I am ecstatic to announce that I have found a solution as of 2016! Please visit my thread describing the tutorial on how to remove firelauncher and use any launcher you choose without rooting your Fire HD device!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/hd8-hd10/general/tut-remove-default-launcher-amazon-fire-t3288192
I have been reading a lot of forum posts and decided to make an account here in order to communicate with you guys. I see you are all interested in possible modifications to the Kindle Fire, and as you must know the HD 8 & 10 models do not have a root currently.
I am relatively new to Android but I am really enjoying working with it. The only thing I do not like about the FireOS is the firelauncher (com.amazon.firelauncher), and I have been looking for a working way to remove, replace, or modify it without rooting (unless there is a way).
I found two methods to accomplish this, however it needs some tweaking. I think someone as experienced as you might be able to perfect it.
Method 1:
I noticed that the stock APK file, ("/system/priv-app/com.amazon.firelauncher/com.amazon.firelauncher.apk") cannot be touched as it is a read-only filesystem, but I can reinstall it. (I was able to reinstall a slightly older version of firelauncher successfully using "adb install -r -d firelauncher.apk" successfully by the way). During the installation there is a brief moment where it is deleted, and the prompt to select a different default launcher is presented, and works. Sadly I have no clue on how to prevent firelauncher from finishing its installation. I tried "reboot -p" to kill the device in the middle of an installation and various other things but nothing worked.
Method 2:
Like I mentioned previously, I was able to reinstall any version or a modified version of the APK. This allowed me to edit the contents of the APK and delete some important resources, causing the launcher to crash and switch over to the last opened window, I think there is potential in here if classes.dex could be modified somehow.
Method 3:
I was able to take a different launcher and decompile it, edit the package name from net.example.testlauncher to com.amazon.firelauncher, however I don't know how to sign it properly and the mismatch caused the tablet to reject the apk. This has REAL potential as a method, but it may be impossible to forge a certificate signature.
Edit: It may be possible to disable the certificate checking,
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1698352
If anyone is able to collaborate with me on this, we may be able to finally get rid of the horrendous firelauncher. Additionally, anyone who would like to remotely test things on my Fire HD 8 let me know and I'll setup a console or something for you.
I am attatching a previous version of firelauncher.apk, to install it (which there is no real reason to do so) type adb install -r -d firelauncher.apk
http://forum.xda-developers.com/hd8-hd10/general/tut-remove-default-launcher-amazon-fire-t3288192
I have been reading a lot of forum posts and decided to make an account here in order to communicate with you guys. I see you are all interested in possible modifications to the Kindle Fire, and as you must know the HD 8 & 10 models do not have a root currently.
I am relatively new to Android but I am really enjoying working with it. The only thing I do not like about the FireOS is the firelauncher (com.amazon.firelauncher), and I have been looking for a working way to remove, replace, or modify it without rooting (unless there is a way).
I found two methods to accomplish this, however it needs some tweaking. I think someone as experienced as you might be able to perfect it.
Method 1:
I noticed that the stock APK file, ("/system/priv-app/com.amazon.firelauncher/com.amazon.firelauncher.apk") cannot be touched as it is a read-only filesystem, but I can reinstall it. (I was able to reinstall a slightly older version of firelauncher successfully using "adb install -r -d firelauncher.apk" successfully by the way). During the installation there is a brief moment where it is deleted, and the prompt to select a different default launcher is presented, and works. Sadly I have no clue on how to prevent firelauncher from finishing its installation. I tried "reboot -p" to kill the device in the middle of an installation and various other things but nothing worked.
Method 2:
Like I mentioned previously, I was able to reinstall any version or a modified version of the APK. This allowed me to edit the contents of the APK and delete some important resources, causing the launcher to crash and switch over to the last opened window, I think there is potential in here if classes.dex could be modified somehow.
Method 3:
I was able to take a different launcher and decompile it, edit the package name from net.example.testlauncher to com.amazon.firelauncher, however I don't know how to sign it properly and the mismatch caused the tablet to reject the apk. This has REAL potential as a method, but it may be impossible to forge a certificate signature.
Edit: It may be possible to disable the certificate checking,
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1698352
If anyone is able to collaborate with me on this, we may be able to finally get rid of the horrendous firelauncher. Additionally, anyone who would like to remotely test things on my Fire HD 8 let me know and I'll setup a console or something for you.
I am attatching a previous version of firelauncher.apk, to install it (which there is no real reason to do so) type adb install -r -d firelauncher.apk
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