[Feature Request] Activate search field upon opening app drawer

H717A

First I want to thank the GrapheneOS team for providing this awesome OS!

Feature request

I'd like to request a launcher setting to allow the activation of the search field upon opening the app drawer.

Use Case / Explanation

I'd like to have have a clean home screen, so I often use the app drawer to open an app. It would be much more convenient to start typing the search query immediately upon opening the app drawer instead of having to manually select the search field before entering a query.

In the past I used Kvaesitso, which is a search-focused Android launcher. I still prefer Kvaesitso over the default GOS launcher, but I also prefer to use as many stock apps as possible. Adding this feature would make the stock launcher experience a lot better for me.

mmobder

nope, don't want that

Eumenia

mmobder nope, don't want that

Then don't enable the setting.

23Sha-ger

Vanadium can have a search widget with your default engine, pin it on your home screen.
There is no such a thing for local files, so the only option is a custom launcher.

H717A

23Sha-ger
Perhaps the request wasn't clear. I don't want to search on the web or my files using the search field. I want to search/filter my apps.
The search field on top of the app drawer is already there, so I just want the field being activated upon opening the app drawer. Without needing to click it first.

niels

Believe it or not, this is my biggest annoyance of using GrapheneOS.
Having to reach out to the top of my screen every time I want to search an app is pointless, and every other ROM I know has this feature.

Custom launcher navigations are just clunky when you don't root, so that's not a perfect solution.

de0u

niels Believe it or not, this is my biggest annoyance of using GrapheneOS.
Having to reach out to the top of my screen every time I want to search an app is pointless, and every other ROM I know has this feature.

Personally, my launcher app-list screen has 19 items, so they are all visible. I would be quite irked if every time I went to that screen the bottom row of app icons were covered up by the keyboard, so that I needed to dismiss the keyboard every time I were on that screen.

Obviously code could be written to pop up the keyboard only after some number of apps were installed, and also code could be written to configure the threshold... it's not a lot of code, but it would need to be re-merged a couple times per month on average, and then hopefully tested...

Other AOSP variants have more UI tweaks (or a replacement launcher), but staying on top of security fixes makes maintaining every feature, even if it's small, harder for the GrapheneOS developers than for the developers of an OS that is six months or a year behind on security patches.

niels

de0u understandable. Most roms have it as a simple toggle in the launcher settings ("start settings"). It's just something that frustrates me coming from stock OS with Pixel launcher.

I guess I am going to try root someday, if that's even somewhat secure.

N1b

It's a fair request, but rather in the convenience department and not about increasing security and privacy. Personally I would add that once only one single app is filtered through search, launch that app directly and not have it sit there alone as if you possibly wanted something else than opening it.

I guess it would be lower on the priority list and while not perfect, custom launchers can mostly solve the inconvenience.

@H717A have you opened an issue on Github for that? I doubt it's getting much awareness here among the many threads...

H717A

N1b

Yes I did.
https://github.com/GrapheneOS/os-issue-tracker/issues/6927

de0u

niels Most roms have it as a simple toggle in the launcher settings ("start settings").

A pull request against the current launcher might or might not be merged, even if it's clean and solid and tested on at least one phone, one Fold, and the Tablet. Even if the code is small and great somebody will need to evaluate the maintenance load.

If one of the existing launchers with this feature is not GPL (info), it may be possible to extract some code.

N1b

niels I guess I am going to try root someday, if that's even somewhat secure.

This is something you'll get a lot of (justified) backlash for here, as security implications are severe. Nobody will be able to truly help you with issues afterwards and people will tell you it's not GrapheneOS anymore as it's deeply undermined.

Which launcher would you use and why do you think only rooting will fully solve your issue?

H717A

niels

That's what I suggested/requested. A option (toggle) to enable/disable the activation of the search field.

I eventually went back to my preferred launcher: Kvaesitso.
I might switch back to the stock launcher though, if they'll add this feature.

niels

Hi, I just tried an app called Pixel Search.
It lets you place a search bar widget that can search apps just like Pixel Launcher, with way more options.
This has been my solution, although not open source.