Vulcan 0.29

Vulcan 0.29 reorganises Settings, adds bottom sheets, and fixes scrolling widgets and the drawer's scroller.

Settings, regrouped (why)

• Settings now follow Nova's layout: Home screen, App drawer, Folders, Search, Gestures & inputs, Now page and Notification badges, then Look & feel and Night mode.
• Every page is split into titled sections such as Layout, Labels, Scrolling and Advanced.
• Dock now opens from inside Home screen. Hidden apps and Drawer groups are in the App drawer's new Apps section.
• A new Search page holds the search bar's style and colour, web search, search engine and contact results.
• Nothing is reset. Your settings and backups carry over as they are.

New

• Pickers, lists and edit forms slide up from the bottom of the screen as sheets, within thumb reach. Drag one down to close it. (#46)
• Folders: a Background opacity setting for the open folder. (#48)
• Drawer tabs can have a colour of their own, set in the tab's editor. (#49)

Fixes

• Scrollable widgets such as calendars scroll again: a swipe that starts on one goes to the widget instead of opening the drawer. (#50)
• Tapping an app in the drawer's right-hand column no longer catches the fast scroller. (#47)
• Night mode: schedule hours use your phone's 12- or 24-hour format, and settings that do nothing under AMOLED Black say so. (#52)

Signing certificate SHA-256: da454f94a59d15cb8b6119483d05cfb971a2c61c8695ba5f53f80b7c9fcaa555

Vulcan 0.28

Vulcan 0.28 adds smarter drawer search, optional themed icons, and more useful folders.

Search

• Find apps even with typos, or by typing their initials.
• Search app shortcuts and Android settings pages.
• Type a calculation and tap the result to copy it.
• Start timers and alarms through your clock app. This uses Android’s normal SET_ALARM permission.

Icons and folders

• Optional themed icons on Android 13 and later use apps’ monochrome icons and your wallpaper colours. Off by default.
• Long-press a drawer folder to drag it onto home, or choose Add in its menu. Home gets an independent copy.
• Smart folders can categorize apps that declare no category, with new Finance, Shopping & food, Health & fitness, and Tools groups. Run it again to add newly installed apps.

Fixes

• Restoring backups with malformed data no longer crashes home; invalid values are skipped or handled safely.
• Open folders refresh immediately when an app is removed from them.

Signing certificate SHA-256: da454f94a59d15cb8b6119483d05cfb971a2c61c8695ba5f53f80b7c9fcaa555

Vulcan 0.27

Some big memory optimizations in this release folks!

Vulcan 0.27 cuts memory use, reported in #43. With the drawer open or other apps in front, Vulcan now uses less than half the memory 0.26 did.

Memory

Measured on a Galaxy S23 with 51 apps and the default layout. The figures are each build's total memory (PSS from dumpsys meminfo), averaged over three runs:

	0.26	0.27	Change
Home screen, idle	54 MB	38 MB	−30%
App drawer open	237 MB	106 MB	−55%
40 s after switching to another app	135 MB	60 MB	−55%

How:

• Icons and labels are kept on disk. Vulcan used to ask each app for its icon and name, which loads that app's resources into Vulcan's memory (10 MB for Gmail alone), and they stayed there until Android cleaned up. Vulcan now saves each finished icon and label the first time, as Android's own launcher does, and reads them back after that. They're redrawn when an app updates, the system updates, the language changes or an icon setting changes.
• Each icon is one small image, drawn once at the largest size it's shown, instead of keeping the system's larger icon layers and extra copies.
• Drawer icons are let go when you leave home and read back from disk when the drawer next opens.
• The drawer no longer draws into extra off-screen buffers while it fades.

Start time and scrolling are unchanged. The first drawer scroll after returning from another app may have a few slower frames while icons are read back.

Also new

• Add to group is a checklist: each group has a checkbox, with the app's current groups ticked, and unticking one removes the app from it (#38). New folder is now a button at the bottom of the dialog.
• Settings no longer leaks dialogs when you rotate or switch dark mode while one is open.

Signing certificate SHA-256: da454f94a59d15cb8b6119483d05cfb971a2c61c8695ba5f53f80b7c9fcaa555

Vulcan 0.26

Vulcan 0.26 fixes several issues reported against 0.25, mostly in the hold-home overview and the app drawer.

Thanks to @PierBez for the German and Russian translations of the color editor.

What's new

• Hold home: the shrunk page preview no longer runs into the Wallpaper / Widgets / Pages / Settings / More buttons when the dock is turned off (#34).
• Drawer tabs can be reordered: long-press a tab (or open it in Settings → App drawer → Tabs & folders) and choose Move left or Move right (#35).
• Drawer tabs wrap around: swiping past the last tab goes to the first, and swiping back from the first goes to the last (#36).
• No square flash behind a drawer icon when you hold it; the press highlight is now rounded (#37).
• Pages editor: more space between the title and the Remove page target (#39).
• Translations: German and Russian for the custom color editor.

Signing certificate SHA-256: da454f94a59d15cb8b6119483d05cfb971a2c61c8695ba5f53f80b7c9fcaa555

Vulcan 0.25

Vulcan 0.25 tightens up the app drawer's gestures and brings folders and long-press menus closer to Nova.

Thanks to @SadieVane, @HatsyRei and @PierBez for the feedback, testing and translations; there's a small easter egg for you in Settings → Contributors. Please let me know if you folks want this removed!

What's new

• App drawer gestures: the drawer only takes taps and holds once it's fully open and at rest. Swiping it up and down quickly, or holding it half open with one finger and tapping with another, no longer opens an app's menu or drops an app onto home.
• Swiping up from the search bar on home or the dock now opens the drawer, the same as anywhere else on home.
• Long-press home, then drag up no longer opens the drawer behind the open menu.
• Icon packs: when you change an app's icon, the picker shows every icon in the pack, across all of its categories, not only the ones mapped to apps.
• Settings: number settings (columns, rows, pages, sizes, corner radii, night hours) are sliders instead of radio lists, and Hide apps uses checkboxes (Material 3).
• Folders: Columns and Rows settings (#25). Icons reorder the way they do in Launcher3, in both home and drawer folders.
• Bottom-up drawer fills from a full row, so the short row sits at the top (#33).
• Widget picker groups widgets by app (#18).
• Long-press menus and folders look and behave closer to Nova.
• Hold home: a swipeable overview with Pages and Options buttons. Pages are added and removed automatically, and removing a page now works and shows red feedback.

Signing certificate SHA-256: da454f94a59d15cb8b6119483d05cfb971a2c61c8695ba5f53f80b7c9fcaa555

Vulcan 0.24

This is a good one folks :). Please do give it a shot!

Vulcan 0.24 makes the home screen move like Launcher3, turns the clock into a home item, and rebuilds settings as a screen of its own.

• The clock is now an item on the home grid, like a clock widget: long-press to move or resize it, switch to date only, or remove it. Home menu → Clock adds one. If you had the glance strip on, you get a one-row clock on page 1.
• Page swiping follows Launcher3's rules: flings and long drags turn one page, snaps use its timing, and Android 12+ stretches at the first and last page.
• Dragging shrinks the page into an outlined card, shows where the item will land, and offers Remove and Uninstall at the top. Holding beside the card turns the page.
• Picking up an icon grows it slightly, keeps it under your finger, and leaves its cell empty.
• Folders open over home without a dim or blur, grow out of their icon, open and close faster, and big folders stay on screen on narrow phones.
• The Now page follows your finger as you swipe right from the first page.
• The app drawer rises with your finger in stages, can fill from the bottom up so apps sit near your thumb (#26), and a sideways swipe switches tabs (#21).
• The long-press menu is shorter: up to 4 shortcuts and only the newest notification.
• Settings is a screen of its own, with search in the top bar. Switches no longer flash other rows (#24), and Back returns to where you were scrolled.
• Backup & restore, Permissions, and Drawer groups are full settings pages instead of dialog lists. Restoring an automatic backup now asks first.
• The pages overview lets you hold a page to move it or drop it on Remove; tap a page's name to make it the default.

Download vulcan-launcher.apk and install it. Existing users can install over their current version: the signing key is unchanged and layouts are preserved. Android 8 or newer is required.

Vulcan still has no internet permission, ads, analytics, or trackers.

Signing certificate SHA-256: da454f94a59d15cb8b6119483d05cfb971a2c61c8695ba5f53f80b7c9fcaa555

Vulcan 0.23

Vulcan 0.23 makes folders feel at home, and fixes the bugs reported in the issue tracker.

• Folders open out of their icon and close back into it, on the home screen and in the app drawer. The window fits its apps, with the name under the icons.
• Making a folder: dragging an app over another grows a folder-coloured disc behind it, so you can see a folder will be made.
• Back from a folder in the app drawer returns to the drawer instead of the home screen (#22).
• The long-press menu opens as soon as the press registers, without lifting your finger (#20).
• Icon swipe-up actions now trigger on fast and long swipes too (#27).
• A sideways swipe in the app drawer no longer opens the app under your finger.
• Full-screen folders are centred on the screen (#23).
• No dim flash when one dialog opens another, such as a folder's "Choose apps" (#24).
• App shortcuts in the long-press menu's Shortcuts list show each app's icon and name (#30).
• The widget list is grouped by app (#18).

Download vulcan-launcher.apk and install it. Existing users can install over their current version: the signing key is unchanged and layouts are preserved. Android 8 or newer is required.

Vulcan still has no internet permission, ads, analytics, or trackers.

Signing certificate SHA-256: da454f94a59d15cb8b6119483d05cfb971a2c61c8695ba5f53f80b7c9fcaa555

Vulcan 0.22

Vulcan 0.22 finishes the suggestions from Vulcan's F-Droid testing (fdroiddata!54678).

• Frequently used apps are set apart from the rest of the app drawer by a divider in every drawer style, so they no longer look like duplicates at the top of the list.
• "Item removed" now appears just above the navigation bar and goes away after 2.5 seconds instead of 4. Undo works as before.
• Pickers and dialogs open already styled, without a brief square white box first.

Download vulcan-launcher.apk and install it. Existing users can install over their current version: the signing key is unchanged and layouts are preserved. Android 8 or newer is required.

Vulcan still has no internet permission, ads, analytics, or trackers.

Signing certificate SHA-256: da454f94a59d15cb8b6119483d05cfb971a2c61c8695ba5f53f80b7c9fcaa555

Vulcan 0.21

Vulcan 0.21 fixes the issues found while Vulcan was being tested for F-Droid (fdroiddata!54678), and makes animations faster.

• Crash fix. Long-pressing an app in the drawer could occasionally crash the launcher.
• No flicker when changing settings. Home is rebuilt in place instead of restarting the screen, so the screen no longer flashes black on each change (most visible on Android 11 and older).
• Hidden status bar. Home now uses the freed space, with no black strip on phones with a notch.
• Three-button navigation is fully transparent on the home screen, with no grey band.
• Settings titles wrap onto two lines instead of being cut off.
• Faster and smoother. Shorter drawer, page and settings animations, and less redrawing while you scroll, when badges change and when apps update.

Download vulcan-launcher.apk and install it. Existing users can install over their current version: the signing key is unchanged and layouts are preserved. Android 8 or newer is required.

Vulcan still has no internet permission, ads, analytics, or trackers.

Signing certificate SHA-256: da454f94a59d15cb8b6119483d05cfb971a2c61c8695ba5f53f80b7c9fcaa555

Vulcan 0.20

Vulcan 0.20 brings Nova's drawer search and rows settings, bigger labels, a flashlight action and smoother settings (#10, #11, #12, #13, #15, #16).

• Drawer search bar. App drawer → Search bar: Off, Top or Bottom, as in Nova. When it's off, it appears only while you search (#12).
• Drawer rows. App drawer → Rows sets the row height in every grid style, not only horizontal pages; icons shrink to fit if needed (#13).
• Label size. 8 to 24 sp, with separate sizes for the drawer and folders (#11).
• Toggle flashlight. A new action for gestures, icon swipes and launcher shortcuts. It needs no extra permission (#15).
• Settings transitions. Pages slide forward and back without the home screen flashing through. Look & feel → Settings transitions: Slide, Fade or None (#16).
• Material 3 dialogs. An edit dialog with a live icon preview, icons in the action and app lists, a full-screen icon pack picker that scrolls smoothly, and switches for hiding apps and drawer groups (#10).
• Also: German and Russian translation updates from @PierBez (#7, #14). Releases are now built with JDK 21, the JDK F-Droid uses.

Download vulcan-launcher.apk and install it. Existing users can install over their current version: the signing key is unchanged and layouts are preserved. Android 8 or newer is required.

Vulcan still has no internet permission, ads, analytics, or trackers.

Signing certificate SHA-256: da454f94a59d15cb8b6119483d05cfb971a2c61c8695ba5f53f80b7c9fcaa555