yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Fire TV General] huffmybrd:
even with the adb command it still says accessibility needs to be enabled
[Fire TV General] krsmit0:
Go into the standard fire TV settings and toggle.on some accessibility options. Then press home and see which launcher pops up.
[Fire TV General] BaronKiko:
Do you have the option in the settings? On the firestick 4k, fire tv (3rd gen?) and the cube (all running fire os 6.x) there are no options so you have to set it via adb. If you can do it through the system ui do it there I just thought all fire tv's didn't have the option.

Honestly I only own my fire tv because speeddymon donated it so that I could implement support for it, and I rarely use it as I have a computer hooked up to my tv making it entirely useless. In short I don't really know the in's and out's of the device.

Please do let me know what devices and fireos versions you are all running so I can update the instructions. Also what exact menu's you have to go through to get to the option.

As an aside you probably need to drop "secure" from the adb command to get it working on devices with the menu option but the system UI option is just better. Google changed it's category to stop you setting it without adb when they removed the menu option.
[Fire TV General] krsmit0:
its not the home button option that needs to be toggled. like you say, its not there. but toggling some of the other options seems to get this to work after you have done the adb command. but doing the adb command alone and rebooting doesnt make this work. the system doesn't think it is enabled. toggling other accessibility options on and off finally made it work for me.
[Fire TV General] krsmit0:
Great, thanks. I wasn't sure what exactly was working, but i spent sometime on both sticks until it worked. I am on fireos 5 on both sticks. I think the issue i have now is i keep ending up back on the fire tv launcher. i think hijack or my launcher choice (TVLauncher) are getting kicked out of memory. Other then that this feels extremely stable and very consistent.
[Fire TV General] krsmit0:
now, any working solution to keep the launcher in memory?
[Fire TV General] Intenti0n:
Many thanks for the detailed write up.

Can I just confirm that on the latest 4K firestick, there is no way to do the above without running the ADB commands? I recall using the launcher highjack on the 2nd Gen firestick WITHOUT running any ADB commands.

thanks again
[Fire TV General] Y314K:
Have not had experience on this. I still use AppStarter v4.0. Which seem to be pretty good at staying in memory. Specially since I also use [NOROOT] On Boot AppStarter v1.0. For it to load on Boot. I don't remember it ever being closed. Unless I choose to close it.

Seems to be a new method found by the developer to work with the changes that Google/Amazon have made between FireOS 5 & FireOS 6 (Google's base Android code usually has the biggest changes). Harder to do when your dealing with two different versions of Android.
[Fire TV General] BaronKiko:
To be clear you don't need AppStarter, this app does that on it's own for the selected launcher. Appstarter simply uses very little memory so it rarely gets kicked. It's also super quick to boot so if it does get kicked it can usually start in time.

Also you should have enabled the accessibility service on the old version too, I just use it more now and disabled the old method be default as it causes issues when both methods are running in parallel.
[Fire TV General] Intenti0n:
I have enabled the "Overlay detection" and rebooted. After rebooted, the HAL launcher starts up automatically.

However, when I press the home key on the remote, it goes back to the default launcher.

is that expected?
[Fire TV General] BaronKiko:
It probably shouldn't do that but I'm gonna say that feature just isn't supported on fire TV's. It's for 2017 and earlier fire tablets and you just don't need it on the TV's.
[Fire TV General] Intenti0n:
OK thanks, I will try the ADB method then
[Fire TV General] krsmit0:
ill take another look at app starter. i didnt like it the first time i tried it and have settled on TVlauncher.

EDIT: BaronKiko, default settings for fireos5 is ....hardware button detection, broadcast reciever detection, overlay detection, disable while menu is held...all checked.
[Fire TV General] Y314K:
Right, original command works fine. Did not tried with "system" or "global" though. Not sure if those might make a difference.

So tested the new code & it works fine. It just has to be done in the right order.

Installation (Based on the Launcher Hijack GitHub Guide):

Navigate to this GitHub's downloads page (https://github.com/BaronKiko/LauncherHijack/releases) on your desktop/laptop and download the latest APK.

Install ADB on your desktop/laptop (Google will help you) and ensure a connection to your Fire TV.

Install Launcher Hijack with this command:

Ensure you have some Launchers installed.

Enable the Accessibility Service using these two commands (exactly in this order):

If this is a first/fresh install of LH (Launcher Hijack). LH will open.

Select your desired Launcher from the list provided

If you had previously opened LH & selected a desired Launcher.

Your previously chosen Launcher will open.

Reboot your device (Recommended but not required).

Congratulation, if all is working correctly your home button should now open your chosen launcher

I will add this version as the ADB Code Method to the guide posted earlier.
[Fire TV General] BaronKiko:
Ah you should definitely disable overlay detection.

Great, it's a much less hacky solution. Not sure why it has to be run second but it doesn't really matter so I will update the instructions.
[Fire TV General] TimmyP:
Its ultimately a waste of time.

edit if you are non rooted and have v3 working
[Fire TV General] BaronKiko:
What's a waste of time, updating? For the tv's it significantly improves reliability and allows access to the long press menu which doesn't work on v3. It also makes it work for newer fire os 6 devices.

If you are talking about the app as a whole then that's your call but not really worth making a post about.
[Fire TV General] Y314K:
Pay no mind. Some folks don't know how to say Thank You...

Having said that. I do think some of us have gotten used to the bugs in v3. And it was working ok for us on non FireOS 6 FireTV's. We will need to get used to v4 too.
[Fire TV General] tgellen:
You rule :)

Just wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU to [MENTION=8089882]BaronKiko[/MENTION] for the awesomeness that is Launcher Hijack V4.

Bought a Fire TV 2nd Gen for £50 from Amazon a while back on the off chance it's firmware would be 5.2.6.0 or lower.

It wasn't (5.2.6.2) and all attempts to get a simpler (elderly parent friendly) launcher working failed :(

It kept going into the Amazon Launcher after a while and confusion (from parents) ensued!

V4 is a rock solid solution which has made my life a lot easier :)

THANK YOU!
[Fire TV General] TimmyP:
To be clear I would NEVER thank you for a blatantly obvious reason. Something that grinds my ****ing gears in every single god damn post you make. I PROMISE Im not the only one, just the only one that opens his mouth about it.
[Fire TV General] JeffATL:
Just want to say thanks. I installed and seems to work so far =) I installed HalLauncher, TVLauncher and Leanback and I think I like Leanback the best out of those 3 but I guess each one takes just becoming familiar.
[Fire TV General] aymanote89:
now my firetv reads screen inside apss

I followed this and it works BUT for some reason, I think it's enabling voiceover (inside apps only, not in UI). Voiceover still shows as disabled inside accessibility settings, enabling and disabling it doesn't solve it.

The only way to get rid of the voice over is by using "adb shell settings put secure accessibility_enabled 0" which disables the home button detection as well. Anyone got an idea how to get the button detection without the voiceover?
[Fire TV General] krsmit0:
can you go into firestick settings/accessibility and disable voiceover?
[Fire TV General] aymanote89:
Voiceover still shows off. I try to turn it on/off but that doesn’t affect it. Also, the voiceover after i followed this thread happens ONLY inside apps. Even if I turn on voiceover and modify settings (pitch or volume) that only affects the voiceover in the gui and firetv menus. The voiceover inside the apps is not affected.

This makes me think that this is an android feature (not firetv) that i might have turned on accidentally.
[Fire TV General] :
Will this work on the new amazon fire stick 4k?
[Fire TV General] enzzo28:
Yes, I worked for me (sideloading it and writing the two commands)...
[Fire TV General] Intenti0n:
Do you know how to undo the 2 commands? i.e you want to go back to defaults?
[Fire TV General] enzzo28:
Tbh, I just installed the app, saw if the launcher worked and didn't go deep into anything else.

What I noticed was that Netflix got the audio description on (and couldn't find the option to turn it off)

I think if you wanna go back to default settings, the easy way is to uninstall the app?

Or going into settings to deactivate the accessibility service? Or maybe changing part of the adb command to "disabled" instead of "enable"?
[Fire TV General] Intenti0n:
For anyone that wants to undo the ADB commands, this is what you need to type in:

settings put secure accessibility_enabled 0

settings delete secure enabled_accessibility_services
[Fire TV General] enzzo28:
try this command, it worked for me

adb shell settings put secure enabled_accessibility_services com.android.talkback/com.google.android.marvin.talkback.TalkBackService
[Fire TV General] Intenti0n:
There is step by step guide on how to do this on the latest 4K firestick here
[Fire TV General] funnypanks:
This is awesome! Thanks, custom launchers have been the one thing I missed from my older rooted ftvs.
[Fire TV General] BaronKiko:
Please don't use this video. The creator has mirrored the apk onto his custom app store without permission and it requires you to subscribe to his channel to even download it. He also doesn't link back here or to the GitHub at any point giving a minor 1 liner for credit (just saying my user name) buried at the bottom of his ad filled description. I have voiced my concerns in the comments there but I would appreciate it if you (or a mod) removed the link in your post (like I have done in the post quote) so others don't follow his god awful advice.
[Fire TV General] bingobill:
I don't think you turned on anything accidentally, happens here too on the Fire stick 4k.

It makes Netflix unusable with the voice-over as soon as starting Netflix for me so I uninstalled it all.

Did you ever find a fix or a way to overcome the issue ?
[Fire TV General] enzzo28:
I got rid of the tallback (voiceover) stuff on Netflix by using the command

adb shell settings put secure enabled_accessibility_services com.android.talkback/com.google.android.marvin.talkback.TalkBackService
[Fire TV General] bingobill:
Can you clarify a few things

1. You achieved this on the new Fire stick 4k ?

2. This command is additional to the other 2 commands.

Thanks for replying.
[Fire TV General] enzzo28:
Yes, for both questions.

I added that command on my firestick 4k after typing in the other two commands.

What it basically does is disable the tallback feature
[Fire TV General] aymanote89:
It works as in it disables the voiceover, but you lose the button detection function..
[Fire TV General] enzzo28:
I wasn't aware of that, since I don't use it...
[Fire TV General] Homercles73:
1st .... thank you to the developer and everyone else that provided and supports this!

I've added the 3rd extra command on my 4k stick after the other two commands as well. The last command disables the voice over (Netflix and Android TV Prime Video app), but seems to disable Launcher Hijack Home button function.

Are there any other workarounds?
[Fire TV General] iLLNiSS:
Does anyone else have issues with this going back to the KFTV launcher after the FTV sleeps? Everytime I turn my TV back on and the FTV comes out of sleep it's back on the Amazon homescreen.
[Fire TV General] vanzan:
I've done this on my FTV 3 (Pendant) and it works great. I suppose if I disable the Fire Launcher with the corrupted apk here it would be very very bad? It's tempting to disable that awful FireLauncher and solely have AppStarter.
[Fire TV General] TimmyP:
This is a good question. Every morning same thing.
[Fire TV General] DaRealPlaya:
Maybe someone could help me. Everything works perfect but, i lost the mouse cursor on the Silk Browser. Reinstall does not help. Thx
[Fire TV General] JeffATL:
Have same issue
[Fire TV General] TimmyP:
Hey I been using this program called "Stay Alive!" and it stops my latest, or at least close to latest, firmware FTVS2.

It doesnt appear to work, and the app complains about Google Play not being installed, but it still runs in the background and keeps the device on with default installed settings.
[Fire TV General] Jmrwbilly:
random question, I'm running this on a Fire tablet making fully kiosk browser my "launcher".. will this work with other "non-amazon" tablets?
[Fire TV General] rspierenburg:
So still no solution to the Netflix Voiceview issue? I love the idea of Hijack Launcher but the voice in Netflix is unfortunately a deal breaker at this time. However kudos to the developer in getting it this far.
[Fire TV General] TimmyP:
Voiceview lol. Yeah thats not even a priority.
[Fire TV General] saturday_night:
Hey Guys, this is my first fire tv device (4k Stick) and i read a lot if not all posts in this thread. Great work at first. But i have a question, if it was answered before please just link me to the Post and sorry for asking again.

Is it possible to install ota Updates after making all these changes, adding a Service and using a different launcher?

I am asking because i know there are Android phones that cant Update if you change just one setting through adb.
[Fire TV General] dougie175:
Thanks to all involved with this it works perfectly really appreciate all the hard work

The question below also really interests me as I aim to do this on 5 sticks around the home, but I don't want to loose the ability for updates due to Amazon's current MPEG2 issue which is set to be fixed in an update at the end of Q2!

Also if updates do still come through can someone confirm these so far have not caused any issues with loosing the modification made, I don't want to have to rebuild the full system every time an update comes through, I would be better just getting used to the awful advert filled launcher!
[Fire TV General] funnypanks:
Yes you can still install OTA's. I imagine some time in the future Amazon will prevent hijack from working, but I've installed 1 OTA so far since installing hijack, and it works fine.
[Fire TV General] OctoOnFire:
The app doesn't works anymore for me, even on the highest version! I get the information that Launcher Hijack got blocked on my device. "It's not compatible with your device". Amazon Fire 7.
[Fire TV General] quattrofoto:
Same here, two Fire 7's, both working fine yesterday, suddenly stopped working today. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling, the app gets blocked immediately. It doesn't even show in 'All apps' in settings, to uninstall I had to use X-plore. I've tried version 2, version 3 and version 4, no luck. If you're in an app and you press the home button it throws a fit and you're stuck with a flashing notification about checking parental controls (I think, it flashes too quickly). The only workaround I have found is press and hold the home button, as soon as Alexa appears press the back button and it will return you to the home screen then. Far from ideal but the tablet wouldn't be far from useless otherwise :(

Both my tablets had gotten the 'one click' treatment, and as far as I am aware that disables any auto updating so I have not a clue how this has suddenly happened? Hopefully some clever soul with more brains than me will come along soon and fix the issue (*please!)
[Fire TV General] bassbeat66:
I'm getting the same as thing as of today 4/30. It worked fine least night and when I turned on my tablet this morning I was met with the same message as above. I'm using a fire 8 tablet. I've tried to download and install an updated version to no avail.

Has this broken or rendered undone b y Amazon somehow?
[Fire TV General] JUSTINMARMER:
They might be blocking the app by the package name. I have simply renamed the package if you guys want to try it. This might work until the dev fixes the situation himself.

Launcher Hijack_4.0.3.apk (renamed package)

https://mega.nz/#!p8BhWYwR!nJ498lgfJTyBntHOUZNxfHuzTR_UcMPNwwgUju-cqRc

Also it might be worth mentioning I'm using v3.0 on a fully updated nonrooted FTVS2 with no issues.
[Fire TV General] OctoOnFire:
I actually got a App cloner which does the same every time i copy the app.
[Fire TV General] JUSTINMARMER:
And will you confirm if changing the package name is indeed a fix?
[Fire TV General] OctoOnFire:
Yes, it worked
[Fire TV General] SCLori:
Thank you! I can't wait to try this when I get off work since I had the same thing happen to my son's Kindle this morning. He has autism and he uses it constantly.... so much so that we have 4 so we never run out of charged devices! I was in a full-blown panic when I saw this error message but now I feel better with a possible solution.
[Fire TV General] quattrofoto:
I can confirm, this has worked for me - just done both Fire 7's, and seeing as one of them belongs to my ten year old daughter, you sir are a life saver, I can't thank you enough! We are very grateful.

---------- Post added at 04:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:47 PM ----------

coincidentally, my daughter is also autistic, she's high functioning and doesn't blow up or tantrum, but she can be overwhelmed and she has difficulties keeping her emotions in check. She has other devices - laptop, desktop etc but the tablet is her favourite. She's been through a few tablets though as she's also clumsy at times and we can't keep spending £100+ on tablets anymore so the Fire 7 at £30.00 was a fantastic piece of luck, the only downside being all the 'Amazon' crap, which was obviously a big negative and worrysome. I wouldn't have been happy with her having a Fire without the excellent work of the developer.
[Fire TV General] tofu-:
I have the same issue.

The bug isn't present on the early 3.x versions, but you lose the ability to launch settings.
[Fire TV General] :
I just had to reset my 4k Firestick....this worked on it before but now I cant get the accessibility services to work....I adb them and it still says its disabled over and over again....tried many times

Have they shut this down with a new firmware update?

UPDATE : I have been told on github that the latest FW has blocked editing the accessibility services....BAD!!!
[Fire TV General] tofu-:
That's unfortunate. I guess that's that for future firetv purchase. I can't stand the Amazon ui
[Fire TV General] xenyz:
A comment on the issue tracker has the solution to getting Launcher Hijack v4 working on the latest Fire Stick 4K firmware
[Fire TV General] rover442:
I have also lost the cursor on Silk browser as well. Has anyone found a fix?

Thanks
[Fire TV General] TimmyP:
Id get on this asap if it and post if it works!

If you had the setting set already, it still works. If you can find a way to get it set again who knows how long it will be until they patch this?

I dont even have root but havent seen the Amazon launcher in a year thanks to hijackthis and "stay alive" (thats even on reboots i dont even see a blink of the amazon stuff)

Try to get this setting set in any way possible! Root wasnt necessary because of this one setting...
[Fire TV General] redultra82:
Is there any way to get rid of that voice description?

Tried a command someone said and didn't work

I had my own launcher without it, said I'll try stock then spent hours getting it back to end up you with robot woman talking about what's on screen etc
[Fire TV General] Lochy19:
I got the hijack app working, but the voiceview makes unusable the fire TV, it's very annoying, if there's a way to solve it, please let us know, thanks.
[Fire TV General] redultra82:
Its so random and it doesnt help there is so many versions of what to do

Different versions of hijack launcher

Remote adb to do the commands in an app on the stick

Do the adb commands via pc

Some launchers work, some dont

Some say use a settings test app, some dont

Ive seen some with two commands, some with one, then adb shell doesnt work if you do commands on app on stick

Then as I and others have said you can end up with voiceview making it unusable

The only good thing I found is you can sort your apps and they stay in that order, just have to move down below recent apps
[Fire TV General] TShadow:
I only have the voiceview with the official youtube, so as there are other versions of youtube I can use this is until now not a problem. Also using launch-on-boot and boot apps I don't see the amazon launcher anymore when the stick comes out from sleep. In any case the accessible modifying adb commands with the latest version don't work anymore, but using the previous mentioned apps, there's no need to even use the app-debug.

Wonder however what settings this app does modify.
[Fire TV General] FireHazzrd:
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

I have been playing with this for 2 hours! I ran through multiple forums, with no luck. This is the solution for unrooted FireTV 2nd gen. If there is a way to boost this to the top, it could help a lot of people.
[Fire TV General] Handshake87:
Just recieved my 2nd Gen Fite TV Cube and after running this when I hit the home key I get a flash of the launcher I am choosing and then BAM goes right back to their normal Amazon Launcher. Anyone encountered this? Hoping for a easy resolution.
[Fire TV General] vespino75:
I have got the same problem, as you have said, it is just the official YouTube app... So using 3rd apps solve the problem.

Is there anything that can be done to fix it? I would like to cast the video to my tv if possible...
[Fire TV General] Intenti0n:
Same here.

Installed the cloned launcher hijack

Installed the settings test apk

ran the command

adb shell pm grant com.example.settest.settingstest android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS

I opened up the settings test APK which correctly launched Launcher hijack.

I select "ATV Launcher", and press home.

I see ATV for a second then i see the default Amazon launcher.

Tried a different launcher, tried rebooting - same result.

Interesting if i hold down the home key then it stays inside ATV Launcher.... until I let go of the home button:crying:

Hoping someone can fix this
[Fire TV General] Gerald We:
Try Laucher_Hijack_Settings from TECHDOCTORUK/downloads. Worked welll with my Firestick UK

There is also a Video describing the process
[Fire TV General] Intenti0n:
I got the files from there and it works great on the 4K firestick but the issue with the 2nd gen firetv Cube.

The 4K firestick is based of Android 7 whereas the new cube is Android 9
[Fire TV General] JUSTINMARMER:
Voice over on almost all streaming apps ruins this. Has anyone discovered the fix? I've tried everything in this thread. No luck.
[Fire TV General] callanish:
I Agree. That's really annoying just to get the home button launcher back.
[Fire TV General] Intenti0n:
VoiceView FIXED !

https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=81036363&postcount=11
[Fire TV General] JUSTINMARMER:
Can confirm. Worked for me.

Factory reset did the trick and the annoying voice view is now gone....

However....

Update: Although the voice view nonsense is fixed, one problem remains.... The built in cursor for Silk Browser has disappeared. I'm having to use an air mouse or mouse toggle. Did two more factory resets and once the ADB command is entered this problem returns.