Have you seen someone using CarPlay or an HDMI device in full screen and wondered why it doesn’t look the same in your car?
Don’t worry — you’re not alone. Let’s break down why this happens and what factors are involved.
🧠 It’s not just about the adapter: your car plays a big role
When you connect an AutoSky adapter, your vehicle sends the device its screen resolution and aspect ratio. Basically, the car tells the adapter:
“This is the size and shape of my screen. Use this as a reference.”
AutoSky doesn’t decide how the image looks — it automatically adjusts based on what your car allows.
Also, some cars have on-screen elements like control buttons or system bars that reduce the available space for displaying content.
So even if everything is working perfectly, it’s still possible that the image won’t cover 100% of the screen, and that’s totally normal.
🔄 What if I compare it to wired CarPlay?
A good way to check if everything is working as expected is to compare the AutoSky view to how CarPlay looks when connected via cable.
AutoSky should take up exactly the same screen space, since both follow the same layout constraints defined by your vehicle.
📱📺 What about vertical and horizontal content?
This is where content format becomes key:
Phones are optimized for vertical content, like what we see on TikTok, Instagram, or Shorts.
When you cast vertical content to a horizontal screen, you’ll usually see black bars on the sides — the video simply isn’t wide enough to fill the entire display.On the other hand, if your car has a vertical screen and you’re playing horizontal content (like a YouTube video or movie), you’ll likely see black bars at the top and bottom, since the video doesn’t match the screen’s height.
Both phones and TV sticks are generally designed for horizontal screens, so depending on your car’s screen orientation and the type of content, you might see black margins.
This is a formatting difference — not a malfunction.
⚙️ What can you do?
If you’re using a TV Stick, most models let you adjust screen size and zoom in the settings menu. That might help reduce borders or better center the image.
In AutoSky’s HDMI function, there’s a fullscreen button in the top-right corner. It hides the system UI to show just the content, but it won’t stretch the image beyond what your car supports.
✅ Summary
AutoSky adapts to the screen format your car provides.
Not all cars have the same shape or usable screen space.
The content should occupy the same screen area as wired CarPlay.
Phones and TV Sticks offer some image settings, but they’re designed primarily for horizontal screens.
Black borders (top, bottom, or sides) don’t mean something is wrong — it’s just a natural result of mixing screen shapes and video formats.