Question

Is it possible to detect what the default launcher app is on a device from within your app?

I am poking around with PackageManager but don’t seem to see what i am looking for, i would like my app of launcher type to behave differently when set as the default launcher so i am trying to programmatically detect whether the use has set it to be the default launcher or not

the code i tried below returns Android System no matter what i set as the default launcher:

pm = getApplicationContext().getPackageManager();
        Intent i = (new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MAIN).addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_LAUNCHER));
        final ResolveInfo mInfo = pm.resolveActivity(i, 0);
        Log.v("curent default launcher",":::::::::"+ pm.getApplicationLabel(mInfo.activityInfo.applicationInfo));

Answer 1

In the example that Google provides for a launcher replacement the activity has the following definition in the manifest:

 <activity android:name="Home"
                android:theme="@style/Theme"
                android:launchMode="singleInstance"
                android:stateNotNeeded="true">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.HOME"/>
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>

Based on that you should add the following categories for querying for the launcher

Intent i = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MAIN);
i.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_HOME);
i.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_DEFAULT);