I'm so sorry your car got crunched! Sad to hear we ended up in the same boat. I hope you're physically OK.

I certainly had thought of the idea of going with an app-only way of getting to the empeg's display. I even considered writing an iOS version of my old "EmpegFace" utility.

But it would have meant:
- Getting ethernet+wifi working inside the vehicle.
- Writing the app.
- Using the Apple Car Play and/or Android Auto features. Though I haven't tried Android Auto, I have so many problems with the way the car UI handles Apple Car Play with my phone, that I've disabled it and I'm going bluetooth-only for the phone and I find it much better than Apple Car Play. One day I'll try out Android Auto and see if it's any better.