Lawnchair Lite v2.27.0

Minimal, fast Android launcher with professional-grade stability and smooth Compose-powered animations.

Stability Architecture

Built on crash patterns identified across Lawnchair v14-v15 beta releases:

• Global crash handler with notification-based bug reporting (modeled after LawnchairApp's UncaughtExceptionHandler)
• DataStore corruption recovery via ReplaceFileCorruptionHandler - corrupted preferences reset to defaults instead of crash-looping
• Defensive PackageManager calls - all PM/LauncherApps interactions wrapped for DeadSystemException, SecurityException, NameNotFoundException
• Package existence validation before operations - prevents the race condition where customizing an app being uninstalled causes a crash (Lawnchair 15 Beta 2 fix)
• Debounced package events (300ms) - bulk install/uninstall doesn't trigger N consecutive reloads
• Byte-bounded icon-pack bitmap cache with recycled evictions - prevents OOM on large icon packs
• Safe grid deserialization - malformed workspace data returns empty cells, never crashes
• Atomic DataStore writes - process death during save never corrupts settings
• Reflection-based API calls for status bar expansion - OEM ROMs that block it fail gracefully
• Per-app error isolation during app list loading - one bad package entry doesn't prevent loading the rest

Features

• Multiple home pages with swipe navigation, add/remove pages from long-press menu
• App drawer with alphabetical fast scroller (haptic feedback on letter changes)
• Material 3 drawer tabs for All, Recent, Favorites, and Work profile apps with work badges and managed-profile action handling
• Tablet/foldable two-pane drawer keeps the workspace and dock/taskbar usable beside the app list on expanded screens
• Drawer groups/folders that filter any drawer tab by selected apps or package-prefix rules
• Folder creation via drag-and-drop with 3x3 preview, app-icon covers, and emoji covers
• Icon pack support (ADW/Nova format) with 4-icon preview per pack and ordered multi-pack fallback mixing
• Icon-pack theme metadata API for accent colors and wallpaper suggestions shown in the icon-pack picker
• Custom icon labels, hide apps from drawer with batch unhide
• 6 theme modes (Midnight, Glass, OLED, Mocha, Aurora, Neon) with per-theme error colors
• Custom accent color with 12 presets + hex input + theme-default reset chip
• Material You dynamic color can pull the Android 12+ wallpaper palette into any theme
• Custom font import applies a persisted local .ttf or .otf file across launcher text
• Theme import/export shares the active theme, icon pack chain, custom font reference, icon shape, and accent as a .lawnchair-theme JSON file
• First-party Smartspace with local weather, next calendar event, next alarm, unread notifications, and permission prompts
• Drawer category rules by app-name regex, package prefix, or install source with backup/restore support
• Configurable grid (3-8 cols, 3-10 rows), dock (3-7 icons), icon sizes (S/M/L/XL)
• Optional dock labels with opacity control
• 9 gesture actions: double-tap, triple-tap, swipe-down, swipe-up, pinch, dock-tap, dock-swipe, custom draw
• Gesture app binding: assign any gesture to launch a specific app (with icon preview in settings)
• Custom draw gesture recorder: trace a saved shape on the home screen to run a bound action
• Assistant replacement: swipe up from either bottom corner to launch a selected assistant app or the system assistant
• Smart fuzzy search with relevance scoring (exact > starts > word > contains > pkg > subsequence)
• Local semantic search phrases such as "my gym app", "password vault", and "food delivery" rank matching apps without cloud AI
• Inline calculator and unit converter in drawer search
• Time-aware app suggestions (morning/afternoon/evening/night usage patterns)
• Search history chips with fade gradient, recent apps row with clear button
• Home screen widgets via AppWidgetHost with provider previews, grid-cell sizing, bind recovery, configuration, stack paging, and removal confirmation
• Contact search with permission chip, cached web suggestions, and web search fallback
• Notification badges (count/dot/hidden), app shortcuts via LauncherApps API, shortcut/PWA icon overrides, per-app swipe-up shortcut bindings, and a swipe-open global shortcut shelf
• 5 page transitions (Slide, Cube, Stack, Fade, Depth, Carousel)
• Wallpaper dimming (0-80%) with parallax effect and per-page overrides
• Backup/restore layout as JSON with section selection, cloud-provider targets, weekly local scheduling, privacy toggles, restore preview, and Nova backup migration import
• Uninstall confirmation dialog (all paths: D&D, home menu, drawer menu)
• Reset all settings with confirmation dialog
• Settings search filter across 8 collapsible sections
• Device admin for screen lock gesture, flashlight toggle gesture

Icon Pack Theme Metadata

Icon packs can include res/xml/lawnchair_theme.xml or an asset named lawnchair_theme.xml:

<lawnchair-theme accent="#4ADE80">
    <wallpaper label="Forest Glass" uri="https://example.com/wallpapers/forest.jpg" />
</lawnchair-theme>

The accent is offered as an apply action in Settings. Wallpaper suggestions open through Android's standard view intent.

Smoothness

• Compose VelocityTracker for accurate drawer fling velocity (no manual nanoTime)
• Always-composed drawer preserves scroll position, eliminates recomposition on open/close
• Material 3 icon press - crisp no-bounce spring animation (dampingRatio 1.0, stiffness 800)
• Memoized theme computation - remember-cached, no recompute per recomposition
• Conditional auto-focus - keyboard only opens when drawer opened via search bar, not swipe
• Pager scroll guard - horizontal paging disabled during drawer transition
• Drawer background blur - Android 12+ devices blur the home layer behind the drawer while older OS versions keep the existing fade/scale path
• Baseline profile - startup, home, drawer/search, settings, shortcut, widget, and backup classes ship pre-profiled for faster first-run compilation
• R8 full mode - release builds explicitly use full optimization while retaining metadata required by preference/model serialization paths
• Bounded icon bitmap cache - icon-pack drawables are rendered into a byte-capped LRU cache with explicit bitmap recycling
• Icon pack mixer - Settings can combine multiple installed icon packs in priority order, using later packs as fallbacks for missing appfilter entries
• Custom font loading - persisted SAF font files load off the UI thread and fall back to the system font if access is revoked
• Drawer grid pre-warm - the app drawer pre-measures the first offscreen rows while hidden to avoid first-scroll jank
• Adaptive drawer pane - expanded-width screens open the drawer as a right-side pane with bounded columns instead of blurring the workspace

Permissions

• QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES powers the launcher app list, drawer search, categories, hidden apps, and gesture app binding.
• INTERNET is used for optional Open-Meteo weather lookups and user-triggered web search handoff. The app does not include tracker, ad, analytics, Firebase, or Play services SDKs.
• VIBRATE powers local haptic feedback for drawer scrolling, page limits, gestures, and long-press actions.
• POST_NOTIFICATIONS is used only for local crash-copy notifications on Android 13+; denied access does not block launcher use.
• READ_CONTACTS, READ_CALENDAR, and ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION are optional search/Smartspace features with Settings recovery actions.
• KILL_BACKGROUND_PROCESSES and EXPAND_STATUS_BAR back user-triggered quick actions and degrade gracefully when Android or OEM policy blocks them.
• RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED reschedules the optional weekly local backup after reboot; no backup runs unless the user enables the schedule.
• Widget placement uses Android's per-widget bind prompt; the protected BIND_APPWIDGET permission is not declared.

Libre / F-Droid Readiness

The standard release variant is libre-compatible: it uses AndroidX/Compose framework dependencies only, has no ad/tracker/cloud-account SDKs, and ships Fastlane metadata under fastlane/metadata/android/en-US/.

Local audit:

.\tools\libre-audit.ps1

Build and audit:

$env:JAVA_HOME = "C:\Program Files\Android\Android Studio\jbr"
$env:ANDROID_HOME = "$HOME\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk"
.\tools\libre-audit.ps1 -Build

v2.27.0

• Cloud backup privacy - Android Auto Backup excludes launcher DataStore state from silent cloud backup
• Local transfer rule - Android 12+ device transfer can keep the launcher DataStore state for on-device migration
• Manual export controls - Search history, usage/recents, and hidden apps are excluded unless explicitly enabled
• Selective backup sections - Backup export can include only appearance, layout/widgets, drawer/search, gestures, feature settings, custom labels, or selected private data
• Cloud backup target - Settings can bind a Drive, OneDrive, or WebDAV document-provider JSON target and overwrite it with the selected backup sections
• Weekly local backup - Settings can schedule a weekly privacy-preserving JSON export to Android/data/app.lawnchairlite/files/backups/ and run that export immediately
• Private restore preservation - Omitted private sections no longer clear existing local search, usage, or hidden-app data
• Permission audit panel - Advanced Settings explains each broad/runtime permission, current status, recovery action, and degraded behavior
• Restore preview - Backup import now validates schema compatibility and shows sections, skipped fields, and private-data handling before applying
• Local diagnostics - Crashes are saved to private app storage with Settings copy/share/delete support even when notifications are unavailable
• Work profile parity - Work apps render with a profile badge, open app info through LauncherApps, and block personal-profile uninstall flows when managed policy owns the app
• Tablet/foldable layout - Expanded screens keep the workspace and dock/taskbar visible while the drawer opens as a bounded right-side pane
• Local semantic search - Drawer search can resolve privacy-preserving intent phrases such as "my gym app" to matching installed apps
• Icon-pack theme API - Icon packs can ship lawnchair_theme.xml metadata with accent and wallpaper suggestions surfaced in Settings
• Drawer groups - Drawer folders can be created in Settings, populated manually or by package-prefix rule, filtered across All/Recent/Favorites/Work, and backed up with launcher JSON
• Widget picker previews - The widget picker shows provider preview images when available, icon/placeholder fallbacks when unavailable, and confirms widget removal before deleting host IDs
• Widget stacks - Edit-mode widgets can add compatible widgets into the same grid slot, swipe between stack pages, and remove the active stack item without clearing the rest
• Shortcut icon overrides - App shortcuts and pinned web/PWA-style entries can use manual source-app icon overrides, persist through backup/restore, and fall back safely when shortcut icon resources are missing
• Per-app swipe shortcuts - App long-press shortcut rows can bind a shortcut to that app icon's swipe-up gesture, with backup persistence
• Custom draw gesture - Settings can record a freeform home-screen shape and bind it to any existing gesture action, with backup persistence
• Global shortcuts shelf - Long-press shortcut rows can pin arbitrary app shortcuts to a swipe-open shelf above the dock, with backup persistence and long-press removal
• Assistant replacement - Bottom-corner swipe-up can launch a selected assistant app or the system assistant, with backup persistence
• Baseline profile - Release builds ship baseline-prof.txt plus ProfileInstaller so startup and primary launcher journeys are precompiled after install
• R8 full mode - Release shrinking now pins full-mode optimization and keeps required Kotlin/Java metadata attributes for retained launcher models
• Icon bitmap cache tuning - Icon-pack resources now use a bounded bitmap LRU that recycles evicted cache entries and avoids permanently caching misses
• Icon pack mixer - Settings can combine multiple installed icon packs with an ordered fallback chain that persists through backups and theme exports
• Custom font import - Theme Settings can import a local font file, validate it before applying, and clear back to the system font
• Drawer lazy grid pre-warm - The hidden drawer now pre-measures the first offscreen rows before the first open so the initial scroll is already composed
• Material You dynamic color - Android 12+ devices can opt into wallpaper-derived accents for any selected theme, while custom hex accents still take precedence
• Theme import/export - Settings can export or import .lawnchair-theme JSON files containing theme mode, dynamic color, accent, icon pack chain, custom font reference, and icon appearance options
• Search suggestions 2.0 - Drawer search fetches cached web suggestions from the selected engine when that engine exposes a JSON suggestion API
• Nova backup migration - Restore accepts Nova Launcher ZIP backups, converts compatible apps/folders/dock items, and previews unsupported items before import
• Drawer background blur - Android 12+ RenderEffect blur runs behind the app drawer with safe fallback on older Android versions
• Per-page wallpaper dim - Home pages can override the default wallpaper dim and interpolate between page-specific values while swiping

v2.26.0

• Widget bind recovery - Widgets that need host permission now launch Android's system bind flow instead of failing with a toast
• Widget configuration - Providers with configuration activities run setup before the widget is placed
• Abandoned ID cleanup - Canceled bind/config flows delete the allocated widget ID to avoid orphaned host entries
• Placement guard - The launcher checks for an empty span before requesting widget permission

v2.25.0

• Dock labels - Optional labels under dock apps and folders
• Opacity control - Dock label opacity slider in Dock settings
• Scoped rendering - Dock labels reuse existing label size/weight while leaving home and drawer labels unchanged
• Backup support - Dock label settings export/import with launcher backups

v2.24.0

• Folder covers - Folder long-press menu can choose an emoji or one of the folder app icons as the cover
• Cover rendering - Custom covers replace the 2x2/3x3 preview while preserving notification badges and labels
• Safe persistence - New covered-folder serialization round-trips while old folder layouts keep the legacy format
• Stale cleanup - Removing an app also clears it as a folder cover when needed

v2.23.0

• Material 3 drawer tabs - All, Recent, Favorites, and Work tabs switch the drawer grid without leaving search
• Favorites tab - Drawer context menu can add/remove favorite apps, persisted in DataStore and backups
• Work profile tab - LauncherApps profile scan loads managed-profile apps when Android exposes them
• Profile-aware launch - Work-profile apps launch through LauncherApps while personal apps keep the existing launch path

v2.22.0

• Drawer category rules - User-defined rules override automatic app categorization
• Rule matchers - Match by app-name regex, package prefix, or install source
• Settings editor - Add, disable, and remove category rules from the Drawer settings section
• Backup support - Category rules export/import with the launcher backup JSON

v2.21.0

• First-party Smartspace - Weather, next calendar event, next alarm, and unread notification aggregation now render in the home At-a-Glance area without Google Smartspace
• Weather chip - Uses last-known coarse location and a no-key Open-Meteo forecast request with short timeouts
• Calendar chip - Reads the next 7-day calendar event through Android CalendarProvider when permission is granted
• Permission prompts - Home Smartspace rows request location/calendar access directly and refresh after grants

v2.19.0

• VelocityTracker drawer fling - Replaced manual nanoTime velocity with Compose VelocityTracker for consistent, accurate flings
• Always-composed drawer - Drawer stays in composition tree, hidden via graphicsLayer alpha; preserves scroll position
• Remove Page - "Remove Page" in home long-press menu (checks empty, shifts widgets, greyed out on last page)
• Clear Recents - "Clear" button on the RECENT row header in the app drawer
• Reset confirmation - "Reset All Settings" guarded by confirmation dialog
• Fast scroller haptics - Light vibration on each letter change while dragging
• 3x3 folder preview - Folders with 5+ apps show 9 icons in a 3x3 grid
• Error color slot - LauncherColors.error with per-theme tuning (rose for Mocha, coral for Neon/Aurora)
• Accent reset chip - "Default" chip at start of accent palette to revert to theme native accent
• Theme preview 4-swatch - Adds background color dot for better theme differentiation
• Gesture picker app icon - Shows small app icon inline when gesture is LAUNCH_APP
• Search history fade gradient - Right-edge gradient hint for scrollable chip row
• Conditional auto-focus - Keyboard only auto-focuses when opened via search bar tap
• Pager scroll guard - HorizontalPager disabled while drawer is partially open
• Hidden indicator zero height - HIDDEN page indicator no longer wastes 6dp
• Adaptive icon widths - Drawer icon items scale with icon size setting
• App size split APKs - Sums sourceDir + splitSourceDirs for accurate size
• Widget picker cell sizes - Shows "2x1 cells" instead of raw dp dimensions
• Widget span actual cell width - Uses real grid cell width instead of hardcoded 73dp
• Import failure toast - Error message instead of silent failure
• No-bounce icon press - Material 3 spring animation (dampingRatio 1.0, stiffness 800)
• Memoized theme - themeColorsWithAccent cached via remember
• Theme.kt reformatted - Named-parameter multi-line constructors for all 6 themes
• SearchOff empty state - Icon above "No apps found" in drawer

v2.18.0

• Settings search filter - Keyword search across all 8 sections, auto-expands matching sections
• Uninstall confirmation dialog - All uninstall paths (D&D, home menu, drawer menu) go through confirmation
• Swipe-up home gesture - Configurable, separate from drawer open (default: APP_DRAWER)
• Haptic feedback on page limits - Vibration when swiping past first/last page
• Hidden apps "Unhide All" - Batch unhide button when >1 hidden app
• Settings sections auto-expand during search

v2.17.0

• LAUNCH_APP gesture action - Bind any gesture to open a specific app
• "Add Page" in home space menu - Pixel Launcher-style long-press menu
• Settings section summaries - Show current values when collapsed
• Drawer shows "X results" during search
• Gesture app picker UI in settings

v2.16.1

• Audit fixes: SearchPill shows engine initial+name, haptic on home space menu, dock swipe indicator dot, categorizedApps perf skip during search, contact search permission chip, icon pack preview async loading

v2.16.0

• Collapsible settings sections (8 groups), search engine picker (Google/DDG/Bing/Brave/Startpage), home space long-press menu, dock swipe-up gesture, icon pack preview (4 sample icons)

v2.15.7

• suggestFolderName tokenized, unit converter regex hoisted, flashlight TorchCallback sync, drawer columns range 0-6

v2.15.6

• Atomic resetAllSettings, widget picker toast feedback, all drawer close paths reset category

v2.15.5

• Zero compiler warnings, web search at bottom of results, drawer search auto-focus

v2.15.4

• AppCategorizer word-boundary tokenization, ProGuard tightened (APK 18.6->3.3MB), widget data in backup

v2.15.3

• RECENT_APP skips current app, resetAllSettings covers all prefs, backup includes suggestion/app usage

v2.15.2

• Folder columns setting, category reset, RECENT_APP hidden filter, drawer icon styling parity

v2.15.1

• Widget BoxWithConstraints, clock pending-job pattern, fast scroller from displayApps

v2.15.0

• Hide dock, Recent App gesture, grayscale icons, page line indicator, label weight

v2.14.0

• Z-A sort, Depth transition, dock pulse, scroll-to-top, XL icons

v2.13.0

• Accent presets, search clear, Carousel transition, app size, reset all

v2.12.0

• Neon theme, copy results, folder badges, drawer scale, clock cycling

v2.11.0

• Clock styles, unit converter, Edit Mode gesture, launch counts

v2.10.0

• Fuzzy search, inline calculator, hexagon/diamond shapes, fast scroller

v2.9.0

• Suggestions row, search history, themed badges

v2.8.0

• Widgets (AppWidgetHost), contact search, staggered animation

v2.7.0

• Flashlight/triple-tap/pinch gestures, dock handle tap, parallax

v2.6.0

• Section headers, dock/search/haptic styles, drawer opacity, folder columns

v2.5.0

• Categories, home lock, drawer columns, accent color, icon shadow

v2.4.0

• Page transitions, dock swipe, badge styles, grid padding, clock tap

v2.3.0

• Themed icons, drawer sort, label styles, At-a-Glance, web search

v2.2.0

• Notification badges, shortcuts, wallpaper dim, recent apps

v2.1.0

• Icon packs, folders, custom labels, hidden apps, gestures, backup

v2.0.0

• Stability architecture, crash handler, DataStore corruption recovery

Architecture

LauncherApplication    - Global crash handler + notification reporter
MainActivity           - Lifecycle, debounced package receiver, widget host
LauncherViewModel      - State management, debounced operations, package validation
LauncherPrefs          - DataStore with corruption handler, atomic writes
AppRepository          - Hardened PM calls, package existence checks, themed icons
IconPackManager        - Byte-bounded bitmap LRU, multi-pack fallback chain, defensive XML parsing, preview icons
ShortcutRepository     - LauncherApps shortcut queries + launching
NotificationListener   - NotificationListenerService for badge counts
WebSuggestionService   - Engine suggestion APIs with bounded in-memory caching
AppCategorizer         - Word-boundary tokenized categorization with user rules
AppModel               - Safe deserialization, data types, enums
UI (Compose)           - HomeScreen, AppDrawer, Components, Settings, Theme

Build

JAVA_HOME="C:/Program Files/Android/Android Studio/jbr" ANDROID_HOME="$HOME/AppData/Local/Android/Sdk" ./gradlew assembleRelease

Debug build: ./gradlew assembleDebug

Requires Android SDK 28+ (Android 9), compiles against SDK 37, and targets SDK 36.

Local launcher smoke test after a debug or release build:

tools/android-smoke.ps1 -Serial emulator-5554

The smoke harness installs the selected APK, launches Lawnchair Lite, checks drawer search, Settings, and the widget picker, and reports PASS, FAIL, or DEGRADED platform checks. On emulator serials it sets Lawnchair Lite as the HOME activity so launcher flows foreground deterministically.