AppSwitcher - smart SWC launcher (for Junsun, Xtrons and similar devices) incl. autostart

[TorstenH]

Attached AppSwitcher version 2.7 to first post...


Whats new:
- new setting "Screen\Landscape overlay" which forces all apps to run in landscape orientation. This fixes the appearance issue of Spotify (and other apps like Tidal and Apcoa Flow) after disabling "Screen\Forced fullscreen system property".
- "Apps and activities\Set media apps/activities" offers all exported activities, now. This allows to start a specific screen of your app.
- optimized switch dialog performance and countdown sync.
- adjusted color of settings button
- optimized app starts (actively by user and after countdown)
- "Dialog\Grayscale app icons" is enabled by default (after fresh installation)
- run of media app gets skipped if SWC button gets pressed. Only relevant if "Autostart\Delay (seconds) before start of media app" is set.
- click on AppSwitcher status bar notification opens settings screen
- code cleansing and other code optimizations/simplifications

Fixed bugs:
- App crashes when settings are changed after service is stopped
- Dialog does not disappear when user clicks on settings button
- set delay of media activity freezes app start

 

[TorstenH]

Find new demo video attached to first post...

 

[rickhowland]

what is the link to download the latest version of appswitcher

 

[ramig]

Thanks for sharing

 

[TorstenH]

what is the link to download the latest version of appswitcher

Attached to first post

 

[TorstenH]

Thanks for sharing

You're welcome. Looking forward to get a feedback if everything is working as expected.

 

[ramig]

Tomorrow I will install . After a few days I'll give feedback and show you my setup.

 

[TorstenH]

Tomorrow I will install . After a few days I'll give feedback and show you my setup.

Thank you. I just can test on my head unit and on my smartphone so I'm happy to get feedback.
After 43 downloads only silence is weird

 

[TorstenH]

Had the chance for a first test of version 2.7.1 today.

Acoustic signal on button press will be one of the features. So turn on sound while watching:

Sure, there will be a switch to keep it silent


Support the development of my free apps via
ko-fi.com/appswitcher

 

[TorstenH]

Almost 100 downloads of the latest version 2.7! Nice!
Zero Coffee (ko-fi)... People are probably very poor.
But zero feedback? Not exactly an incentive to release an app here for free.

 

[OpenAL]

Almost 100 downloads of the latest version 2.7! Nice!
Zero Coffee (ko-fi)... People are probably very poor.
But zero feedback? Not exactly an incentive to release an app here for free.

Hello there! Congratulations on the success of your latest version 2.7 with almost 100 downloads, that's quite an achievement! As for the lack of Coffee and feedback, perhaps the users are too busy enjoying your app that they forget to show their appreciation? Or maybe they're just too afraid to give you feedback because they're worried it won't be good enough. Either way, keep up the great work!

 

[TorstenH]

Hello there! Congratulations on the success of your latest version 2.7 with almost 100 downloads, that's quite an achievement! As for the lack of Coffee and feedback, perhaps the users are too busy enjoying your app that they forget to show their appreciation? Or maybe they're just too afraid to give you feedback because they're worried it won't be good enough. Either way, keep up the great work!

Thank you so much for your great feedback.

To be honest, I think it's because of the international brutalization of humanity. Lack of appreciation and selfishness are in vogue. True to the motto: If everyone thinks of himself, everyone is thought of.

I'm certainly not developing this app for money. But a "it works" or "I tried your app, but it's not for me because..." I would have expected somehow.

 

[OpenAL]

Thank you so much for your great feedback.

To be honest, I think it's because of the international brutalization of humanity. Lack of appreciation and selfishness are in vogue. True to the motto: If everyone thinks of himself, everyone is thought of.

I appreciate your perspective on the matter. While it's true that a lack of appreciation and self-centeredness can sometimes seem prevalent in today's world, I still believe that there are many people out there who are kind, thoughtful, and willing to show their gratitude for the hard work of others. It may just take a little extra effort to find them sometimes. In the meantime, keep up the good work and know that your contributions are valued by those who do appreciate them!

 

[TorstenH]

 

[ciorapel]

I'll upgrade the app myself, to see if it fixes a little ”bug”. My HU is very laggy after some hours of sleep and I experience the fallowing:
HU starts, last used media player starts, and I press mode button to switch (start) to navi app; because of the lag and slow processor of HU, the Appswitcher dialog only appears for a fraction of a second and then the ”selection timeout” lauches the app that Appswitcher is selecting; and there is another problem, that the first option in the Appswitcher is my last used media app also .. so I have to click the mode button twice to get to navi app.

If I start the HU and try switching after 30 seconds, the HU is not laggy anymore, and the Appswitcher works as intended (I have sufficient time to choose the app), and the first option in Appswitcher is not the media app anymore, but navi app.

I don't know if was clear about the problem ) @TorstenH

 

[TorstenH]

I'll upgrade the app myself, to see if it fixes a little ”bug”. My HU is very laggy after some hours of sleep and I experience the fallowing:
HU starts, last used media player starts, and I press mode button to switch (start) to navi app; because of the lag and slow processor of HU, the Appswitcher dialog only appears for a fraction of a second and then the ”selection timeout” lauches the app that Appswitcher is selecting; and there is another problem, that the first option in the Appswitcher is my last used media app also .. so I have to click the mode button twice to get to navi app.

If I start the HU and try switching after 30 seconds, the HU is not laggy anymore, and the Appswitcher works as intended (I have sufficient time to choose the app), and the first option in Appswitcher is not the media app anymore, but navi app.

I don't know if was clear about the problem ) @TorstenH

I completely understand what you're talking about. The head unit performs like a snail the first minutes after boot. This even affects other apps (e.g. missing station logos in DAB-Z). It's better performing after wake up from sleep mode.

This is a topic I try to address with
- optimized switch dialog performance and countdown sync
you can find in change log. This ensures dialog related data is ready before the countdown ticks.
But: Android does not provide an event for "the user can see my activity, now". So there is still a gap.

Same is valid for the usage statistic. It takes a while until the head unit tells the last opened app whereby I already have an idea how I could work around that.

Thank you for your feedback. Please look forward for the next releases...

 

[ciorapel]

@TorstenH a temporary fix may be to provide navigation app as first option if the ”launch last media app” is checked.

 

[TorstenH]

@TorstenH a temporary fix may be to provide navigation app as first option if the ”launch last media app” is checked.

Did you had a look on Automate? Automate would allow to start a bundle of apps and AppSwitcher already has the option to start an Automate flow on launch.

 

[ciorapel]

I think you misunderstood what I've meant. If I have the option to auto-start last used media app in ”Appswitcher”, maybe it would make more sense to make the ”last used navi app” the first option in appswitcher. Right now, appswitcher has this look on cold start:
”My last used media app / Last used navi app / Media app 2 / Media app 3 / Navi app 2 / Navi app 3”
The appswitcher is configured to auto-open the last media app, so with the media app opened (automatically), if I press once to switch apps, the first option is selected in Appswitcher witch is ... the app that I already have fullscreen. I have to press twice for selecting the navi app.

What it would be a nice change is that, if I have ”open last used media app” option in Appswitcher, the menu should look like this:
”My last used navi app / Media app # / Media app # .. etc.”

In the first example, after switching to either navi or media app (even the media app that is already opened), everything works as intended, because appswitcher knows the last switch in the apps.
In the second example, Appswitcher can interpret that, if the option to auto-launch last used media app is selected, that the last used app is the media app, and should give navi app as the first option in list.

Thank you @TorstenH

 

[TorstenH]

I think you misunderstood what I've meant. If I have the option to auto-start last used media app in ”Appswitcher”, maybe it would make more sense to make the ”last used navi app” the first option in appswitcher. Right now, appswitcher has this look on cold start:
”My last used media app / Last used navi app / Media app 2 / Media app 3 / Navi app 2 / Navi app 3”
The appswitcher is configured to auto-open the last media app, so with the media app opened (automatically), if I press once to switch apps, the first option is selected in Appswitcher witch is ... the app that I already have fullscreen. I have to press twice for selecting the navi app.

What it would be a nice change is that, if I have ”open last used media app” option in Appswitcher, the menu should look like this:
”My last used navi app / Media app # / Media app # .. etc.”

In the first example, after switching to either navi or media app (even the media app that is already opened), everything works as intended, because appswitcher knows the last switch in the apps.
In the second example, Appswitcher can interpret that, if the option to auto-launch last used media app is selected, that the last used app is the media app, and should give navi app as the first option in list.

Thank you @TorstenH

I see your point and it would be a possible partial solution. But it hurts to implement this to work around the head units bug. If the user is fast and returns to home screen, navigation app will be suggested (in case usage statistics are still not ready) .
Do you have a MTK825X device?

On the other side I have here a (not fully tested!) version 2.7.1 which contains an optimized usage stat util. Let me know if you want to give it a try...