TaskDeck 4.0.1

Small follow-up to TaskDeck 4.0.

• Align the controller legend beside Fit all and give “Close all but current” room for its full label.
• Add visible spacing between Button Mapping actions.
• Use a floppy disk icon for Settings Backup and place Redo Setup beneath it.

The APK is signed with the existing TaskDeck release key. All 221 tests passed.

TaskDeck 4.0

Changes since v3.0

• Fixed Dock shortcuts that could stop launching an app after an update.
• Refreshed the task cards, controller legend, sort and view controls, and memory layout.
• Restored the visible View RAM Details button and simplified App RAM rows.
• Added monochrome controller badges with inverted colors in Light mode and nearly black task surfaces in OLED mode.
• Removed the idle frame around START and Settings, and matched the START label size to R1.

Install the signed APK below. It uses the existing TaskDeck release signing key.

TaskDeck 3.0 — Dock customization, backups and controller fixes

TaskDeck 3.0

All changes since the last public release, 2.0. Local milestones 2.1–2.7 are included here. This describes the final behavior; intermediate designs remain documented as history.

Download APK · Installation guide

Dock customization

• Separate Dock / Background and Icons menus replace the combined form. Changes stay on their menu; Back restores the originating Settings entry.
• Bounded, top-aligned panels use two columns in landscape and stack in portrait. Captioned visual choices replace stretched cards and layout popups.
• Independent Dock Size and Icon Size, both 50–160%, use matching centered minus / percentage / plus steppers. Icon scaling fills a fixed box instead of enlarging the background or Dock height. Saved sizes initialize icon scale once on upgrade.
• Background colors: None, Follow theme, Black, Graphite, White, Blue, Purple, Green, Red and Amber. None removes persistent fills/outlines, hides Background Shape and preserves its stored choice without affecting icon sizing. Navigation can still show a focus outline.
• Independent background shapes: Rounded, Round, Square, Squircle. Icon masks: Round, Squared, Squircle. Focus backgrounds and logo masks no longer control each other.
• Background previews show neutral forms; icon previews show masked app artwork without an extra plate. Layout thumbnails remain independent of Dock color/scale and use theme-appropriate contrast.
• Saved selection uses accent fill plus a tick; controller focus has a separate consistent outline. None has a slash; Follow theme has a split symbol. Focused color names appear separately from the stable Background Color heading. Graphite is distinct from black; edges are thin and conditional on contrast.
• Artwork is centered in its boxes. Focus magnification and running/current dots reserve space to avoid crop/overlap at masks, bubbles, sparse corners and screen edges. Actual Current status remains green.
• Dock behavior has matching On/Off controls for Always show Dock, Magnify focused icons, Running indicators, with explanations for the focused/hovered setting.
• The actual-size bottom Live preview uses distinct real apps, saved order/sides first and alphabetical extras next. Neutral samples reveal chosen colors. Count changes never pin/unpin apps. Thumb Corners has independent left/right count pairs; Floating/Shelf have one pair.
• Preview buttons have drawing clearance and no native lift. Unavailable range/count actions are dimmed; focus moves to a usable sibling at a size limit. Preview order also matches capped legacy lists.

Favorites and app picker

• Limits are 6 apps for Thumb Corners, 8 for Floating/Shelf, including preview samples.
• Existing oversized lists are preserved: only the permitted first apps render; the picker exposes saved extras, count/limit and Trim to limit. No silent deletion.
• Remove, Clear Dock and Trim offer 10-second Undo Dock change, restoring exact order, layout and sides. Undo works with gamepad, survives recreation during its window, and returns focus safely on expiry.
• The favorites rail uses readable fixed-height icon rows with bounded overflow instead of shrinking every app into a tiny strip.
• Initial catalogue results fade in over 220 ms. Existing 360 ms paging starts after layout; canceled/stale fades cannot replace later pages/searches.
• Clear search and an explicit D-pad target recover zero-result searches. Clearing returns focus to results. Full-Dock attempts explain the limit while favorites remain removable.

Appearance and accessibility

• Normal, Black and White, Accent Color, Glass styles apply to Dock and main task icons. Glass is a stylized monochrome gradient, not Android blur or an Apple rendering API.
• Remove the redundant Follow accent checkbox; use Accent Color directly. Legacy overrides migrate to the explicit style when applicable.
• Adaptive layers are masked before look filters, fixing round system masks surviving square/squircle choices. Pre-rounded raster artwork cannot reconstruct missing corners.
• Appearance has consistent title placement: themes in one row, Group apps/Stay open after clearing/Vibrate on close in the next where space permits. Long labels wrap with sufficient padding and equal pane button widths.
• Accent Colors retain responsive complete rows. App icon style follows the actual palette with a consistent gap; D-pad moves from palette into styles.
• All icon-look cards reserve two caption lines and adequate space, so Normal/Glass and Black and White/Accent Color show equal full-size artwork.
• Drawn captions follow system font scale; bounds/column counts adapt. Above 125%, affected content reflows/scrolls with navigation outside the content. Normal-size forms stay compact.
• Reduced motion skips setup completion animation and fixed delay. With animations enabled, completion remains a short drawn check and Confirm can continue.

Controller and navigation fixes

• Start opens Settings rather than exiting. It is reserved; previous Start mappings migrate to available buttons. Start/Select have matching outlined badge proportions, Start shares a background with Settings, and a divider separates tools from the legend.
• Every Back action uses the mapped controller badge plus Back text, including forms, Settings/setup submenus and app selection. Step/page actions keep their distinct labels.
• Back restores the originating Settings content button; another Back returns to categories before leaving Settings.
• Spatial D-pad/stick navigation covers Dock steppers, Swap sides, colors and shapes. Immediate focus restoration prevents rapid Confirm from accidentally activating Back during a rebuild.
• Task-card Close hints use actual mappings and vector PlayStation/swapped labels instead of hard-coded X. Protected badges align above icons like Current; Current plus protected share a badge.
• Settings recording is disabled without shortcut access, with an Enable shortcut access action. Missing access and backend disconnection show recovery feedback; Refresh can request reconnection.

Closing and RAM

• A known transient close failure may receive one retry after 50 ms, after fresh task identity/protection checks. Already-absent ordinary tasks can be confirmed without another command.
• Permission/protection failures, uncertain transport, expired/interrupted work and ambiguous launcher results are not replayed. Batch deadlines remain bounded; persistent failures are reported after the permitted retry.
• Failed/unverified closes name affected apps. Remaining task descriptions expose Retry close with the mapped button. Successful-close overlays and the removed Last action menu stay out of the main flow.
• Per-app RAM shows sample age, loading/unavailable states and stale state after 30 seconds. System totals remain live; app estimates are not presented as summing to system usage. RAM values remain MB.
• Refresh RAM updates memory independently, without re-reading tasks or changing selected task identity.

Local settings backup

• Settings > About > Settings backup exports/imports local JSON through Android's document picker. No new network/storage permission.
• Validate schema version, a strict settings allow-list, types/ranges, packages, mapping/chord conflicts, layout limits and a 64 KB maximum before applying anything.
• A paged preview shows app names/order and printed controller labels, using mapped Previous/Next controls. Apply import is explicit; omitted customization returns to defaults.
• Android grants and setup completion are not imported. Back/cancel discards pending data, including reads completing after cancellation. Trim an old oversized Dock before export.

About, documentation and packaging

• About shows actual Ko-fi/GitHub destinations. Ko-fi uses its official cup with bundled attribution. Author SilasDV, vibecoded disclosure and optional support remain.
• Reuse grid placement/layout parameters to reduce measurement allocations. Release includes signed APK/AAB, tracked source ZIP and SHA-256 sums, with the same signing identity as 1.0/2.0.
• Public installation, interaction, privacy and validation documentation reflects the consolidated release; historical milestone notes remain available.

Install/update and known limits

Android 10+ and running, authorized Shizuku are required; root is optional. Download TaskDeck-3.0.apk. Update over signed 1.0/2.0 or local 2.x builds to retain settings. Earlier 0.x debug builds used a different key and require uninstalling, which clears data.

Pairing alone does not start Shizuku. Without root it needs starting after reboot; follow the official guide. Hotkeys need optional shortcut-service access; notifications are optional. No advertising, analytics or network permission.

See validation results and physical test matrix. Simulations cannot certify physical mapping, firmware, Bluetooth/USB hotplug, sustained load, native document providers, banners or haptics. Android may restart HOME/services; closing recent tasks is not a universal force-stop or guaranteed performance gain. RAM estimates remain approximate. Use disposable state for closing tests.

Compare 2.0 to 3.0 · Milestone history

Free/open source under MIT. Vibecoded with substantial AI assistance, guided by SilasDV. Optional support: ko-fi.com/silasdv.

TaskDeck 2.0

TaskDeck 2.0

This release collects all changes since the last public release, 1.0. The intervening 1.1–1.1.12 builds were local test updates. TaskDeck remains free and open source, by SilasDV.

New: the Dock

• Pin apps for quick launch independently of running tasks and protection. Select/long-press a task to pin it, or choose installed apps in Settings > Dock. Favorites never fabricate running task cards.
• Three styles: Thumb corners (default), Floating and Shelf. Thumb corners puts individual app bubbles at the bottom-left/right, with independent overflow scrolling. The former Compact style migrates to Floating.
• Touch hold-and-drag reorders shortcuts; controller task options offer move/remove. Swap sides exchanges Thumb corner groups while preserving odd group sizes and ordering. An empty Dock clearly offers Add apps to Dock.
• Configure always-visible versus reveal-on-navigation behavior, focus magnification and running indicators. The former Android-style visibility popup/slider is now an explicit Always show Dock checkbox.
• Size and Icon size are separate, each 50–160%. Changing box size does not change the stored icon scale. Large logos are limited to fit their box and magnified focus state. Existing local Dock sizes initialize the icon scale once to retain their appearance.
• Background color: follow the app theme, black, graphite, white, blue, purple, green or red. Icon shape: Round or Square, including adaptive icon layers. These controls live in Dock appearance, reachable from Dock style & size. The empty-Dock add action adapts its text to the background/focus fill for readable contrast.
• The full-width preview occupies the actual bottom Dock position and uses real, distinct installed apps. Saved favorites appear first in their actual order/sides; alphabetical extras follow. Preview changes never change saved favorites. Thumb corners has left/right add/remove sample controls; Floating and Shelf have only one pair. Plus/minus appears once as an icon.

App picker and task deck

• Searchable, alphabetical eight-app grid, two rows of four, without scrolling inside a page. Large, bounded icons and centered names; matching horizontal/vertical border gaps. A right-side icon strip shows Dock contents. Clear Dock and app-named added feedback are included.
• Outlined, remappable Previous/Next page badges; Dock app pages use the same 360 ms, after-layout animation as setup protection pages. First/later pages reset old transforms and ignore stale animation starts.
• Main controller hints move to the top-right beside Settings, including outlined Select/Share for task options. Refresh is redrawn; Settings background/focus is circular. Button text is smaller while face-button badges are clearer. Semantic RAM-chip, redo, swap, Record, search, unlock, D-pad, info and Dock-style vectors replace misleading icons. PlayStation, Google Play, GitHub and Shizuku use their own marks; B/PlayStation legend symbols are white.
• The app used before TaskDeck gets a separate green Current badge above its icon/name, plus a green card outline and green Dock treatment. It does not push the app name sideways.
• Fit all changes animate when Android animations are enabled. Task space shrinks when the Dock grows. Fit all and Recent remain defaults for unset preferences; explicit choices are retained. Redundant Dock/selection/task-count labels and successful-close confirmation banners are removed.
• Matching System RAM and App RAM background cards, one shared physical-RAM scale, responsive sidebar entries and consistent 8dp main border spacing. More padding around RAM details and toolbar controls.

Setup, appearance and settings

• Setup is rebuilt as five unnested steps: Permissions, Controller, Shortcuts, Appearance, App protection. Normal launches go straight to the deck; About > Redo Setup reruns setup without clearing settings.
• Permissions come before recording. Live checks distinguish Required Shizuku access from Optional shortcut/notification access and explain why each is needed. Saved settings alone no longer produce misleading permission checkmarks. Official Shizuku guide, Play Store and GitHub downloads are linked in setup and Connection.
• Inline controller labels and Confirm calibration; Record icons restored. Deck shortcut and Quick Swap Apps (renamed from Direct switch) record/save on release and show calibrated checkmarks. Recording is unavailable until Android grants shortcut access, and reserved navigation buttons keep working.
• Optional app protection is explained and searchable. Ordinary apps and launchers are not locked by default; existing explicit locks and necessary core protection remain. Protection pages support touch swipes, D-pad edge navigation and L1/R1. The final footer explicitly labels Previous/Next page; B returns and a text Start/Options badge finishes.
• Completion check draws more slowly (800 ms) while total completion time is about 950 ms; Confirm can continue. Earlier excessive completion delay was removed.
• Light, Dark, OLED and Automatic themes. Sixteen inline accent swatches use the available space, accessible names, selected background boxes and a stronger accent-colored controller focus. No extra color submenu or reset control. Appearance/About headings restored.
• Stay open after clearing and Vibrate on close use consistent On/Off controls; optional short close vibration adds VIBRATE permission. Closing behavior stays in Appearance. Theme and vibration controls have more padding.
• Equal content-measured button widths per menu pane, enough padding/wrapping for long labels, equal vertical Dock-style choices with left-aligned text, and vertically stacked About actions. No Android-style popup is used for Dock styles. Settings Last action is removed; errors remain inline. Developer/version, GitHub and Ko-fi stay in About.

Controller and reliability fixes

• Touch acts on the first tap; controller focus is separate. Confirm enters Settings content; Back returns to categories before closing Settings. Horizontal choices/panes, setup themes-to-accents and both appearance toggles are reachable with D-pad/stick.
• Tasks Up goes to Refresh, then across the toolbar. Tasks Right reaches RAM details; RAM Up reaches Settings; RAM Down/Right reaches the right Thumb corner. Tasks Down always starts at the leftmost Dock item, even after using the right corner. Up from the right corner returns to RAM details.
• Separate Previous/Next page mappings cover Dock selection, RAM and window pages, with actual mapped labels. Confirm/Back remain reserved. Size steppers and Dock background/shape controls have explicit controller routes.
• Empty-deck entry retains a usable tool focus. Focus magnification scales centered icons inside reserved space instead of clipping bubbles, screen edges or sparse-corner backgrounds. Picker icon elevation, disappearing icons and bottom-aligned names are corrected.
• Setup hotkeys now persist on release; required access is checked before capture. Shizuku connection status uses a live green checkmark.
• Close all during task refresh is queued once and runs against the refreshed list instead of losing the input. Bulk clearing honors the stay-open/exit preference for partial results, so another press is not needed just to leave. Failed operations remain reported and are not destructively retried.

Install / update

Download TaskDeck-2.0.apk. Android 10+ and Shizuku 13+ remain required. Start Shizuku and authorize TaskDeck; non-root Shizuku must normally be restarted after reboot. Shortcut accessibility access and notifications are optional unless you use those features.

Install over 1.0 or the signed 1.1 test builds: the release key/package are unchanged and settings remain. Earlier 0.x debug-signed prototypes require uninstalling first, which clears their settings. UserService version 9 reloads the revised backend. APK is for direct installation; AAB is for distribution tooling. Source ZIP and SHA-256 checksums are attached.

Validation and known limits

159 automated tests passed, with zero failures/errors/skips. Release lint completed with 0 errors and 33 warnings. Signed APK and App Bundle builds passed; APK signing identity and final-commit bundle metadata are checked before publishing. Automated checks use fake IPC and simulated layouts; they do not certify physical hardware.

Physical RP6 animation/drag behavior, controller firmware routing, Shizuku task reporting and visible RAM banners still need device acceptance. Current identifies the previous app reported by Android. Core processes stay protected; removing a task does not necessarily stop background services, and Android may reopen HOME. RAM figures are decimal MB and estimates, not a performance promise. Feedback is owned by the Application and can outlive Activity exit, but not force-stopping the whole process. TaskDeck does not replace Android's system swipe-up gesture or obtain live task screenshots.

No INTERNET permission, analytics or text/screen-content logging. MIT licensed; vibecoded with substantial AI assistance through Codex, guided by SilasDV. Optional support: Ko-fi. Brand-asset licenses/notices are included.

All commits since 1.0

TaskDeck 1.0

Controller-first task management

• One compact app deck with D-pad, left-stick and touch input. Opening selects the first app; an empty list focuses Refresh.
• Open, close, protect, group windows, close all, or close all but the app you were using before TaskDeck.
• Fit all default plus Grid, List and Cards presets. Smaller controls, icon-only Settings and outlined menus.

Controller mapping

• PadBoard-style A/B/X/Y and PlayStation vector symbols, each with a swapped profile.
• Calibrate confirm button with printed A/Cross, or map six actions individually. Assigning an occupied button swaps actions; labels follow the bindings.
• Separate optional digital chords open the menu or switch directly to the previous app. Settings follows mapped Confirm/Back.

RAM and settings

• Used/total RAM in decimal MB. Every app diagram uses total physical RAM as its maximum, not the largest app. No free-RAM counter.
• Eight focused first-launch steps and a completion-check animation; later launches go straight to the deck.
• Category Settings with connected checkmark, themes/grouping/closing under Appearance, feedback controls and About.
• Optional tips from About: https://ko-fi.com/silasdv

Install

Download TaskDeck-1.0.apk. Android 10+ and Shizuku 13+ are required. Start Shizuku and authorize TaskDeck; without root, restart Shizuku after reboot. See the README for official setup links.

Earlier 0.x test builds use a different debug key. Note your settings, uninstall the test build and install 1.0; uninstalling clears settings. Version 1.0 uses a dedicated release key for future updates. The App Bundle is for distribution tooling; APK is the direct-install file.

Validation and limits

86 automated tests, release lint, signed APK and App Bundle checks passed. APK signature verified. These tests use fake task IPC and do not establish physical Retroid Pocket 6 firmware compatibility or visible notification banners. Ordinary app closing removes tasks, not all background services. Default HOME may reopen automatically. Unverified operations are reported; destructive requests never auto-repeat after timeout. RAM measurements do not promise performance gains. TaskDeck does not replace Android's native swipe-up gesture.

MIT licensed. Vibecoded with substantial AI assistance through Codex, guided by SilasDV. Source and checksums are attached; private signing keys are excluded.