ReZ Launcher

Development Status

Latest project update

If you have any suggestions, you can contact me through my contact infos in the about page.

Planned features

On-coming calendar events on top panel
More notification style in app info menu
App list scrollbar (waiting for the official Jetpack Compose implementation)
Variable scribble stroke width (like the original Z Launcher)
Huge rewrite/refactor of the widget space (it’s rotten spaghetti in there)
Other launcher language support
Launcher log collection when sending feedback

User Suggested Features & Improvements (might not be implemented ever)

Pinned shortcut/PWA
Customizable font & font size
App list grid view (it will break the current UI pattern, some stuff will have to change before it’s possible to be implemented.)
Hide all suggestions for more minimalistic look
Scrollable widget page
Weather on top panel

Some ideas of mine (might not be implemented ever as well)

Adjustment to the suggestion algorithm
- Maybe ML-based algorithm?
Foldable device screen layout
The transition flip animation from the original Z Launcher
Other transition animations
Fully customizable UI color
Predictive Back API support
General code refactoring

Won’t implement

Web search
Device file search
Google Now page
Typing search

Known issues

Unable to use gesture navigation in some brand’s customized OS.

Brand	Issue status
Samsung OneUI	It can be replicated in my friend’s device, but can’t in Samsung’s remote test lab. Maybe it only happens on some version of OneUI?
Xiaomi/POCO	Caused by Xiaomi’s anti-consumer practice. I can’t fix it even if I want.

Crash when moving or resizing widgets on some devices.
- A major cause of this issue has been fixed in 1.9-fix3, but I’m still getting some report of it happening, maybe there’s still other causes.
Contact list can’t be retrieved properly in some devices and renders contact search unusable.

Changelogs

Version 1.10-fix1 (2024-05-11)

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed a crash issue caused by Compose.

Version 1.10 (2024-05-04)

New Features:
- Double tap to sleep
  - Access it in Settings -> Feature Settings -> Gesture.
  - Available to Android 9 & later devices.
- Newly installed apps will now be shown in the app list & searchable with the word New!.
  - The newly installed status will last 48 hours for each new app.
Changes:
- Apps & contacts in the Quick Launch will no longer being suggested.
  - They will still show up in scribble search results.
- Added shadow to widget delete button for better visibility.
- Setting pages reorganized and wording adjusted.
- Various UI visual adjustments.
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed incorrect icon size & color on notification cards.
- Workaround on a background crashing issue.
- Clicks after swiping on pages are now registered correctly.
- Fixed an issue where click on a scribble candidate reset its scrolling.
- Fixed an issue where sometimes scribble can crash the launcher.

Version 1.9-fix3 (2024-04-06)

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed an issue where some widgets will crash the launcher when trying to resize them.
Changes:
- Added shadow to widget delete button for better visibility.

Version 1.9-fix2 (2024-01-21)

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed an issue where toggling work apps can crash the launcher.
Changes:
- Enable Widget Area & Notification Dot Display Order can be accessed in Customization menu now.

Version 1.9-fix1 (2024-01-11)

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed an issue where some app shortcuts can crash the launcher.

Version 1.9 (2024-01-09)

New Features:
- Updated Scribble settings:
  - Added all of the ML Kit supported languages.
  - Rearranging language precedence is now done by drag & drop.
  - Added proper install status and the ability to re-download on the spot.
- Option to hide status bar in home screen. (Access it in Settings -> Customization -> Status Bar)
Bug Fixes/Workarounds:
- Disabled language delete button while downloading & deleting to avoid getting ghost installs.
- Fixed an issue where some notifications can crash the launcher.

Version 1.8.1-fix1 (2023-12-31)

Bug Fixes:
- Re-added SET_ALARM permission because some device manufactures’ clock apps need it to view alarms.

Version 1.8.1 (2023-12-28)

New Features:
- Notification dot color is now customizable.
- Clicking the date of home screen clock now opens the calendar.
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed some UI elements using the incorrect color & size.
- Removed unnecessary permissions.

Version 1.8-fix1 (2023-12-22)

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed an issue where some Android 14 devices can’t add widgets that require configuration.

Version 1.8 (2023-12-21)

New Features:
- Work profile support:
  - Supported features:
    - Work apps: Show in app list, suggestions & search, hidden when work profile is paused.
    - Work app widgets: Show in widget list, hidden when work profile is paused.
    - Notification dot for work apps
  - Unsupported features (due to API constraints):
    - Media control for work apps
    - Contact search for work profile contacts
- Customization Options: (Access them in Settings -> Customizations)
  - Icon pack support
  - UI color adjustment
  - Smaller icon size options
Changes:
- Wallpaper option in Settings has been moved into Customizations menu.
Bug Fixes:
- Various stability fixes.

Version 1.7 (2023-12-11):

New Features:
- Contact search:
  - You can access its settings under Settings -> Contact Search.
- App & contact alias:
  - You can access it in apps/contacts’ info menu(long press menu).
Changes:
- Scribble search now queries against words in app/contact’s name.
- Updated user manual, now with GIFs! (They are animated webp actually.)
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed an issue where scribble with pointer devices other than touch causing unexpected behaviors and crashing.
- Various stability fixes.

Version 1.6-fix3 (2023-11-21):

Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue where notification dot will crash the launcher in some condition.

Version 1.6-fix2 (2023-11-19):

Bug Fixes
- Fixed various app crashing problems (hopefully), these include:
  - Crash when widget list failed to fetch app names.
  - Crash when failed to launch an app or its app info’s activity.
  - Crash when using the app visibility button popup.
  - Crash when opening up this launcher.
- Fixed launching app shortcut didn’t get counted to usage.

Version 1.6-fix1 (2023-11-16):

Bug Fixes
- Fixed app info menu not closing after opening an app shortcut.

Version 1.6 (2023-11-06)

New Features
- Widget support:
  - Swipe to the left or right in Home Screen to access the new widget space.
  - You can access widget related settings under Settings -> Widget.
Bug Fixes
- App List now fills up the screen properly on wide screen devices.

Version 1.5-fix1 (2023-10-20)

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed an issue where some notifications can crash the launcher.
- Fixed faulty home button detection implementation.

Version 1.5 (2023-10-17)

New Features:
- Media Control in the top panel. (Enable this feature in Settings -> Media Control)
- More fine-grained app hiding, see Settings -> User Manual -> Hiding App for more detail.
Changes:
- Quick Launch area will now show an arrow when it’s empty.
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed an issue where notification dot not being updated properly.
New Bugs:
- In the top panel, right after swiping, clicks will sometimes only response after a few more clicks.

Version 1.4 (2023-09-27)

New Features:
- Update changelog dialog
- Notification dot & app notification in app info menu (Enable them in “Settings” -> “Notification Dot”)
- Hiding apps from suggestions
- Improved onboarding experience
- Added Korean handwriting support
Changes:
- Quick Launch Area’s icons will now adjust their position base on the icon amount.

Version 1.3 (2023-09-16)

New Features:
- Analog clock.
Improvements:
- Handwriting should be more responsive on mid-end & low-end devices.
- More adaptive screen layout, UI elements won’t get covered on shorter screen anymore.
- Backend algorithm improvement, app searching should be much faster and less resource intensive.

Version 1.2-fix1 (2023-08-12)

Fixed a usage collection issue.

Version 1.2 (2023-08-11)

Rewrote suggestion algorithm.
Redesigned app info menu.
Added access to app shortcuts.
Thicken the font for better visibility.
Fixed navigation, status bar and other icons not display correctly when system is using light mode.

Version 1.1-fix1 (2023-08-06)

Fixing the crashing issue.

Version 1.1 (2023-07-29)

Fixed some layout issues.
Attempted to fix the crashing issue.

Version 1.0 (2023-07-14)

Initial release.