Launcher for NativePHP Mobile#

Make your NativePHP app the Android home screen — on every display the device has.

Built to prove that a Laravel app can be a real launcher on a dual-screen handheld (the AYN Thor), and verified there and on a single-screen AYANEO.

Install#

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composer require kevinbatdorf/nativephp-launcher
php artisan native:plugin:register kevinbatdorf/nativephp-launcher

composer require kevinbatdorf/nativephp-launcher
php artisan native:plugin:register kevinbatdorf/nativephp-launcher

Requires NativePHP Mobile 4.5+ and Android 11+. Installing it makes your app show up in Android's home-app picker; only the user can pick it (Settings → Apps → Default apps → Home app), and Launcher::openHomeSettings() takes them there.

A home screen in one screen#

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use KevinBatdorf\Launcher\Concerns\IsHomeScreen;
use KevinBatdorf\Launcher\Events\HomeRequested;
use KevinBatdorf\Launcher\Facades\Launcher;
 
class HomeScreen extends NativeComponent
{
    use IsHomeScreen;                       // BACK at the root stays put instead of minimising
 
    public array $apps = [];
 
    public function mount(): void
    {
        $this->apps = Launcher::apps();     // label, package, activity, icon path
    }
 
    public function open(string $package, string $activity): void
    {
        Launcher::open($package, activity: $activity);
    }
}

use KevinBatdorf\Launcher\Concerns\IsHomeScreen;
use KevinBatdorf\Launcher\Events\HomeRequested;
use KevinBatdorf\Launcher\Facades\Launcher;

class HomeScreen extends NativeComponent
{
    use IsHomeScreen;                       // BACK at the root stays put instead of minimising

    public array $apps = [];

    public function mount(): void
    {
        $this->apps = Launcher::apps();     // label, package, activity, icon path
    }

    public function open(string $package, string $activity): void
    {
        Launcher::open($package, activity: $activity);
    }
}

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<native:lazy-grid :columns="5">
    @foreach ($apps as $app)
        <native:pressable @tap="open('{{ $app['package'] }}', '{{ $app['activity'] }}')">
            <native:image :src="$app['icon']" class="w-16 h-16" />
            <native:text>{{ $app['label'] }}</native:text>
        </native:pressable>
    @endforeach
</native:lazy-grid>

<native:lazy-grid :columns="5">
    @foreach ($apps as $app)
        <native:pressable @tap="open('{{ $app['package'] }}', '{{ $app['activity'] }}')">
            <native:image :src="$app['icon']" class="w-16 h-16" />
            <native:text>{{ $app['label'] }}</native:text>
        </native:pressable>
    @endforeach
</native:lazy-grid>

Once the user makes your app the default home, HOME brings it forward, it never shows up in recents, and it comes straight back after being killed.

More than one display#

Pair it with nativephp-screens: your Blade puts a <native:screen> on each other display, Launcher::open($package, $displayId) opens an app on the display it was tapped on, and one handler keeps every display's home screen up:

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#[On(HomeRequested::class)]
public function homeRequested(int $displayId): void
{
    Screens::show($displayId);
}

#[On(HomeRequested::class)]
public function homeRequested(int $displayId): void
{
    Screens::show($displayId);
}

Want the gesture bar gone too? nativephp-fullscreen and Fullscreen::enter() in mount().

What's in the box#

HOME on every display: your app on its own display, whatever you render on the others.
Launcher::apps(): every launchable app with label, package, entry point and a PNG icon path for <native:image>.
Launcher::open($package, $display, $activity): open an app, on a chosen display, by a chosen entry point.
Launcher::isDefaultHome(), Launcher::currentHome(), Launcher::openHomeSettings().
HomeRequested($displayId): fired whenever a display wants its home screen — HOME pressed, last app backed out of or swiped away.
IsHomeScreen: a trait for the home screen component so BACK at the root does nothing.
A JavaScript export per function for Inertia/SPA apps: resources/js/Launcher.js.

Permissions#

Android asks for QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES, which Google Play accepts for launchers as a declared use case. iOS has no home screen to replace; every function there reports unsupported.

The deep end#

How it works — the resident home activity, why the app lives inside the home task, the task-affinity split between displays, the upstream quirks it works around, and how to test it — lives in AGENTS.md.

AI Disclosure

This project was built by the developer using AI tooling and autonomous coding agents. Design, architecture, and product decisions are human; implementation was AI-assisted under direction, with every change reviewed and verified on real hardware before shipping.

However, AI wrote the above too, so use your own judgement.