Hide app icon from launcher

[onegladius]

Checklist

• [X] I made sure that there are no existing issues - open or closed - to which I could contribute my information.
• [X] I made sure that there are no existing discussions - open or closed - to which I could contribute my information.
• [X] I have read the FAQs inside the app (Menu -> About -> FAQs) and my problem isn't listed.
• [X] I have taken the time to fill in all the required details. I understand that the bug report will be dismissed otherwise.
• [X] This issue contains only one feature request.
• [X] I have read and understood the contribution guidelines.
• [ ] I optionally donated to support the Fossify mission.

Feature description

A simple feature where the app hides itself from the stock launcher when it's enabled by the user. Similar examples can be Vanced Microg, Openboard.

Why do you want this feature?

While this feature can be easily replaced by a custom launcher or by the stock launcher already having it by default ( e.g. samsung launcher ) , many devices might not have it or cannot use a custom launcher because of several issues.

For example, in my case : I am on android 10 and I cannot use a custom launcher because I use gesture navigations, and whenever I use any launcher other than the stock one they get disabled and changed to Three Button Navigation. Of course, I can always use "adb shell cmd overlay enable com.android.internal.systemui.navbar.gestural" but it's useless. Since 1. QS will use the default launcher and therefore have 2 launchers running at the same time, consuming more memory ; and 2. because the adb command will get reset every reboot, ergo returning to three button navigation which messes up my muscle memory.

Additional information

No response

[WillBBHM]

Hiding the app icon from the launcher in Android 10 and above isn't directly supported by the Android operating system due to security and usability concerns.

https://www.reddit.com/r/androiddev/comments/de9968/hiding_an_app_icon_is_no_longer_possible_in/ https://stackoverflow.com/questions/61772008/android-hide-own-app-icon-not-working-in-some-of-android-10-devices https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8134884/android-how-to-programmatically-hide-launcher-icon/56775696#56775696

[naveensingh]

Just wanted to add, it is still possible to hide app icons but at least one of the following has to be true:

• The app is a system app.
• The app doesn't request any permissions.
• The app doesn't have a launcher activity that is enabled by default. A launcher activity has an intent containing the ACTION_MAIN action and the CATEGORY_LAUNCHER category.

For now, the second point is true for Fossify Keyboard but I don't think 'apps hiding themselves' is a good idea.

[PytatoDuck]

I kinda like being able to test the keyboard layout without having to open a text app and click the text field.