Add to Home Screen isn't working

[AbhishekDoshi26]

• I have searched open and closed issues for duplicates
• I am submitting a bug report for existing functionality that does not work as intended
• I have read https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/wiki/Submitting-useful-bug-reports
• This isn't a feature request or a discussion topic

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Bug description

Add to Home Screen isn't working. When we click on Add to Home Screen for any contact, toast appears but it's not adding the chat to home screen.

Steps to reproduce

• Click on any contact
• Click on Add to home screen

Actual result: Toast stating "Added to home screen" appears as expected but it's not doing anything and the chat doesn't appear at home screen or any other screen too.

Expected result: The specific chat should be available on home screen / any other screen.

Screenshots

Screenshots aren't applicable for this bug as nothing is happening.

Device info

Device: Vivo 1907 aka Vivo S1
Android version: Funtouch OS_10 (Android 10)
Signal version: V5.0.8

Link to debug log

https://debuglogs.org/863d5ddb3f4338bbc0153089121fcf34a39c7dc3d4456a0e0964bb104173fa02

[deepsingh132]

I've tried to reproduce this issue but it's working with nova launcher and also default launcher which I'm using. Is this bug for your stock launcher ? My device is Huawei Honor 8x android 10. After displaying added toast it also asks for your permission to add the icon to your home screen. Have you allowed that ?

Here's an example:

[CITGuru]

@deepsingh132 The same for me also on Pixel 4 default launcher. Works well. Probably try using another launcher

[AbhishekDoshi26]

@deepsingh132 and @CITGuru yes in my friend's phone also it's working. But I am not even getting the pop-up for permission. Directly toast is been shown. And I am not using any launcher, it's the default one.

I also checked the permissions in the settings, there also no permission is specified.

[Ralms]

Just tried this on an Samsung S9+ running Android 10 with default launcher and is working fine for me.
When I go to the chat in question and select "Add to Home screen", it will show me a small option window in the bottom if I want to drag and drop the new icon, or I can just do "Add" and it will add it on the first available location.

[AbhishekDoshi26]

Weird. I am not even getting that. When I click on Add to Home Screen, it just shows the toast and app remains on the same screen

[Ralms]

I've took a quick look at your log and I don't see any error.
Also compared it with mine and they have very similar entries. On yours we have:

5.0.8 2021-01-10 13:43:30.176 GMT+05:30 I ConversationActivity: Creating home screen shortcut for recipient RecipientId::1
5.0.8 2021-01-10 13:43:30.179 GMT+05:30 W ConversationActivity: Utilizing fallback photo for shortcut for recipient RecipientId::1
5.0.8 2021-01-10 13:43:30.390 GMT+05:30 I GroupCallViewModel: Ignore call event for different recipient.
5.0.8 2021-01-10 13:43:30.393 GMT+05:30 I ConversationActivity: Loaded 1 identities in 2 ms
5.0.8 2021-01-10 13:43:30.456 GMT+05:30 I ConversationActivity: Got identity records: false

The line GroupCallViewModel: Ignore call event for different recipient. doesn't happen on mine.

The other 4 do.

[AbhishekDoshi26]

Edit: I explicitly turned on 'Create Shortcut' permission from the settings of my phone and now it's working.

Suggestion: May be it was device/OS specific so team need to work on legacy permissions I guess. Because when I clicked on Add to home screen, it didn't ask for any permission and due to that the shortcut was not creating. But, once I enabled it from Settings -> All Permissions, it's working now!

[Ralms]

Edit: I explicitly turned on 'Create Shortcut' permission from the settings of my phone and now it's working.

Suggestion: May be it was device/OS specific so team need to work on legacy permissions I guess. Because when I clicked on Add to home screen, it didn't ask for any permission and due to that the shortcut was not creating. But, once I enabled it from Settings -> All Permissions, it's working now!

Would you mind sharing a screenshot of the Signal permissions on your device?
My Samsung doesn't have that permission.

[Ralms]

Even on Android Dev docs, at first sight, it doesn't seem to be required any permission for this:
https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/shortcuts/creating-shortcuts#inner-elements

So I wonder if this is a modification to Android from Vivo.

[AbhishekDoshi26]

Edit: I explicitly turned on 'Create Shortcut' permission from the settings of my phone and now it's working.
Suggestion: May be it was device/OS specific so team need to work on legacy permissions I guess. Because when I clicked on Add to home screen, it didn't ask for any permission and due to that the shortcut was not creating. But, once I enabled it from Settings -> All Permissions, it's working now!

Would you mind sharing a screenshot of the Signal permissions on your device?
My Samsung doesn't have that permission.

In App Manager -> Signal, the permissions won't be there. As you can see in below screenshot:

But, In permission manager of your phone, you will find a permission for Desktop Shortcut and in that I turned on for Signal

[AbhishekDoshi26]

Even on Android Dev docs, at first sight, it doesn't seem to be required any permission for this:
https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/shortcuts/creating-shortcuts#inner-elements

So I wonder if this is a modification to Android from Vivo.

Yes that can be possible because Vivo uses Funtouch OS

[Ralms]

@AbhishekDoshi26 thanks.
Yeah those are what Android calls "Special permissions" that are OEM specific.
https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/permissions/overview#special

Samsung in this case didn't add that.
I wonder how could this be added and the effort, because it would almost require to do it a per brand implementation.

[AbhishekDoshi26]

@AbhishekDoshi26 thanks.
Yeah those are what Android calls "Special permissions" that are OEM specific.
https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/permissions/overview#special

Samsung in this case didn't add that.
I wonder how could this be added and the effort, because it would almost require to do it a per brand implementation.

In Android O (API level 26) and higher, the INSTALL_SHORTCUT broadcast no longer has any effect on your app because it's a private, implicit broadcast. Instead, you should create an app shortcut by using the requestPinShortcut() method from the ShortcutManager class.

Read this in documentation and my OS version is Oreo