submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by FOSSMan@lemmy.ml to c/opensource@lemmy.ml

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A WIP replacement for samsungs gamelauncher which respects your privacy

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[-] CrypticCoffee@lemmy.ml 19 points 9 months ago

A dumb question, but why are game launchers needed. Do they not start on their own?

[-] FOSSMan@lemmy.ml 5 points 9 months ago

well if you use an android launcher that isn't quite as graphical as most launchers are it's quite a hassle to organize a folder with games in it. This is just a quick thing to open up and see only games on it

[-] Bongles@lemm.ee 5 points 9 months ago

Just organization. If you keep a bunch of games on your phone a game launcher like Samsungs keeps them all together. Like a folder that updates itself almost.

[-] RootBeerGuy@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 9 months ago

This could really use at least one simple screenshot of the app.

[-] FOSSMan@lemmy.ml 5 points 9 months ago

Added one

[-] RootBeerGuy@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 9 months ago

My man!

[-] atlasraven31@lemm.ee 3 points 9 months ago

Very light on details. Does it only replace the Samsung launcher?

[-] FOSSMan@lemmy.ml 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

no but after seeing how much data the samsung game-launcher collected from users it was my main motivation. I'll change that to "A replacement for prorietary game-launchers"

EDIT: changed it in the repo but I guess it will stay the same here

[-] juja@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Also worth mentioning that it's for mobiles, specifically android. At first glance I thought it was similar to playnite and got excited.

Edit : didn't mean to insinuate that it's not exciting as it is. Just wanted to point out that for people who are not looking for an android game launcher, this may not be useful.

[-] FOSSMan@lemmy.ml 2 points 9 months ago

yeah you are right, i should have mentioned that. also why have a replacement for playnite? are you missing any features in playnite?

[-] juja@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

No not at all actually. Playnite does everything I want it to, but was just excited at the prospect of trying out a potential alternative to see if it looks better. The default theme of playnite looks a bit bland and I've tried quite a few themes but just couldn't settle on one.

[-] FOSSMan@lemmy.ml 1 points 9 months ago

i know that struggle too well :)

[-] Xirup@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I tried it in my Samsung device but the app is just a blank backgroud with the name of the app in the top left corner. I´m missing something?

[-] FOSSMan@lemmy.ml 2 points 9 months ago

Sounds like a bug! Can you give me any details like phone model and android version?

[-] Xirup@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 9 months ago

Sure, I DM you.

[-] FOSSMan@lemmy.ml 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I'll make a public reply for this, just installed LineageOS on my Galaxy S4 with Android 11. GameLauncher works flawlessly, except: not all games are shown which is a technical limitation of android itself. My app just checks what apps have the APPLICATION_IS_GAME flag, which funnily enough isn't set by all games. Candy Crush for example. And the only way I could add those games is if I manually check those games by their packagename. For example: com.king.candycrushsaga . I mean I could add those games but it would be a minor annoyance to say the least given the sheer number of Android games. I may add a feature that lets the user manually add applications into the list. But for now, it is how it is. EDIT: most people of stackoverflow and other forums check if the app is a game by sending all packagenames to the google play server and check which "tag" comes back. That is not ideal howevery, on my main phone I have over 600 installed packages/apps. Sending all of them to the big G is not only detremental for privacy but also not efficient. Also I want my app to not communicate with the internet at all so you data stays where it should be in the first place.