yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Fire TV General] tp11075:
@Finnzz I am running Rethink v054c on all my devices and all are restarted automatically without any issues as of now. I will be posting an update of my firestick 4Ks that I am testing on with more details on firmware and versions of software I'm running and some notes for each later today. So far, they are working without LM being deleted, therefore, keeping my fingers crossed as one has crossed the 48 hour mark already. But on my Toshiba fire tv, LM does not startup automatically like it did before after installing Rethink and won't function properly even after manually launching it (and even if I turn off Rethink) so I'm looking into that issue. Might need to factory reset, if I can't find a solution for it as I would like to test these methods on it as well.
[Fire TV General] Finnzz:
Ok, I'm using a 2nd gen Cube, in case the startup issue is FireOS7 specific. I think @graffix420 is using a 4k Max (FireOS7)? Are any of your devices on FireOS7 @tp11075?

Since your Rethink is working, I don't need to test arcus proxy, and will go back to disabling it.
[Fire TV General] graffix420:
Well, this is interesting, today lm is gone, and I can't reinstall it at all. I just get the message "APP not installed". Frustrating.
[Fire TV General] Skel40:
Very important. Thanks for the heads-up. I got my two Fire TV Stick Lite's (sheldon) on me unlocked with Fire OS 7 and currently running 7.6.4.6
[Fire TV General] eeels:
thx for your help

i have now a adb connection. but i get tis messages.

raven:/ $ pm enable com.amazon.firehomestarter

cmd: Can't find service: package

20|raven:/ $ pm enable com.amazon.tv.launcher

cmd: Can't find service: package

after 2 times testing

Failure calling service package: Broken pipe (32)

Any Idea?
[Fire TV General] Finnzz:
You haven't run any 'debloat' apps/commands recently have you? Or used any apps that run ADB commands other than Wolf Launcher?
[Fire TV General] eeels:
after some tries i got "com.amazon.tv.launcher and firehomestarter enable 1".

but after restart the cube are still hangs at boot sign.

Is any other command to do to resolve the problem?
[Fire TV General] DaveCPA:
I know I am being dumb but I can’t figure out how to download apps. The app store icon takes me to my apps. Thanks in advance
[Fire TV General] ASCiiDiTY:
Just enable the stock launcher again and switch back.
[Fire TV General] G S W:
will this evert work with OS5 models?
[Fire TV General] danu2000:
why it doesn't activate for me widgget ?

P.S. Firestick 4k , FireoS 6.2.7.7 ???

View attachment 5220767
[Fire TV General] SweenWolf:
I don't think so
[Fire TV General] SweenWolf:
widgets does not work on a 4K firestick or any device which is on FireOS 6 (Android 7)
[Fire TV General] simonho1989:
Hi wolf, know you from TDUK.

I am an developer from Hong Kong

Why dont you make your Launcher Manager Ultimate itself as a launcher?

It could prevent users from having no launcher and prevent issue of no "home"

just add this to the manifest it is super easy

<intent-filter>

<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

<category android:name="android.intent.category.HOME"/>

<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />

</intent-filter>

Or do you have a github for this project?
[Fire TV General] SweenWolf:
You can check the latest Launcher Manager Ultimate which has a fallback for Home.

Edit: I have fixed many things which were there on the initial release.

You can use your custom launcher directly after disabling stock launcher (press home and select your launcher), in this case you cannot invoke settings using amazon hud (Long press home).

Or you can set LMU as your home launcher and select any app as your launcher (can by any app, launcher or not). If you use Wolf/ATV launcher and go to menu and click on Android settings to open LMU or Via amazon hud.

You can also check what apps the LMU has disabled by going to LMU>Launcher Options> Disabled Apps
[Fire TV General] simonho1989:
oh my bad

i didn't try out the 1.0.5 version

you are such a genius.
[Fire TV General] Tbo29:
@SweenWolf. May I bother you a little bit. I think there is a cache problem with the Launcher 1.7. When I uninstall an app it doesn't disappear from the launcher, only after some time. Also installing an update to an app which now has a TV Banner or an updated Icon, the Launcher does not change it to the new one.

Other small question. I see that you did some changes to the Virresh Mouse Toggle. The scroll speed using the d-pad is too fast. Where can I lower the momentum speed? Is it the 0x20 value?

Sorry for asking too much.
[Fire TV General] simonho1989:
another question because i am not dare to try this out. what if a user set an app such as youtube as home , the app is not a launcher. Will it stuck in youtube limbo forever? as there is no way to open setting or open LMU.
[Fire TV General] SweenWolf:
Long press Home to open Amazon Hud, you will have two options

1. Go to Settings (last Icon), it will open LMU and from there you can change the launcher or do whatever you like.

2. Go to Apps (first icon) then open LMU and do whatever you like.

Edit:

The first option will only work if you have set LMU - Custom Launcher Handler as default home.
[Fire TV General] SweenWolf:
For the Launcher itself, i don't have its source code, if i had then i would have added many other things to it, and fixed all of the bugs with this app, and debugging it without source code is so much time consuming (because this is obfuscated). So I may or may not be able to fix the issue if i have free time i may or may not look into this issue.

About mouse toggle, it adds up the momentum depending on how long you hold the button, you can change the code (its on github) the dev will make some changes this weekend. One thing i wanted to add is long press and drag. That too if i got some time.
[Fire TV General] simonho1989:
Is a new version of LMU coming? The post was removed
[Fire TV General] SweenWolf:
Yeah, removed auto launcher detection. And also removed the selection for launcher, you can choose b/w apps to set as launcher
[Fire TV General] simonho1989:
may i know the reason? i tested 1.0.5 on chromecast with google tv it worked well
[Fire TV General] SweenWolf:
Ok, i will merge the changes of LMU with normal version. And again write a long warning on LMU,

wven though i know it will just remive the launchers it finds but some guys were having issues and facing bootloops, i don't know why that happened or what caused that and i don't want to be assumed to be responsible for it.

I will upload the LMU 1.0.6 (with auto detection) with warning but LMU will hook the default launcher from now on, meaning either you will have a default system launcher or LMU.

And LMU will handle and check if custom launcher is present or not. Any opinions?

Edit:

I have slightly modified the autodetection code
[Fire TV General] tp11075:
I had an issue of installing LM properly due to something conflicting with it on the firestick 4K that I blocked firetvcaptiveportal.com on and LM eventually got deleted on. So I went and did Force Stop and Clear Data on Rethink (including shutting down all other apps and doing some clear datas) then was able to reinstall LM. Then started up LM (did Force Stop and Data Clear because old data usually remains) and set it up new for Wolf Launcher first, restarted the firestick and it worked this time. So then I setup Rethink and turned it on. Also used Background Apps & Process List to whitelist those so I don't accidentally turn them off and everything is working normally. So there seems to be something going on between LM and Rethink and/or something else. Maybe try the Force Stop/Clear Data on Rethink to see if it helps with the issue of it not restarting automatically? This was also a similar issue I had with my Toshiba Fire TV not allowing LM to do its thing even though it was installed and the above steps solved that issue and working fine now.

But on yours, you can't install LM at all? Is it running FireOS7?
[Fire TV General] Finnzz:
@tp11075 Thanks for the information. I have a lot of apps disabled, so I don't have a clean setup for testing. I always block OTA updates, maybe that does somehow contribute to disabling of LM like you suggested.

Part of the what the OTA app does is send Amazon a complete list of installed apps (including 3rd party apps like LM) to softwareupdates.amazon.com. This is how the server determines which system apps need updating.

If the OTA app is involved, maybe it's indirect? That app checks for updates a lot more often than once a day. Because that is one way Amazon determines what's on your device, it does seem like a promising target.

@graffix420 try installing LM from ADB, at least that will give you more output so that you can figure out why it won't install.

pm install -r <LM.apk>

Also try clearing the data if needed

pm clear com.wolf.lm
[Fire TV General] graffix420:
I ended up factory resetting it. Today, when I turned it on, I cannot connect to the internet on it, time is right. Attempting to access network manager, I'm greeted with the message "Network status advisor app is currently unavailable, Please update your device to use the Network status app". After some investigation, it seems the older version of rethink has trouble connecting to system DNS on reboot with my device. I had to open rethink, swap to rethinkdns, then back to system, then it's working again. LM still exists, I'll see what happens over the next couple days.

I was also able to figure out how to get the "disabled" status next to the LM app when it's listed in Xplore file manager. When the firestick blocks LM, it doesn't delete the app, it's just disabled. Before I factory reset the firestick, it had been running LM for a couple weeks with no issue, in Xplore, I had two versions of LM installed, the one with the change package name "lm1", and the original "lm", the original "lm" package showed disabled, but the "lm1" package was not. This leads me to believe that if we install LM 1.1.8 with the original package name, allow amazon to disable it, then install 1.1.8 with the "lm1" package name, this might defeat the check, as it seems to only search for the first instance of the app it finds, then stops if it's already disabled.

I am on probably the latest fireos, 7.6.3.3.
[Fire TV General] graffix420:
I will give these a try next time. Thanks for the info, it's terrible to try to install and just get the "APP not installed" message with no further info.
[Fire TV General] Finnzz:
That's an easy fix if it holds up :)
[Fire TV General] tp11075:
@Finnzz in one of the tests, I tried blocking the 3 apps, Arcus Proxy, System Updates and DeviceSoftwareOTA but that didn't work so went to see your other thread where the 2 URLs were mentioned and also saw that they were being accessed by various apps in Rethink logs. So decided to try just the Arcus Proxy and the 2 URLs which is now officially on its 4th day without deleting LM...hooray!

So maybe the OTA app itself does not need to be blocked but rather certain URLs as mine is currently setup that way. I will keep trying other combinations with the other devices just in case this one fails at some point. I hope that as long as the system is not updated, LM will remain as is unless the server side decides to check LM from another existing app or URL that can access the stick. Don't know if OS7 is different in how it works with checking apps and OTA though so mileage may vary.
[Fire TV General] graffix420:
Could you list your current setup?
[Fire TV General] tp11075:
Yes, it's the one at the top of this page. See "Firestick 4K #1 (Officially on DAY 4 without LM delete)" and the other one "Firestick 4K #2 (Restarted new test)" which is a modification of the one you suggested blocking the captiveportal URLs. I'm updating that post occasionally as I change things and hours running continues. If Rethink still doesn't work to automatically turn on at reboot, maybe you can uninstall that and just use the 2nd setup to just block the 4 URLs via your router along with the time sync app as it also looks like a promising solution at this point.
[Fire TV General] glxnotetony:
To block the urls you mentioned. Do u goto the firewall section of rethink and add in there as a domain and hit block? Just making sure I done it right. Thanks.
[Fire TV General] tp11075:
I'm not sure what it looks like on your screen but on mine on the upper right, you see box called "Rules" then "Domain rules" hit the "+" then enter the URL and then "BLOCK" then do the next URL until you've entered all the URLs and then hit "OKAY" when you're done. Make sure you return to the main screen and hit "START" and it says "PROTECTED" then you know it's running.
[Fire TV General] glxnotetony:
Yeah that's where I went thanks. Testing now
[Fire TV General] Finnzz:
After re-enabling Arcus Proxy, I've seen my package protections restored, but I still haven't lost LM

I'm now leaning towards Arcus Proxy not being involved in LM's removal and that it might instead be connected to DeviceSoftwareOTA as @tp11075 is seeing. I have always had that app disabled (not just blocked) and LM has never been uninstalled/disabled.

An even easier way to disable OTA updates than Rethink, is to use Ighor's DNS. His DNS server blocks all the addresses involved in the OTA process including softwareupdates.amazon.com. It also doesn't involve any extra apps, and is always active. If someone wants to give it a try and report back

EDIT: Nevermind, it's not DeviceSoftwareOTA, not alone at least. I re-enabled a bunch of apps I had disabled, leaving updates disabled, and then saw LM get disabled a couple hours later.
[Fire TV General] tp11075:
@Finnzz if you see my 3 tests and their detailed settings at the top of this page which I'm updating constantly, all 3 have now past the 24 hour mark with 1 being past the 96 hours or 4 day mark. The common denominator in all 3 are blocks of the 2 URLs (arcus-uswest.amazon.com) and (softwareupdates.amazon.com). This was explained a bit by @RiCkLaR in your other thread

PSA FireTV OTA update URL has changed so I assume this might be the keys to LM from not getting deleted. If you see my 3rd device, I added the other 2 URLs you pointed out with 1 being a wildcard to catch anything related to

(prod.ota-cloudfront.net). Don't know if this will work with OS 7 as mine are all OS 6 but it looks like a few are testing the settings I have now so hopefully we'll hear some good results soon. But so far, #1 device is in its 5th day and I assume it's not going to change at this point so I'm very happy with it.

Note: It looks like (arcus-uswest.amazon.com) is accessed by a lot of different apps (maybe looking for its own version update) so I don't know if it will affect other apps and their ability to function normally but as of now, all the ones I usually use are running fine.
[Fire TV General] brackenhill_mob:
Anybody know of an app for FireTV (Cube and Firesticks) which can open the settings page when using an alternative launcher?
[Fire TV General] tp11075:
Why do you need this? Is your remote not working to see the settings page? For Wolf Launcher you just need to press the hamburger menu button or hover over one of the app icons and long press the select button to bring up the menu on the right side. Not sure about the other alt launchers. (Also some people say you need to reboot the FireTV first to see this.)

But if you have an issue with the remote on the verge of wearing out (I had this issue and bought a new remote recently for $8), you can use a bluetooth mouse and long press like above or if you want an app like function use ADB/Scrcpy from another computer (on the same local network) to control the FireTV devices. On mine, I use @Flakie's ADB GUI (go to his thread here) which is a GUI based app and a lot easier to use than from command line on terminal. Once you have the screen up, you can use your computer's mouse and these keyboard shortcuts to control the device from your remote computer. Hope that answers your question.
[Fire TV General] pitsensas:
Yes, It was the clonemyapp method and I confirm you that ADB fucntion is broken (but not used on my side due to Termux and Tasker usage)
[Fire TV General] pitsensas:
1. Long press on Home button will open a dedicated menu with settings

2. Use Voice recognization to open settings
[Fire TV General] Finnzz:
@tp11075 can you try just blocking Arcus Proxy app and the arcus.uswest domain, without softwareupdates.amazon.com?

I can already confirm that disabling the Arcus proxy app (not firewalling) while not blocking softwareupdates.amazon.com is enough to stop LM from being disabled. So it would be good to see if you can do the same with Rethink without blocking softwareupdates.amazon.com
[Fire TV General] tp11075:
@Finnzz yes, I just adjusted my settings on #1 device to unblock (softwareupdates.amazon.com). But when you say "disabling Arcus proxy app (not firewalling)" do you mean to do something other than blocking metered/unmetered in the App section of Rethink? How are you exactly disabling it just in case it is not the way I am doing it now?

FYI I checked the Stats section of Rethink and in the logs of 18,000+ queries it made during this 1 week LM kept running, the app System Updates (which I do not have blocked) did contact (softwareupdates.amazon.com) 54 times and to (d1s31zyz7dcc2d.cloudfront.prod.ota-cloudfront.net) 1 time, with the rest being to (arcus-uswest.amazon.com) hundreds of times which is contacted by many apps including Arcus Proxy so it'll be a good test to see if unblocking this URL will allow LM to stay on my firestick.

Updates - 6/15/23: So far so good on the adjusted settings which I made note of on my post #1581 and will keep updating there.

6/16/23: LM active and working normally, however, another issue has now come up which I am not sure is related. On this device #1 Firestick 4K, my SSO TV provider re-login required keeps popping up after logging in to my cable provider and a few hours of watching certain channels so I will keep monitoring to see it continues.

6/17/23: Another unusual event as at 16:28 PDT in the middle of watching US Open golf on NBC, the Firestick began a system update automatically (without any pre-notice) and rebooted then logging me out of my TV provider on top (took about 15 minutes to complete). LM still working but 2 days in a row of strange happenings have me a bit worried about big brother. I may re-block the other URL if there are no adverse effects of doing so.

6/19/23: After doing a complete update as of today on device #1 Firestick 4K, I have turned on the block again for (softwareupdates.amazon.com) and plan to occasionally unblock it to update the system manually when I prefer to, as I didn't feel comfortable with the incidents mentioned above. Otherwise, everything is working normally as the LM/WL combo has been solid for 11+ days now.

6/21/23: All devices and their settings from post #1581 continue to work so I will only update going forward if an issue arises.
[Fire TV General] Finnzz:
@tp11075 I'm currently using root to disable the arcus proxy app. I wanted to see how the same can thing can be done with Rethink on a device without root. Rethink blocking arcus proxy and arcus-uswest.amazon.com may be enough to at least save LM as you are showing.

The various cloud front URLs are where OTA updates come from. They probably aren't related to any of this.
[Fire TV General] MrTooPhone:
Probably doesn't help, but I have been lucky. I keep FS4K on line. Never block updates. I did delete stock launcher long ago. There seemed to be a significant update last week, my system booted to a blank screen. I shutdown, re-powered and al booted just fine.
[Fire TV General] Pro-me3us:
Added a new temporary root for the 2nd gen and 3rd gen Cubes that works up to the current firmware PS7646/3550. This can be used to remove package protections allowing all apps to be disabled/enabled without root. Debloat, block updates, and use the older Launcher Manager method.

For those experiencing the issue of LM being disabled by Amazon, it was pointed out here that this is handled by the app com.amazon.adep.

The hash of LM is sent to the FireTV from arucs-uswest.amazon.com, but Adep also mentions that 1h88bafe13ct7.cloudfront.net is involved, and may be a better, less general, target for blocking.
[Fire TV General] tp11075:
Based on your suggestions, I tried using Rethink DNS + Firewall and blocked just d1h88bafe13ct7.cloudfront.net on my #2 Firestick 4K. On my #1 Firestick 4K I blocked just the AdepFOS app (the name of the app connected to com.amazon.adep) on Rethink. After 36 hours, #2 has deleted LM but #1 is still running. Therefore, if just using Rethink without root or any other mods, blocking the AdepFOS app seems to work to prevent LM from deleting so far. I will keep monitoring this and add another FireTV device #3 with the same setting to see if it has the same result.

Also this method seems to make Wolf Launcher come up faster, when hitting the Home button, than my previous tests. For the older LM method you mention, which LM version is best to use for fastest launch on FireOS 6 and above?
[Fire TV General] virtuacool:
@eXtremeDevil You say in the post that an LM version has a black overlay, before the Wolf release.

What is this version?

I used the LM_1.1.8 and LM_1.1.8_NPN versions and I always look at the Amazon launcher before entering Wolf.

I have a firestick 4K MAX version 7.6.3.3, with updates blocked by the firewall.

What else can I do to not see the horrible amazon launcher (now I see a picture with 3 men, with snot frozen in their noses! bah!)
[Fire TV General] virtuacool:
I have been closely following the latest developments, namely regarding the blocking of services and domains with "Rethink DNS + Firewall".

I have been using NetGuard for several years now, both on my smartphone and my Firestick 4K MAX, mainly to block OTA services (updates), and it has been effective.

Today I checked "arucs-uswest.amazon.com" it makes a lot of hits so I blocked it.

Until today, I've only blocked services, and never blocked domains, to try to make the LM remain for more than one day.

Returning to NetGuard, I think it will be easier to block services and domains, as it has a real-time report, in which we can see the ports, services and domains that access the Internet, and we can click on any of them and instantly block it.

However, I may be missing something.

Tell me, please.
[Fire TV General] rcal.ftd:
Ty very much. Sry it was already answered i didnt get a chance to go back and check. My apologies. Ty for info!!!
[Fire TV General] virtuacool:
https://xdaforums.com/t/root-firetv-launcher-switcher-stick-2-5-2-7-4-stick-4k-6-2-7-3-root.4161017/

Download: https://xdaforums.com/attachments/com-markus-firetoolsnoroot-apk.5115175/
[Fire TV General] eXtremeDevil:
There's no version with a black overlay available. When 1.1.8 was released, people noticed the delay and the annoyance of the stock launcher showing for a few seconds. Then @SweenWolf said that he would implement a black overlay to hide it. For the next release, LM 1.1.8 with a modified package name, I asked if the black overlay was implement on that one, assuming it would not. That's all :(

By the way, how's the development of LM going? Any progress about the black overlay and the random package name? Any change of instructions so we can finish the compilation ourselves and choose any package name? I know of apps that can be installed and then the app installs itself again with a random package name (like Magisk Manager), but I guess that would be hard to implement.
[Fire TV General] BigBrosMo:
I have Rethink DNS, 4K max, 7.6.4.6

Apps Blocked: AdepFOS and ArcusProxy

Domains: arcus-uswest.amazon.com and softwareupdates.amazon.com

Set it up last night. LM was gone this morning.

So annoying.