Themes / Apps / Mods SamSprung TooUI - Cover Screen Home (FREE) [ZF3]

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Welcome to the project that started a revolution.
A complete home experience on the cover screen.
Compatible with all 1" or larger cover screens.​


This project began as a replacement for the Samsung Health widget that allowed launching apps. It has since grown into a full overlay that works alongside the stock launcher on multiple devices, inspiring the release of other launchers and even a Good Lock widget along the way.

TooUI adds cover screen support for apps, full notifications, widgets, quick toggles, voice launch, custom screen timeout, animated wallpapers, and more without recording how you choose to use it. Even our bug reports are filtered with your privacy in mind.


Compatible with Samsung Health and lock screens.
Fingerprint unlock must be used with a secure lock.


Notice: Due to an Android 13 bug, touch is not passed to the stock launcher when TooUI is minimized. Double tap the SamSprung icon to temporarily disable the launcher until the screen is turned off.


See the SamSprung site for setup and usage information​






feature_graphic.png




drawer.pngnotifications.pngtoggles.pngwidgets.pngnavigation.png
 
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M4-NOOB

Senior Member
Aug 7, 2011
70
23
I think I'm a bit stupid, but I can't find the apk? I see the build and the 7.29MB ZFlip-Launcher-dee2c10 but no way to download
 

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M4-NOOB

Senior Member
Aug 7, 2011
70
23
Which apps have you gotten to work so far? Weirdly enough for me it was only the camera (with tiny cutout of the app, but it starts). No settings/gallery/contacts/maps/gmail/whatsapp and many other apps I tried. When tapping on them it just freezes and I have to press the power button the turn off the cover screen again. I do see them in the recent apps though, they just don't show on the cover screen. Just updated to the latest build, but same results besides not seeing them in recent apps anymore
 

HDCowboy

Senior Member
Dec 20, 2011
123
23
Interesting, just got my Flip a couple days ago and although I would hate too uninstall Samsung Health, I'm curious if you would be able to watch a little mini Youtube video on the cover screen with this app, has anyone tried it?
 
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I updated the limitations list to document some of the current issues and how to work around them.
Until there is a proper API for cover widgets, some of them may be unavoidable (ie. keyboard)

Interesting, just got my Flip a couple days ago and although I would hate too uninstall Samsung Health, I'm curious if you would be able to watch a little mini Youtube video on the cover screen with this app, has anyone tried it?

Yes, videos do appear to work in the YouTube app, sound and all.
 
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Edit: FIXED. (Mostly)

If you open the screen with an app running on the cover, it will resume. If you tap power while running an app on the cover, it will add the app to recent tasks and resume it normally when opening the screen.

Some apps still burn out (ie Firefox) and don't always launch. It's rare, but still worth looking into to avoid the inconvenience.
 
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For those who installed a previous version ("Remove unused activities and resources" or earlier):

You may need to uninstall to install the newest version. This is part of an effort to get this widget running alongside the Samsung Health app (or a slightly modified version of it).

In theory, using a 'sharedUserId' will allow two apps to exist with shared resources, as long as they are signed with the same signature. Since Samsung Health can be uninstalled (making it a user app), it should be possible to use the signature from this widget and the sharedUserId to make a modified version of the app without the widget that will run alongside it.
 

M4-NOOB

Senior Member
Aug 7, 2011
70
23
Not sure why, but I can't start any app, it's just freezing the cover screen when tapping on an app. No app worked. Restarted the phone then the camera was working (as in previous versions), sadly no other app still.. Also reinstalled and rebooted but no help.
 

CarudiBu

Member
Aug 29, 2021
17
30
Geneva, Switzerland
From what I've seen testing launching some apps on the cover screen, apps need the
XML:
<meta-data android:name="com.samsung.android.activity.showWhenLocked" android:value="true"/>
manifest attribute in each of the activities you want to launch to allow them to be launched while the phone is locked. Otherwise, any activities launched while the phone is closed are queued to open on the main screen once the phone is unlocked.
 
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  • 23
    Welcome to the project that started a revolution.
    A complete home experience on the cover screen.
    Compatible with all 1" or larger cover screens.​


    This project began as a replacement for the Samsung Health widget that allowed launching apps. It has since grown into a full overlay that works alongside the stock launcher on multiple devices, inspiring the release of other launchers and even a Good Lock widget along the way.

    TooUI adds cover screen support for apps, full notifications, widgets, quick toggles, voice launch, custom screen timeout, animated wallpapers, and more without recording how you choose to use it. Even our bug reports are filtered with your privacy in mind.


    Compatible with Samsung Health and lock screens.
    Fingerprint unlock must be used with a secure lock.


    Notice: Due to an Android 13 bug, touch is not passed to the stock launcher when TooUI is minimized. Double tap the SamSprung icon to temporarily disable the launcher until the screen is turned off.


    See the SamSprung site for setup and usage information​






    feature_graphic.png




    drawer.pngnotifications.pngtoggles.pngwidgets.pngnavigation.png
    10
    In all fairness, I don't think i've explained why the limitations are what they are and should probably have done that a while ago.

    The cover screen is effectively like plugging in a second screen on a previous S or Note series phone. DeX is effectively a secondary home launcher. Since this screen is part of the phone, instead of connected by a cable, a second launcher is used instead of DeX.

    The outer screen supports a second launcher, such as Nova or Smart Launcher 5. It also supports a primary launcher having a secondary launcher activity. Samsung, on the other hand, has disabled this support in favor of a hardcoded launcher that's built into the firmware.

    Samsung's launcher has been broken into the home screen, which is the clock selection, and widget pages. It's been further limited by only allowing certain widgets to be available on the widget pages.

    Being a system app signed by Samsung, they've gone a step further. The widgets allowed must system apps or signed by Samsung, as well. One loophole exists, which is Samsung Health. It does not need to be a system app, since you can install it from Google Play. It also doesn't need to be signed by Samsung for whatever reason. It does, however, still need to match up with the expected widget inside the expected app.

    This app takes advantage of the loopholes by using the specific component name (package / package.activity) of the Samsung Health widget and the package for Samsung Health. Because of this, the app must also be a widget, though. It cannot be a full launcher.

    Widget functionality is limited, but can support launching apps. This is another loophole that uses the widget list support to act as a fake launcher. Since the core launcher behind the widgets is still a launcher, it will launch apps on the cover screen.

    Like a normal Android screen, configuration changes are handled by the current activity being displayed. In this case, that would be whatever app is launched. The widget gets taken along for the ride. To minimize the impact of the launched app, the widget is designed to ignore any configuration changes, which would usually trigger the list to refresh.

    A few unique problems exist because of the cover screen being composed of widgets. One is that they do not follow the expected life cycle of a widget. They are not refreshed when they appear, which is why a swipe is sometimes needed to make list items clickable. Another is that they cannot perform any of the prep an activity provides, such as handling the lock screen. When an activity requests overriding the lock screen, it only extends to the activity and not to any it launched.

    This leaves us with what you see. A widget that exploits a bunch of loopholes within the limitations of the widget framework.
    6
    SamSprung was released one year ago today as the first app launcher for the cover screen. With nearly 2000 new downloads per version and over 800 builds released, we have reached over 1 million downloads. Cheers!
    5
    Done. Now you can hide / unhide apps for the widget with a long press on the item (in the app settings).
    5
    For now, the plan is to keep working on some things I don't want to advertise for fear Samsung will go and ruin them before I find answers.