Question

I created an app that acts as a launcher, which works as expected, but I’d like to give the user the ability to launch the native Android Launcher.

I know that the package name for the Android Launcher is com.android.launcher

However, when I try to get the Launch intent name from this package by calling

packageManager.getLaunchIntentForPackage("com.android.launcher");

that comes up null.

So, I’m at a loss as to how to use the package name to launch it, and am wondering if perhaps there’s some alternate way?

TIA

Answer 1

I know that the package name for the Android Launcher is com.android.launcher

Except that may or may not be on any given device. In fact, I would expect it to be on maybe a few percent of devices. Most manufacturers replace the stock home screen with their own.

am wondering if perhaps there’s some alternate way?

Use PackageManager and queryIntentActivities() to find all activities that support ACTION_MAIN and CATEGORY_HOME. Remove your activity from the list. If there is only one left, launch that activity. If there is more than one left, whip up your own chooser to show the available options. That way, no matter what other home screen(s) exists, you will be able to launch it.

UPDATE

Given a ResolveInfo named launchable, and an ACTION_MAIN/CATEGORY_HOME template Intent named i, to launch that activity, do:

ActivityInfo activity=launchable.activityInfo;
ComponentName name=new ComponentName(activity.applicationInfo.packageName,
                                     activity.name);

i.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK |
            Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_RESET_TASK_IF_NEEDED);
i.setComponent(name);

startActivity(i);