Home & Launcher (Offline)

About Home & Launcher (Offline)

Home & Launcher replaces the home screen and app drawer on your device. It does not declare the internet permission and therefore cannot open a network connection, so whatever it stores remains on the device. There is no account, no advertising and no analytics.

Home screen
• Multiple workspace pages, folders and a fixed favorites row
• Widgets, added from a built-in picker
• Wallpapers, including live wallpapers, chosen through the system picker
• Dynamic color that follows the wallpaper, in light and dark themes

App drawer
• An alphabetical list with a fast scroller
• Application search that runs entirely on the device
• Work profile support
• A row of recently used applications, determined on the device

Hidden applications
Selected applications can be kept out of the app drawer and out of drawer search. The selection applies per application and per profile, so a work copy is independent of a personal copy. Hiding an application does not uninstall or disable it, and it remains available elsewhere on the device.

Application lock
Authentication can be required before a selected application is opened, using either the device screen lock or a PIN or password created inside the app and kept separate from it.

The PIN or password itself is never stored. Setup records only a salted, irreversible verification value, protected by the secure key store on the device. There is no recovery process, so the entry is confirmed twice and a hint is required. Repeated incorrect attempts are rate limited.

Note: the application lock applies to launches started from this app. It does not intercept an application opened from a notification, from the recents screen, or from a different home app.

Notification dots
A dot can be shown on an app icon when that app has a new notification. The feature is off until you grant notification access in your device settings, and it can be switched off again at any time.

The system labels that grant "Notification read, reply and control", because that is what the interface allows in general, not what this app does with it. This app counts notifications per app to draw the dot. It does not display, store, reply to, or dismiss notification contents, and has no screen that shows notification text. Because the app has no internet permission, nothing it reads can leave the device.

Permissions and their purpose
• Set wallpaper and wallpaper hints: applies the wallpaper you choose and reports the correct dimensions to the system.
• Request delete packages: opens the system uninstall confirmation when an icon is dragged onto the uninstall target.
• Query all packages: a home screen has to enumerate every launchable application in order to build the app drawer and the recent-applications row.
• Vibrate: haptic feedback while dragging and long-pressing.
• Use biometric: shows the system authentication dialog for the application lock. It provides no access to biometric data.
• Notification access, optional and off by default: draws notification dots on app icons, as described above.

This app does not request internet, network state, location, contacts, camera, microphone, storage, telephony or account permissions. Support: [email protected]. Privacy policy: Home & Launcher privacy policy.

Open source
Home & Launcher is released under the Apache License, Version 2.0. Source code on GitLab