Disable Mirrorlink V20

[TubaOrNotTuba]

Just got my V20 and of course it has Mirrorlink 1.1 preinstalled.  That's nice in theory; however, it's so poorly implemented that it's unusable.  LG's MirrorDrive doesn't actually mirror ANYTHING.  What it gives you is access to LG's music, messaging, and phone apps.  While I use the LG dialer, I don't use the LG music or messaging apps (ironically, texting while driving is illegal in pretty much every state and yet they seemingly encourage the use of messaging while driving).  We still cannot mirror Google Maps or Waze, we can't use Amazon Music, Google Play Music, or any other music app, and the only decent Verizon app, Message+, can't be used either.

That said, I'm good with Mirrorlink disabled; however, that isn't possible.  The problem is if one uses the installed USB ports in a modern car, for example my 2017 Subaru Outback, the V20 automatically turns on Mirrorlink and it CANNOT be turned off.  If you slide the selector to off it just turns back on.  The screen is totally unresponsive to navigation controls.  One cannot navigate home, pull down from the top, task switch to other running apps, etc...

To make matters finally worse, the Mirrorlink service does not allow users to disable the service to effectively disable Mirrorlink.  There is NO reason to force Mirrorlink on users, none whatsoever.  It's not a critical system, it's a convenience app that works so poorly that why anyone would use it is beyond me.  The only available navigation app,Sygic Car Navigation, is $30 and so cheesy it's unbelievable. It doesn't even come close to the capability of Google Maps or Waze, but it generates revenue for the revenue-generating Mirrorlink service which I'm guessing is then shared with the likes of LG and carriers like Verizon.

Talking to Verizon support today the guy says, "I want to help you" but then comes back and says there's nothing he can do.  People, these are OUR devices.  It's time we DEMAND Verizon, LG, and everyone else involved STOP this garbage and give us control over our devices.  I've never rooted a daily phone, but the second I can root this V20 it's getting rooted so I can 1) disabled Mirrorlink and 2) remove all the Verizon junkware they continue to push on users.  If we're going to be forced to pay RETAIL for devices it's time to DEMAND Verizon stop pushing crapware on us.  Period.

Oh yeah, I called LG to talk about this today and was told they wouldn't be able to help me because the V20 wasn't being sold by Verizon yet.  The guy argued with me until I asked for his boss then he finally said he'd talk to me, but was very unhelpful. 

Here's to the ability to root the V20!

[Acrillix]

I am going to look into this. I will reply if I find an answer.

Just an FYI (not trying to start an argument) that rooting your device or discussion of rooting is not tolerated on the VZ Community Forums. Generally, you will want to stay away from rooting unless you know what you are doing. You mess something up, it's on you. That is all I am going to say about it.

[TubaOrNotTuba]

And neither am I; however, the threat of censorship in a community forum means stifles understanding, innovation, competition, not to mention customer loyalty.  That I've owned Android phones since Android 1.6 and have never found the need to root a daily device until is exactly why this should be mentioned here.  That Verizon and LG would discourage it here just tells me both are fearful of understanding real issues, innovating so those issues go away, and from competitors that may not have the issues they have.

As for knowing what I'm doing, I do.  My non daily devices, again of which I have a ton laying around here, have all been tinkered with to see what I was "missing" since so many talk about rooting and again I honestly found I wasn't "missing" anything hence why I don't do it to daily phones, but that should also stress the level of frustration I have with the current state of things.

As for loyalty, since I was told by no less than THREE Verizon employees that it wasn't their problem and they wouldn't help me further that sings the song "Find a New Carrier" to me, one that would be $30/mo less if Verizon is going to treat its customers this way.  Sure, their phones will have the same LG defect in them, but at $360 less per year that makes the V20 "almost free" and for "almost free" I can live with a lot more design flaws than for what I'm paying now.

In the end, another solution to Verizon's arrogance would be for LG, Samsung, and HTC to finally stand up to Verizon themselves like Apple does.  The big-3 Android makers need to say to Verizon "We will no longer jury-rig Android for Verizon.  Ship our version of Android unadulterated or don't sell our devices."  If all 3 did that you'd have no choice but to remove all the bloatware from our devices and we'd all get better, more secure phones because we'd get updates that much faster.  That'd be an awesome day for all your customers when the bloatware is gone - no more rooting!