the same idea, but nobody else reported on it.
  • Hide the bar only while watching video. An Ultra owner asked for the bar to hide during playback; one reply thought a setting existed but could not say where. Unconfirmed.
  • Keep the floating button if you use split screen. It is one of the two ways to start a real split screen on the stock launcher; read split screen on Carlinkit before removing it.

If nothing works

Note the box model and firmware date (Settings → About), whether the 4545 menu shows a System navigation bar switch, and whether Settings → Display shows a Floating button switch. Photograph both screens. That tells Carlinkit support ([email protected]) which build lacks the options, and it is what other owners ask for first.

The engineering codes for each box are collected in the engineering codes reference. If a firmware update removed the switches you relied on, the firmware tracker lists the builds owners discuss. If you are choosing a box with a cleaner interface, start here.

Related fixes

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Changelog

  • Last reviewed against new community reports:
  • Confirmed by 2 community reports on Carlinkit TBox Plus.
  • 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.