App switcher sometimes doesn't open

raxod502

In the last few weeks, I've noticed that in some cases, the "open app switcher" button in the three-button navigation bar stops working entirely (registers haptic feedback, but doesn't do anything).

The "back" button and the "home" button in the navigation bar still work, and switching apps is possible by exiting to the home screen and then entering the desired app. Rebooting the phone gets things back into working order, but the problem has recurred periodically.

This never happened to me with GrapheneOS before a few weeks ago.

What would be a good way to troubleshoot and determine which component or app is at fault for such an issue?

I am reaching out here because I think the system navigation bar is provided by the base system image directly, and cannot be customized by apps, so it would seem to follow that any apps I had installed wouldn't be able to cause a problem like this, but I'm very open to being told I have a mistaken assumption.

(I previously posted about this inGeneral:grapheneos.org, but nobody had any ideas.)

other8026

raxod502 I'm assuming you have the default launcher installed?

If this happens again, try going to the default launcher's app info and tap force stop to see if that resolves the issue temporarily.

I recall there being very similar issues in the GrapheneOS Issue Tracker. I've personally had a similar issue and it ust went away randomly one day. I have no idea what caused it or what made it go away.

other8026

by the way, this looks like a related issue: https://github.com/GrapheneOS/os-issue-tracker/issues/2658

raxod502

I use Smart Launcher 6, but I assumed that probably wasn't the problem because I don't think the selected launcher can do anything to customize the navigation bar or app switcher.

I haven't yet seen the issue since posting this thread, maybe that is because it was fixed, I do see discussion very recently in the GitHub issue you linked suggesting that it might have been patched in the latest update.

I will keep an eye out for if the problem recurs, and if it does, I will try force-stopping my launcher to see if that resolves the issue, and I will also try/verify the workarounds mentioned in the issue thread.

Thank you!

raxod502

Ok, the issue occurred again today, and I can confirm that force-stopping my launcher app does NOT act as a workaround. I also confirmed that the workaround mentioned in the original post at https://github.com/GrapheneOS/os-issue-tracker/issues/2658 does NOT work on my system. However, rebooting the device DOES still work to mitigate the issue.

igowen

i'm having this exact issue, although with Nova Launcher and a Pixel 8. same symptoms -- seems to happen randomly, force-stopping the launcher doesn't help, and rebooting fixes it (temporarily).

fe3lapacut

Nova launcher released beta 8.0.9 on the 16th. Maybe that's worth a try.

fe3lapacut

fe3lapacut it's not fixed with the latest beta.

surgeryonagrape

I'm running latest version (2024080500) on a pixel 6a. while force stopping launcher app temporarily fixes it, this is still an issue that needs to be addressed.

AlphaElwedritsch

surgeryonagrape which launcher?

surgeryonagrape

AlphaElwedritsch I currently use lawnchair. the app i have to force stop is the system launcher3. i also recall this happening when i used nova launcher.

AlphaElwedritsch

ah, ok, thanks
that's why I've probably never noticed such behavior before, since I only used the default launcher

surgeryonagrape

This thread seems related; this might be Android in general not handling third party launchers well right now, idk.

headphonejack

to fix
go to settings
gesture navigation
switch to gesture navigation
use gesture navigation to go back, maybe use it to do one any other action not sure if necessary
go back to gesture navigation setting
go back to three button launcher

AlxDaGreat

This just happened to me. I'm running GrapheneOS on my Pixel 7 Pro with the Nova Launcher.

When I first came across this issue, I found a thread on here suggesting to disable all Animation Scale options in Dev Options. This resolved my issue the first time.

But it came back recently, worse than before. I am able to reproduce the issue by opening Youtube and having it playing in the background (PIP off) and swapping to another app (in my case, I did it with a game). Swapping back and forth on those two seems to bring the glitch back up, preventing me from switching apps. Seen above, I was able to go to Apps in Settings, Force Stop Launcher (Not Nova Launcher), and the issue resolved. BUT it does come back if I try to reproduce, so its only a workaround for now.

AlphaElwedritsch

what speaks against the default launcher

Darth_Alicious

I made an account just to reply post to this because this issue had been driving me crazy and I want to help out. I use Nova Launcher and have been encountering this for a while. Not sure if this is a permanent fix, but I opened Settings > Apps > Launcher > App Battery Usage & Mobile Data Usage and disabled "Allow Background Usage" in both. Its been a few days and this issue hasn't reappeared, so hopefully this solves the issue for us.