Regarding the USB-C to DisplayPort output on the Pixel 8 series.

Just wanted to let anybody who wanted to try this and also use an external mouse at the same time know - by default, your cursor will show up on the phone but not the external monitor (at least with my configuration at this time).

To fix this, you can enable developer options, and toggle Disable HW overlays on. Then it should work. At least this was the case for me when I used a USB-C to DisplayPort cable and a bluetooth mouse.

(I haven't tried it with a hub that has DisplayPort out and a wired mouse, as I don't have a hub to test that yet. No idea if it even works with hubs at all, or possibly only specific hubs, as I'd prefer a wired mouse and keyboard over Bluetooth for increased security of course).

Also, to be clear, I'm not advising you do this as it's not generally advised by the GrapheneOS team to enable developer options and I am not contradicting them. I just thought I would let people know in case they were trying out the USB-C to DisplayPort output feature as it currently stands and have already enabled them/understand the risks.

I have also just been informed of the downsides of using the Disable HW overlays option:

"Disable HW overlays: Disables the hardware overlay. Note that using the hardware overlay lets apps that display something on the screen use less processing power. Without the overlay, apps share the video memory and have to constantly check for collision and clipping to render a proper image. The checking uses a lot of processing power."
https://developer.android.com/studio/debug/dev-options#:~:text=Disable%20HW%20overlays,of%20processing%20power._

Also, to anybody who would like to try the DisplayPort output feature, just know that currently it only mirrors your phone display and doesn't adapt to your external monitor's resolution or aspect ratio properly and is always in wide-screen/horizontal (at least I couldn't get it to work on a rotated monitor properly, it just stayed as wide-screen with black bars on either side)._ Just in case anybody was going to buy a cable or hub to try it, that is how it currently seems to work, so bear that mind.

Of course, we are lucky to have the feature enabled at all as Google has it currently disabled on stock OS.

Apparently, Google has not necessarily abandoned the feature but may be working on it to improve it into a full desktop mode, which would be great so fingers crossed.

I've been told It is a very low priority feature for GrapheneOS to be working on themselves right now, very understandably, as they have so many other, higher priority, things to focus on. So the GrapheneOS team just enabled it in it's current state and if Google makes improvements, they can easily backport them. So thanks, as always, to the GrapheneOS team for giving us the choice 😊

Also, to the mods, I wasn't sure if this should be tagged as Development or not, so apologies if that is incorrect, or if anything else is not done correctly - it is my first time making a post instead of just replying in one on a forum.

    Thanks for this post its very informative. I would like to add that I can confirm that I have been trying to get a similar set up to work but with a hub. I have had no success. I'm not sure if it is compatible with a hub. I can successfully connect all other peripherals, keyboard, mouse, ethernet cable. But when I add the HDMI cable, it won't display on the monitor. But the same HDMI cable connected directly to the phone and monitor will successfully display the phone screen on the monitor. I tried many different hubs. All of them claim to support dp alt mode.

    If anyone had had any success with a hub please share your setup!

      2 months later

      I can confirm docks will work with the Pixel 8. My desk has this dock: (Anker 556) I have a power source, monitor with speakers, wired keyboard, and wired mouse connected. I just plug a single thunderbolt cable into whichever laptop I want to use and the whole setup instantly works.

      When I got a Pixel 8, I was curious and plugged it into my dock and was surprised everything also works - monitor with sound, keyboard, mouse, charger, everything. I even tried it with both DisplayPort and HDMI and both work (only HDMI has sound).

      I went to Developer Options to enable the desktop mode and that works too. But even with Developer Options disabled, the whole setup still works and the monitor simply mirrors the Pixel's screen (portrait or landscape) instead of the monitor having its own secondary desktop.

      The only caveat I can see so far is that the Pixel 8 isn't using the monitor's full 4k resolution. It looks more like 1080 stretched to a 4k monitor so it's not as crisp, but it is certainly usable. Perhaps this will change in a future update, or is already available but my hardware doesn't support it. I am really excited for the future of computing because I could see myself buying a phone as a dedicated computer.

        Manna I just now tried both at the same time, and both HDMI and DisplayPort are working simultaneously. Granted, this is in mirror mode, so probably not useful. If I enable secondary display mode in Developer Options, the DisplayPort monitor becomes a secondary display and the HDMI monitor is static.

        5 days later

        roamer4223 I made this thread a while ago, if anyone is reading it now, I highly advise this thread as it contains more up to date, and admittedly better explained, information :)

        8 months later

        BraveDuck But the same HDMI cable connected directly to the phone and monitor will successfully display the phone screen on the monitor.

        There is no HDMI port on the phone. Did you mean a cable with HDMI at one end and USB-C at the other end?

          UlyssesZhan yes this thread is about DisplayPort/HDMI output in the Pixel 8 series and later. And yes it is the USB C port with the right cable or dongle or dock etc that will output in either DisplayPort or HDMI.

          However, I made this thread ages ago and I think things have almost certainly changed since then. Not sure where you stumbled across it but just wanted to let you know it might be worth looking for a more recent thread for info. Same applies for anyone else who stumbles on this thread now that it has been resurrected to the front page.

            roamer4223 what improvements have you seen? Can you put a web browser onto the external screen and use it rather well with mouse and keyboard? Or is it not there yet?

              chock-a-block I haven't used it too recently but will be in the next few days. I can tell you one massive change since my original post - you no longer have to use the Disable HW overlays option, in order to see your cursor on the external monitor.

              Another very big change - there is now experimental desktop mode support (instead of just mirroring your display, it acts as a secondary display, i believe it has floating windows and stuff). Unfortunately, last I checked, you do need to enable this in the developer options. It's great progress though.

                roamer4223 really? That is fantastic, especially since it is ahead of Android 15 and should only get better with next week's release. How well would you say web browsing works in desktop mode?

                Thanks