yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Fire TV General] TheRealQubix:
Welcome to FTVLaunchX – a simple helper application to allow custom launchers on Amazon Fire TV devices – no root required!

It is inspired by the famous LauncherHijack of [MENTION=8089882]BaronKiko[/MENTION] and tries to overcome several issues relating to it:

- Reliably intercepts any & all presses of the home button

- Starts the selected launcher on boot

- Starts the selected launcher when waking up from sleep

- Fixes the ominous missing-cursor bug in Silk

- etc.

Please find a thorough description, installation instructions as well as the source code over here:

https://github.com/codefaktor/FTVLaunchX

Get the APK: FTVLaunchX-1.0.1

EDIT: uploaded new release 1.0.1!

If you want to say Thank You or fund further development, then feel free to drop me buck or two, see https://github.com/codefaktor/FTVLaunchX#Donations

Please report back if you did test on your devices (so far tested on Fire TV Stick 2nd Gen & Fire TV Stick 4K) – I will watch this thread for any issues and/or feature requests.
[Fire TV General] Flakie:
Thanks for this. Works with no issues and really well on my Fires TV Stick 4K.

When I press home it opens my launcher quickly (TV Launcher 3).

When I wake the device from sleep I do see the amazon launcher for a split second (literally a quick flash).

When I reboot it takes 20-30 seconds to automatically start my launcher.

This could be because it is giving way to IP Vanish which is set to launch on startup.

As soon as IP Vanish launches, I press the back key or the home key and my launcher immediately loads.

Love your work.

Also there is another way of returning to the default Amazon Launcher. Maybe you already know it :)

Use the Alexa Remote (Voice) and say "Home" or "Settings".

Thanks again.
[Fire TV General] TheRealQubix:
Yes, it should be a tiny bit quicker and what's more important: way more reliable! Except for the split-second when coming out of sleep I never see the Amazon launcher anymore (I also use TVLauncher 3).

Aye, this is to be expected but should really just be a fraction of a second.

Aye, I know - it's because I let the system decide on when to launch it. As you said, there may be other things also being launched and so it has not the top priority. Maybe I'll experiment with raising the priority of FTVLaunchX but I wanted to stay on the safe side for the 1.0 release.

Yes, you can also press the home key as soon as the Amazon launcher comes up and it should work - it's just the auto-start method which takes its time...

Ha, I totally forgot about that one – I'll add this to the docs, thank you!

Oh, and just to clarify: do you think that we should also try to catch that and start the custom launcher when hearing "Home"? This may not be possible and IMHO it's way better to leave that as a valid exit method to get back to the original Amazon launcher...

Oh, and a big thank you for testing and replying!
[Fire TV General] JUSTINMARMER:
Thank you so much! I finally have my cursor back in the Silk Browser because of this!
[Fire TV General] TheRealQubix:
Glad that it works for you and you like it :) The main reason why I was creating it was this pesty cursor bug...

Oh, on what kind of device are you using it? Am looking for someone to test it on a Fire TV Cube with Fire OS 7 / Android 9...
[Fire TV General] MishaalRahman:
Got any images we can use for an article? :)
[Fire TV General] TheRealQubix:
Here is an icon and a banner:

https://github.com/codefaktor/FTVLa...p/src/main/res/mipmap-xxxhdpi/ic_launcher.png

https://github.com/codefaktor/FTVLaunchX/blob/develop/app/src/main/res/drawable/banner.png

Can render them at any size if you need larger variants;

Or if you need a screenshot then voila: https://imgur.com/a/UethyYm
[Fire TV General] JUSTINMARMER:
Wish I could help. I'm running several Fire Sticks. All v2 and 4k. No cubes.
[Fire TV General] Flakie:
Personally, I prefer it going back to the Amazon Launcher.

I have done a few installs of these and for the users it is the easiest way they can get there. The less complexity for them, the better ;)
[Fire TV General] TheRealQubix:
Exactly my thought too! :)
[Fire TV General] brick00444:
I just tried it on my Nvidia Shield 2017 model and it works great. The only thing I see wrong if you want to call it wrong is, When booting it boots to the android tv screen for about 5-10 seconds but then goes to my Halauncher. Home button works great everytime. If you don't mind I will post it on the Shield tv section or you can. It would be easier for some people that don't understand adb. Great job!!!!
[Fire TV General] TheRealQubix:
Good to know that it works on that device too – feel free to post it over there! (Since I don't have any experience with the Shields it's probably better since you can include some relevant instructions...)

Oh, and regarding the "bug": this is more or less by design but as I said in another reply above: I might try to experiment to make this a bit faster by raising the boot priority; something for the next release :)
[Fire TV General] brick00444:
Thanks again, great job.
[Fire TV General] TheRealQubix:
Ok, I've raised the boot priority to the maximum... find the 1.0.1-dev APK as an attachment.

Let me know if that reacts any faster for you on boots (though a couple seconds will probably be normal, I guess; it all depends on what other things are installed etc.).

Ping to [MENTION=4563980]Flakie[/MENTION] too.
[Fire TV General] JUSTINMARMER:
I'm getting voiceover on official Hulu app on my v2 stick.
[Fire TV General] MrKaon:
What launcher are available for TV stick? Any Android TV launcher?
[Fire TV General] TheRealQubix:
Yes, that's because Hulu (and some other apps) added some weird code in one of their releases, please try the following:

Settings > Accessibility and make sure that VoiceView AND Screen Magnifier are turned off, the latter one being really important!

You can also hold Back+Menu (toggles voice view) and Back+FastForward (toggles screen magnifier) for two seconds.

If that doesn't work then head into Hulu and turn off app sounds under your profile settings.

If it is still on then go to your apps list in Settings, find the Hulu app, clear its cache AND data, force stop it and then relaunch the app. You will have to sign in again but that should really do the trick.

Please report back!
[Fire TV General] TheRealQubix:
You can find some links on the GitHub page of FTVLaunchX but there are quite a few others like AppStarter, HALauncher, ATV Launcher Pro or even Kodi itself...

My favourite is TVLauncher 3 but everybody will have a different taste... you can find some of them on Aptoide, but most need to be downloaded somewhere else.
[Fire TV General] kinkyK:
thanks for this ive got it on my 4k stick using ATV launcher and looks mighty fine !
[Fire TV General] TShadow:
From the description looks good. Immediately uninstalled Hijack and installed FTVLauncherX. First tried adb install -g, but adb said -g is an unknown option, so installed it directly from a dir on the stick, granted the permission via adb. Now when my Firestick 2nd starts it does start with the native Amazon Home Launcher and stays there. It switches to my launcher only when pushing the home button. I use ATV Launcher Pro.
[Fire TV General] Boomissy:
Works great!

Although it works most of the time, it just does not always work (Experimental).
[Fire TV General] SweenWolf:
I know its experimental, and it'll always be experimental.

Other than that, its the last update for now.

Nothing more to add or change.

---------- Post added at 07:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:02 AM ----------

I don't think that change in a device can do that.

It works fine on Firestick 4K

Try clearing data of the app.
[Fire TV General] takui:
Hi guys, I've installed this mod and no problems (but yeah sometimes it went back to amazon home to me too...). But the problem is that I've noticed both youtube and netflix going super slow and with lag now, while amazon prime still works smooth as always. I've tried to uninstall the launcher and to uninstall this app (but I don't know if just uninstall from app menù is enough, considering the line commands done during setup). I've also tried to reset to default settings the stick, but even so the lag is still there for netflix and youtube only. Anyone in my same situation? Any idea how to fix it? It's very annoying, sometimes it reacts with 1 sec or more of delay from my inputs....

Thanks

update: every apps lag, only amazon works smooth. Even going inside any app is lagging...
[Fire TV General] takui:
how is possible to grant permission to this apk from shell? What's the string? This looks is not: pm grant de.codefaktor.ftvlaunchx android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS

thanks
[Fire TV General] Pretoriano80:
It should be :

pm grant com.wolf.firetvsettings android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS
[Fire TV General] takui:
ty I've done it but when I open the apk it still says: accessibility services: stopped secure permission: not granted...

There's something else to do? I've a Firestick 4k
[Fire TV General] SweenWolf:
First clear data, then uninstall the app, then reboot

If you have a PC then install using

adb install -g app-release.apk and open, no shell commands needed that way.

If you don't have a pc

Install the app via file manager or however you find easy.

Don't open it

Open Remote Shell

Enter

pm grant com.wolf.firetvsettings android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS

remember its a single line

Open the app

The app should change both status to green.
[Fire TV General] DaveCPA:
Recently after turning back on, the launcher isn’t showing immediately anymore. Anything I should change?
[Fire TV General] SweenWolf:
Post moved to

https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=82328281&postcount=225
[Fire TV General] takui:
Hello,

from yesterday I've noticed that double clicking on the home button to switch to firestick port on tv wasn't working anymore and then, after I used the tv remote, I've seen that firestick was stucked, but not totally: Microphone worked and I was able to open netflix thruoght it but even so, arrows and confirm buttongs weren't still working, I had to do a hard power off on the stick to make it works again, I suppouse it's related to the mod cos it never happened before

Thx

---------- Post added at 01:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:42 PM ----------

it's a new update this attached here? We need to do everything from the start or just deleting the old apk and installing this one is enough? Ty
[Fire TV General] SweenWolf:
Just update the apk, no need to delete anything.

The home button to wake, yeah its caused by the mod
[Fire TV General] SweenWolf:
Here's a test build (alpha)

NO NEED OF ADB OR REMOTE ADB SHELL

First Remove older App

then install Helper.apk normally

then Install FireTV Settings Normally

Enable USB Debugging

Open Helper and Click Allow,

then open FireTV Settings.

And Select the Launcher.

Home Press should now launch Amazon Hud (Containing Time,Apps,Sleep,Mirroring,Settings) etc.

Sometimes it works sometime it doesn't, mostly it does (Experimental).

You also don't have to use adb or remote adb shell.

Don't use it without helper

Try it (if anyone wants). Good Night.

I'll fix it maybe tomorrow
[Fire TV General] takui:
Ok blocked again after a while, I've updated last firetv settings, let's see... isn't possible to help debugging it? Thx
[Fire TV General] SweenWolf:
What can you help with?

The app with helper isn't stable, it's what I'm currently working on.

(EXPERIMENTAL)
[Fire TV General] takui:
I can't program but if a debugging log on crash or block can be generated, maybe will help you to understand what's happening.

Just looking at when those blocks happened, one was after a wakeup or better, tv was on another output, when I went back to firetv stick, i've noticed that the joystick was stucked (but voice button was working fine and I was able to open and close apps using the voice, just the joystick was stucked).

Another happened during reproduction of youtube videos, when I wanted to move to another video, I've noticed that
[Fire TV General] dcarvil:
I have the same Hulu VoiceView problem on my rooted FireStick 4K running Fire OS 6.2.6.8. I have VoiceView, Screen Magnifier, and Hulu app sounds all turned off. I have cleared Hulu cache and data, and uninstalled and reinstalled Hulu. I have been able to stop the voice a couple of times by uninstalling/reinstalling Hulu and FTVLaunchX and disabling/enabling com.amazon.logan, but it comes back when the FireStick is rebooted. I have not been able to determine which combination of uninstalling/reinstalling/disabling/enabling stops the voice temporarily.

Since I have a rooted device, are there any settings I can try to change the next time the voice comes back?

Thanks for the great work on the app. It works better than LauncherHijack.

** Edit **

I found the setting. This will stop the voice - "settings put secure screen_reader_enabled 0".

I don't know how sticky the setting is, though. Apparently something is changing the setting.
[Fire TV General] pedrodominguez1:
I have just tried with Amazon Fire TV Stick 1 Gen and it works excelent! thanks!!
[Fire TV General] Michajin:
question, is this a hijack or a replacement?

Can i disable or remove com.amazon.tv.launcher or is it running in the background?

I have firestick4k unlocked.
[Fire TV General] dcarvil:
It is a hijack. AFAIK, disabling the stock launcher risks bricking the device. See the "Disable the Dafault Launcher" section at https://github.com/BaronKiko/LauncherHijack/blob/master/HELP.md

** Edit **

Also, see these comments from bloat-disable.sh:

# Do Not Remove on FireOS 6.2.6.8

# Forced App Updater

#pm disable com.amazon.tv.forcedotaupdater.v2 # NEEDED FOR OOBE REG / WI-FI SETUP

#pm disable com.amazon.tv.launcher #needed for settings when using AFTV-MM

If you install this app, I'd be interested in your experience with the Hulu ScreenReader. See my post 2 posts above yours. I still have not found a permanent solution to the problem - the voice always comes back regardless of what settings I use.
[Fire TV General] rick.wardenburg:
This doesnt work with my FireTV
[Fire TV General] dcarvil:
According to that error message, you didn't do step 7 of the instructions at https://github.com/codefaktor/FTVLaunchX

Method 1: directly on Fire TV

1. Install the Downloader app from the Amazon App Store on your Fire TV device

2. Open Downloader and navigate to github.com/codefaktor/FTVLaunchX/releases

3. Find, download and install the latest release of FTVLaunchX

4. Open Downloader and navigate to troypoint.com/radb

5. The download should start automatically; click Install, then Open

6. Follow the on-screen instructions and enter the IP address of your device when asked (see 6. in Pre-Requisites above)

7. When presented with a command-line within the Remote ADB Shell application, enter and run the following command:

pm grant de.codefaktor.ftvlaunchx android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS

or on devices based on Fire OS 7 (e.g. Fire TV Cube 2nd Generation):

settings put secure enabled_accessibility_services de.codefaktor.ftvlaunchx/de.codefaktor.ftvlaunchx.HomeService

settings put secure accessibility_enabled 1

8. Open FTVLaunchX, select a launcher and press the home button – enjoy!
[Fire TV General] nemathi:
CEC-Remote

First I'd like to thank you a lot! Your app works great with the homebutton on the aftv-remote. Unfortunately i usually use the remote from my TV wich controls the firetv(v2) and when i hit the home button there it takes me to the classic amazon home screen.

do you think there is a solution to bring the functionality to the cec hdmi remote?

best regards

nemathi
[Fire TV General] takui:
Every 2-3 days I've to hard restart it cos the directional arrows doesn't work anymore (app isn't really stucked cos using the voice it works)... I'm thinking to go back to the original app even if full of spam, sadly
[Fire TV General] Pretoriano80:
Try using the "menu" button when it happens. At least that's what i do when the directional pad gets stuck.
[Fire TV General] DaveCPA:
Menu button doesn’t seem to do anything for me. With that said, I have a couple extra smart plugs. So I’m using one for the fire stick, and it cycles at 3:15 AM each day. Hoping that will solve this issue for me.
[Fire TV General] dcarvil:
I'd be happy to test it, but I've searched this entire thread and cannot determine what the app is supposed to do. Is it a replacement for FTVLaunchX? A replacement for Wolf Launcher? Something else?

Whatever it is, thanks for your work on this and on Wolf Launcher. I really appreciate you and all the other devs who devote so much time to their projects, and share them with the community.
[Fire TV General] SweenWolf:
Appreciate the feedback, about the app, it was a fork of Original Launcher hijack (specially for ? stick 4k).

It have some features that are sometimes heavy on the system.

I never encountered this earlier but indeed sometimes my app makes the Remote not work, and it happens after waking from sleep (or atleast that's how I found this bug today)
[Fire TV General] dcarvil:
Good, I was looking for another Launcher Hijack to try. Unfortunately, I have the same problem with this release I had with both Launcher Hijack and FTVLaunchX - the screen reader in Hulu turns on. The only way I've found to shut the screen reader off permanently is to remove the hijack. I've been able to temporarily silence the screen reader by poking at settings, but it always comes back.

I have a rooted, debloated FireStick 4K running Fire OS 6.2.6.8. I have VoiceView, Screen Magnifier, and Hulu app sounds all turned off. I have cleared Hulu cache and data, and uninstalled and reinstalled Hulu. settings get secure screen_reader_enabled returns 0, but the Hulu app still reads the screen.

If you could find a way to turn the screen reader off, I would be grateful. I'll report back after the stick goes to sleep.

---------- Post added at 10:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:50 PM ----------

I waited until the TV screen went black (don't know if that means the firestick is also asleep), then pressed Home. The TV woke up displaying my selected launcher. Is there anything else I need to try?

**Edit**

Home button does nothing when the screensaver is on, however. Is that expected?

Is the Helper app needed if I do all installs via ADB?

**End Edit**

Thanks again.
[Fire TV General] SweenWolf:
Ok, first of all, we don't have a Hulu here, it's not in the App Store.

Check this, without completely uninstalling the hijack, open the settings and turn off the "Hardware detection button", If it still doesn't work then there is some accessibility problem, same as Prime Video. Because they use that thing themselves.

I'll be happy to test the app if I get the apk (pulled from firestick), and should not require a subscription. Because I don't want to buy something which doesn't work here.

About the sleep thing, it's not what I asked you to check. The pressing the Home button wakes the firestick which is what it should do. The Home button doesn't work on screensaver, you can press any other button to close the screensaver.

The thing I wanted people to check is who use HDMI-CEC I think that's the feature. The guys who use equipment control.

Because pressing the Home button changed the source or turn on the TV and attached devices.

I don't know, but that's what I heard. Someone here can explain this to me.

The helper.apk I created if people doesn't know about adb or have no pc, or they don't know what command to put in the shell, the helper app will grant the permission to Hijack app. It also had other purpose it was supposed to launch the Amazon hud for the firestick, but that was buggy, so I dropped that project.

Use helper.apk or manually type commands, it's one or the other
[Fire TV General] dcarvil:
I haven't been able to find HDMI-CEC in my firestick settings. The only firestick settings I have under Equipment Control are Off, Manual, Automatic. I think it is a TV setting. I had it in my previous TV, but I can't find it in my current TV.

Turning off the Hardware detection button did not help the Hulu screen reader problem. That is a problem with the Hulu app, and not with the Hijack apps. Apparently Hulu automatically starts the screen reader whenever it detects any Accessibility features activated. There is a bit more on it in this post. https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=81547587&postcount=17 I think the only possible solution is to somehow mask the Accessibility setting from Hulu, if that is possible. I suspect I will just have to get used to pressing mute before starting Hulu.

If you still want to try it, I copied the hulu apk to https://carville.tech/hulu.apk (too big to post here). You probably don't have the Hulu service if it is not in the app store, though. You might be able to get around that with a VPN to a US server.

It does not require a subscription from the Google Play store, but will require setting up a Hulu account. I believe they have free trial accounts that don't require a credit card.

Thanks again for your work. This is a great app.
[Fire TV General] dcarvil:
It seems to be working for now, but my firestick has been doing some strange things for the past couple of days. I may need to wipe the stick and start over.

When I first tried it, Hulu worked for a few minutes (even the click when pressing a remote button was gone), but then started reading the screen again. Next I re-enabled all the bloatware, on the chance something in one of those packages is needed (voiceview is one of the packages I had disabled), and rebooted. After that Hulu was fine, but Netflix started reading the screen. I rebooted again, then both Hulu and Netflix were good - no screen reading. I'll have to run it for a couple of days to be sure. I have thought the problem was solved before, and it came back.

Thanks much for working on this. I really didn't think you would be able to do anything about it, especially so quickly.

** Edit

BTW, I did find the HDMI CEC setting in firestick settings under Display & Sounds. It is on. The only thing I use it for is powering on the TV.
[Fire TV General] dcarvil:
The good news is after 12 hours the Hulu screen reader has not started again. I've never gone that long before without it starting, so that problem may be solved. The bad news is after 12 hours the home button started taking me to the Amazon launcher, and the Netflix screen reader started again. I wiped Dalvik and cache and rebooted. Nothing changed at first, but after a few minutes the home button started working and the Netflix screen reader stopped.

As I mentioned before, my firestick has been unstable for the past couple of days, so I don't know if this is due to my unstable firestick (I haven't wiped the firestick yet) or your unstable app. I'll give you another update tomorrow.

Thanks for the great work.
[Fire TV General] takui:
Hello again. Talking about the remote not working at random, I've noticed something funny. The original tv remote works on the firestick, is normal? I mean, when one is stucked, the other let me brownse around the firestick lol

---------- Post added at 06:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:39 AM ----------

Dare to explain? Firestick is connected on the tv so the plug turn tv on and off u mean? Could work but i was using it till 2am yesterday so I'm not sure it will be a 100% workaround
[Fire TV General] SweenWolf:
I have one question, does this freezing thing only happens with my app?
[Fire TV General] takui:
The firestick remote doesn't navigate anymore within any app. Even if I open netflix using the voice controls (which works) or using the tv remote, the firestick remote joystick still doesn't work, but the tv remore works (even its joystick and even in your app). Volume buttons on firestick, off button and voice button keeps working tho. Only the joystick stopped and need a hard reset (detach the firestick from tv).

Before your app/mod, it never happened tho, so I think depends on something related to it ?
[Fire TV General] SweenWolf:
Ok, thanks for info