Download the Android One Launcher from the Xiaomi Mi A1 with Google Feed Enabled

Mid-2017  saw Android developer Amir Zaidi (who goes by AmirZ on Reddit) release a rootless port of the Google Pixel Launcher, which added the Google Now panel to the home screen of unrooted devices. It was the first of its kind to do so, and it brought with it a new wave of third-party launchers such as Lawnchair and new versions of Nova Launcher with Google Now integration. This week, AmirZ extracted the Android One Launcher — the Android home screen pre-installed on Android One devices — from the Xiaomi Mi A1 with a working Google Now feed, and shared details of how he managed to do so.

There isn’t a lot to distinguish the Android One Launcher from the stock Google Pixel Launcher. The former has a few UI changes, including a slightly different-looking application dock, a redesigned app drawer, and the Google Search bar in a new location. But the differences are mostly aesthetic.

As for how AmirZ made the change, the method was extremely simple and basically the same as how he got the Google Pixel Launcher with the Google Now panel to work all devices. Because the Android One Launcher retains the same package name as the original version, it can receive information from the Google application, which allows it to access and display the Google Now panel. The problem is that it doesn’t work on any device — not without the launcher built as a debuggable application by the Android system. So AmirZ’s modded version does a few things, including allowing the application to have its logs managed by Android itself. This is defined in the AndroidManifest.xml file, which houses a number of the application’s parameters:

<manifest xmlns:android="http://ift.tt/nIICcg"
    ...
    <application android:icon="@drawable/icon"
        android:debuggable="true"

Once the change was made, AmirZsimply re-signed the application with a new key (as he cannot get Google’s original Android One Launcher key) and re-packaged it.

You can download the modified launcher down below, but you will need to make sure that you do not have the Google Pixel Launcher or the Android One Launcher already installed on your device.

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Download the Android One Launcher port by AmirZ

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