v0.0.122

Launch Home 0.0.122

Hide the TV Settings tile

Settings → Apps has a new TV Settings tile on the home row switch, beside the All apps one. Turn it off if you'd rather use the Settings button on the remote (#9). It's on by default, so nothing changes unless you switch it off.

Home button and boot through webOS's own scheduler

Boot on TV start and Launch on Home button now also arm a persistent webOS activity each (#10), thanks to spereyra-dev's research. One opens Launch Home when the TV finishes booting, the other when LG's Home comes up. webOS keeps them across reboots and runs them itself, so they work even where the Homebrew Channel startup hooks don't run, and react faster than the watcher. Switching a setting off removes its activity. The existing hooks stay for waking from standby and for webOS 5.

The activities only open Launch Home; they never close LG's Home, so LG's Home still works if Launch Home is ever removed. Still, switch both settings off before uninstalling Launch Home. Without Homebrew Channel, you can arm them by hand as root: see Without Homebrew Channel.

Fixes

• Switching Launch on Home button off now also stops the Home key readers added in 0.0.121 and the watcher's background luna-send, which used to keep running.
• On TVs where Home is an app, a Home press could open Launch Home twice; the key watcher now stands aside there.

Install

Rooted webOS + Homebrew Channel. Install the attached IPK, or:

ares-install org.webosbrew.lounge.launcher_0.0.122_all.ipk

This release was updated on 23 October with the webOS activities and fixes above. If you installed 0.0.122 before that, install it again.

v0.0.121

Launch Home 0.0.121

Home button on webOS 5

On webOS 5, stock Home is an overlay rather than an app, so Launch on Home button never fired there (#6). The Home button watcher now also listens for the remote's Home key itself and opens Launch Home when it's pressed. Newer webOS versions, where Home is an app, work as before.

This hasn't been tried on a webOS 5 TV yet. If you have one, turn Launch on Home button off and on again after updating (Settings → System) and let us know how it goes in #6. The watcher's log is /tmp/launch-home-watcher.log.

Install

Rooted webOS + Homebrew Channel. Install the attached IPK, or:

ares-install org.webosbrew.lounge.launcher_0.0.121_all.ipk

v0.0.120

Launch Home 0.0.120

This release merges PR #7 by derekschultz (Derek Schultz). Thank you!

Boot on TV start works with Quick Start+

With Quick Start+ on, the power button only suspends the TV, so Launch Home didn't come back on power-on. Boot on TV start now also reopens Launch Home each time the TV wakes from standby, and starts doing so as soon as you turn the setting on, without a restart. It also no longer waits a fixed 8 s after boot: it launches right away and retries until Launch Home is in front. You no longer need to turn Quick Start+ off.

Custom apps keep their own icon

Settings → Apps → Custom app now defaults to App's own icon, so an app such as Moonlight shows its real icon instead of a bundled one. You can still pick a bundled icon. Custom apps added before this release keep the icon they were given; remove and re-add one to switch it.

App scan on webOS 6

Scan for apps could find nothing on some rooted TVs (#8). If the full app list can't be read, Launch Home now falls back to LG's home-screen app list, read as root.

Install

Rooted webOS + Homebrew Channel. Install the attached IPK, or:

ares-install org.webosbrew.lounge.launcher_0.0.120_all.ipk

v0.0.119

Launch Home 0.0.119

This release merges PR #4 by anned20 (Anne Douwe Bouma). Thank you!

Aerial video wallpapers

A new background source, Aerial videos (Apple): Settings → Look → Background → Source. 139 of Apple's aerial clips stream from Apple's network (nothing is added to the package), muted and full-screen. Single loops one clip; Slideshow plays through them, with an optional Shuffle. They play in the in-app screensaver too. The TV must be online; a clip that won't play is skipped, and the gradient is used if none will. This is the heaviest background source (network plus continuous video decoding).

Remote keys

• Channel Up / Channel Down and the Blue button step to the next or previous aerial clip.
• Number keys 1–9 can open the home-row tile at that position, with a number on each tile. Off by default; switch it on in Settings → Apps.

Wallpaper dimming and shade

Two sliders under Settings → Look → Glass, both shown live in the preview: Wallpaper dimming darkens the whole picture evenly (new, off by default), and Shade behind the tiles is the old "Overlay opacity", the gradient along the bottom that keeps tile labels readable.

Music

The music no longer plays its first split second at the TV's previous volume before dropping to your home level: the volume is set first.

For developers

• npm test: a vitest test suite.
• npm run deploy: pack, install over SSH and launch in one step.

Install

Rooted webOS + Homebrew Channel. Install the attached IPK, or:

ares-install org.webosbrew.lounge.launcher_0.0.119_all.ipk

v0.0.118

Launch Home 0.0.118

Grok Voice 3.0

Spoken Grok answers now use xAI's newest voice model, Grok Voice 3.0, by default. It's first in Settings → AI Voice as "Voice 3.0". Voice think fast 2.0 and 1.0 are still there if you prefer them.

Already set up voice? Your saved choice is kept, so pick Voice 3.0 in Settings → AI Voice and press Save to switch.

Everything from 0.0.117 is included.

Install

Rooted webOS + Homebrew Channel. Install the attached IPK, or:

ares-install org.webosbrew.lounge.launcher_0.0.118_all.ipk

v0.0.117

Launch Home 0.0.117

Closing Settings

When you close Settings, the selection goes back to the Settings button you opened it from, instead of jumping to the first app.

App row stays put while scrolling

With more apps than fit on the row, scrolling along it could move the whole row up or down. It now stays at one height.

Wallpaper links that don't load

Setting a wallpaper from a web link now tells you when the link doesn't load as an image. Under Settings → Look → Background → Image URL, a red note explains how to get the direct image link; a green one confirms the link works. On the home screen, a failed online wallpaper now shows a message instead of quietly falling back to a gradient.

Tip: use the link to the image itself (it usually ends in .jpg or .png). On an image host, choose "Copy image address" or "Direct link"; the link to the web page about the photo won't work.

When the music won't play

Occasionally, after hours of use, a TV's media service can stop letting Launch Home play sound. The music then shows "Music is waiting". If it still can't play after about 3 minutes, Launch Home now suggests the fix: a full restart. Unplug the TV for a minute, because with Quick Start+ on, the remote's power button only puts it on standby.

Everything from 0.0.116 is included (All apps, the selection staying put when you return from an app, faster returns, a shorter Add an app list).

Install

Rooted webOS + Homebrew Channel. Install the attached IPK, or:

ares-install org.webosbrew.lounge.launcher_0.0.117_all.ipk

v0.0.116

Launch Home 0.0.116

All apps

A new All apps tile on the home row (next to TV Settings) opens a grid of every app on your TV, A to Z. OK opens an app, Back closes. No more pinning an app in Settings just to open it once. Don't want the tile? Settings → Apps → All apps tile on the home row.

Coming back from an app

• The selection stays where you left it. It used to jump back to the first tile shortly after you returned, sometimes under your thumb.
• No lag: the remote responds straight away. Launch Home no longer reloads the wallpaper or restarts the music each time you come back.

Add an app (Settings → Apps)

Lists your TV's normal apps only. Hidden and system apps are behind Show hidden and system apps, so the list is no longer hundreds of rows.

Navigation

Up then Down (or Left then Right) takes you back where you came from. For example, Up from HDMI 1 to the Settings button, then Down returns to HDMI 1.

Music

If the TV's audio player is busy (apps left running in the background can hold it), the music now waits and tries again with one short message, instead of skipping track after track with "Unsupported or missing track".

Look

• Glass settings have clearer names (Tile colour, Tile outline, Selection highlight), a line explaining each, and a live preview over your wallpaper.
• The date under the clock is as bright as the time.
• Two new online wallpapers: Rockets · Starship launch and Rockets · Falcon Heavy.

Install

Rooted webOS + Homebrew Channel. Install the attached IPK, or:

ares-install org.webosbrew.lounge.launcher_0.0.116_all.ipk

v0.0.115

Launch Home 0.0.115

Glass colour

The see-through glass on the app tiles, input buttons and Settings button can now be any of several colours, so it suits your wallpaper. On a dark wallpaper the original light glass could look like pale grey slabs.

Settings → Look → Glass → Glass colour, then Save:

• Light (original): the look so far, and still the default
• Dark: smoky glass that matches the weather panel and music bar; best on dark wallpapers
• Black
• Blue, Purple, Green, Warm: tinted glass

Glass border

The outline of the tiles, input buttons and Settings button can have its own colour too. Settings → Look → Glass → Glass border, then Save:

• White (original): the default
• Same as glass colour: a stronger line in the glass's own colour
• None: no outline at all
• Black, Blue, Purple, Green, Warm, Gold

Focus colour

The ring around whatever the remote is on, and the marker on the current input, can take a colour too. Settings → Look → Glass → Focus colour, then Save:

• Warm (original): the white and warm glow, still the default
• White
• Same as glass border
• Blue, Purple, Green, Gold

Settings' own screens keep their usual focus ring.

Everything from 0.0.114 is included.

Install

Rooted webOS + Homebrew Channel. Install the attached IPK, or:

ares-install org.webosbrew.lounge.launcher_0.0.115_all.ipk

v0.0.114

Launch Home 0.0.114

When Homebrew Channel's root is slow or not answering

Some features need root through Homebrew Channel: your TV's own app names and icons, the Live TV channel list, and the full input list. When root stopped answering, apps showed names made from their ids ("Org Webosbre…") with two letters instead of icons, and Live TV and the Channels button disappeared. Now:

• App names and icons are remembered once the TV has reported them, and used whenever it can't be asked. If the home row was built before the TV answered, names and icons fill in by themselves shortly after.
• Live TV stays as an input, and the Channels button keeps your last channel list.
• Settings shows "Running as: no answer from Homebrew Channel (root)" instead of "checking…" forever. If you see that, open the Homebrew Channel app and check Root status in its Settings. If it isn't OK, fully restart the TV: unplug it for a minute (with Quick Start+ on, switching off only puts it on standby).

Wallpapers

The online nature wallpapers (and their thumbnails in Settings) stayed blank on some TVs. They now load as JPEG, which every TV shows.

Add your own inputs

Settings → Inputs & channels → Add an input: add an HDMI port or Live TV that your TV didn't list. Untick it to take it away again.

12-hour clock

Settings → Look → Clock format: 24-hour (18:30) or 12-hour (6:30 PM), on the home screen and the screensaver.

Home row

• With apps on two rows, Down now moves into the bottom row (it could only be reached with the pointer).
• Apps no longer sit under the music bar.
• Mute on the music bar also uses the player's own mute, and its icon now shows whether it's muted.

Frosted glass

While Slow zoom moves the wallpaper, tiles and buttons are tinted instead of frosted glass (blurring a moving picture makes TVs stutter). That's whatever Performance mode is set to; turn Slow zoom off (Look) for the glass. Settings now says so.

Everything from 0.0.113 is included.

Install

Rooted webOS + Homebrew Channel. Install the attached IPK, or:

ares-install org.webosbrew.lounge.launcher_0.0.114_all.ipk

v0.0.113

Launch Home 0.0.113

Three fixes for the home row, from user reports.

Down from an input reaches the apps

Pressing Down on an input chip (HDMI 1 and so on) now moves to the nearest app tile below it, and Up from a tile returns to the nearest input chip. Before, with larger icon spacing, Down could find nothing and stay put, so only Right reached the apps.

Cleaner scroll arrows

The arrows that show when more icons are off-screen no longer cast a dark band and shadow across the tile they sit over.

No arrows for a few pixels

With big icons, the row could be a few pixels wider than its space, which showed the arrows and let the row scroll a tiny amount for nothing. The row now fits exactly the number of icons you set, and the arrows only appear when at least a third of a tile is out of view.

App icons fill their tiles

The bundled app icons had a coloured square canvas around the actual icon, which showed as a hard-edged plate on the tile (near-black behind YouTube). The icons are now cropped to the artwork itself.

Everything from 0.0.112 is included.

Install

Rooted webOS + Homebrew Channel. Install the attached IPK, or:

ares-install org.webosbrew.lounge.launcher_0.0.113_all.ipk