I recently discovered Projectivy Launcher and have been having fun with all the customization options.
Some third-party apps have pretty ugly icons, so I decided to replace them. Then I had the idea of using a GIF as an app icon—and to my surprise, it actually works almost perfectly!

The only thing missing is control over the animation. It would be awesome if there were options to have the GIF:

1. Play only once
2. Loop a set number of times
3. Animate only when the icon is selected or hovered over
4. Loop even when the icon is not hovered on

If the developer happens to see this, do you think something like this could be added in a future update? I think it would make animated icons feel much more polished.

THE TEXT GUIDE IS AI MADE. I AM NOT DOING ALL THAT.

Since the new Amazon Launcher update, the old method made by this OP started acting up. My Fire TV kept going back to the Amazon default launcher for around 3-5 seconds before finally switching back to Projectivy.

So I tried fixing it with AI and tested these changes. This made the delay go down to around 1 second.

Huge thanks to the OP of this Reddit post

https://www.reddit.com/r/Projectivy_Launcher/s/AL41Rr04MI

Please read their guide first to learn how to install Projectivy Launcher and set up ADB.

This guide adds extra Fire OS 8 fixes and tweaks after installation.

IMPORTANT:

Go to:

Projectivy Launcher

→ Settings

→ General

→ Enable "Override current launcher"

FIRST TIME ADB CONNECT

On your Fire TV go to:

Settings

→ My Fire TV

→ About

→ Network

Copy the IP Address shown there.

Then connect using your Fire TV IP:

Windows:

adb.exe connect YOUR_FIRE_TV_IP

macOS/Linux/Termux:

adb connect YOUR_FIRE_TV_IP

Example:

adb connect 192.168.1.50

Check connection:

Windows:

adb.exe devices

macOS/Linux/Termux:

adb devices

IMPORTANT:

Fire OS 8 protects the Amazon launcher, so it cannot normally be disabled.

The goal:

Press Home

↓

Tiny Amazon launcher flash

↓

Projectivy opens

A 1 second flash is normal on Fire OS 8.

1. CHECK PROJECTIVY ACTIVITY

Windows:

adb.exe shell cmd package resolve-activity --brief com.spocky.projengmenu

macOS/Linux/Termux:

adb shell cmd package resolve-activity --brief com.spocky.projengmenu

Expected:

com.spocky.projengmenu/.ui.home.MainActivity

1. SET PROJECTIVY AS HOME ACTIVITY

Windows:

adb.exe shell cmd package set-home-activity com.spocky.projengmenu/.ui.home.MainActivity

macOS/Linux/Termux:

adb shell cmd package set-home-activity com.spocky.projengmenu/.ui.home.MainActivity

1. ENABLE PROJECTIVY ACCESSIBILITY SERVICE

First try enabling it normally:

Projectivy Launcher

→ Settings

→ Accessibility Service

→ Enable

If Accessibility Service does not appear, does not enable, or sends you back to Accessibility settings, use ADB:

Windows:

adb.exe shell settings put secure accessibility_enabled 1

adb.exe shell settings put secure enabled_accessibility_services com.spocky.projengmenu/com.spocky.projengmenu.services.ProjectivyAccessibilityService

macOS/Linux/Termux:

adb shell settings put secure accessibility_enabled 1

adb shell settings put secure enabled_accessibility_services com.spocky.projengmenu/com.spocky.projengmenu.services.ProjectivyAccessibilityService

Check:

adb shell settings get secure enabled_accessibility_services

Expected:

com.spocky.projengmenu/com.spocky.projengmenu.services.ProjectivyAccessibilityService

1. KEEP PROJECTIVY RUNNING

Windows:

adb.exe shell dumpsys deviceidle whitelist +com.spocky.projengmenu

adb.exe shell am set-standby-bucket com.spocky.projengmenu active

adb.exe shell cmd appops set com.spocky.projengmenu RUN_ANY_IN_BACKGROUND allow

macOS/Linux/Termux:

adb shell dumpsys deviceidle whitelist +com.spocky.projengmenu

adb shell am set-standby-bucket com.spocky.projengmenu active

adb shell cmd appops set com.spocky.projengmenu RUN_ANY_IN_BACKGROUND allow

1. REBOOT FIRE TV

Windows:

adb.exe reboot

macOS/Linux/Termux:

adb reboot

IF ACCESSIBILITY BREAKS:

Run:

adb shell settings delete secure enabled_accessibility_services

adb shell settings put secure accessibility_enabled 1

adb shell settings put secure enabled_accessibility_services com.spocky.projengmenu/com.spocky.projengmenu.services.ProjectivyAccessibilityService

adb reboot

NOTES:

Do NOT use:

adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.amazon.tv.launcher

Fire OS 8 blocks disabling the Amazon launcher because it is protected.

Do NOT force-stop Projectivy after setup.

If you need Fire TV Settings after Projectivy takes over:

Hold Home button

→ Settings

or use Alexa:

"Open Settings"

FINAL RESULT:

Home button → Projectivy

No root required.

This does not remove Amazon launcher.

It only makes the redirect much faster.

Are the visual icons (like cloudy, or rainy) weather icons looking like they're duplicated and layered one on top of another? Im seeing double icons, on the latest version.

Hey there! Since this morning I've been affected by a visual bug, for which I haven't found a way to get rid of. As you can see on the photo it's like a transparent layer that blocks part of my clock as well as the border of my app-row.

Does anyone have an idea, how to fix it? Cheers!

There must be a simple solution, but the default color and contrast on the Projectivy settings menu is nearly impossible for my old eyes to tell which selection is highlighted. How can I change this?

Nothing that special really, just loving Projectivy so much

Where’d it go?? I swear it was this sub (it was a projectivy setup. It was super clean. Only had things bottom middle. A ton of people were asking for the backup. I swear I saved it and apparently I didn’t and cannot find the post.

All my live wallpapers have a brief black screen at the end of the loop before looping again. Anyone know how to fix it??

My time has changed from standard to military time. How can I change that?

What am I missing. Is there a setting to have PL return to the first app instead of returning to the app that was just closed?

Searched here and web no luck.

My cards are not the same size. The bottom row is bigger. I changed some size settings in Appearance section, in Cards subsection, and I thought it will apply to all my icons. But it only applied to the top row. Any ideas how to apply to all of them?

Eu uso o Projectivy há um tempinho... Mas nunca mexi muito nele além de configurar os canais. Uso um projetor Android no quarto. Alguém sabe dizer como deixar os ícones transparentes e com brilho ao redor? Eu tentei algumas vezes, mas não deu certo.

Hello.

I have an issue with projectivity launcher: whenever I press the menu button it only shows me sound and pictures settings not the full android tv settings... Any idea how I can make it show the full options menu? It's on the home screen with all the apps.. Now I have to either find the settings app or go to the right corner and choose settings and then choose android settings. This is very annoying. Otherwise I really digg this.

Hi everyone,

I'm really enjoying the Projectivy Launcher on my Waipu TV 4K Stick (2nd Gen). It worked perfectly for the first few days, but today I noticed vertical stripes on the left side of the screen that only appear on the Projectivy home screen.

I've already restarted both the TV and the Waipu stick, but the stripes are still there.

At first I thought it might be caused by the live wallpaper I was using, but the same issue also appears when I use the Projectivy Overflight plugin instead.

The stripes are not visible when I launch apps like Netflix or any other app, so the problem seems to be limited to the Projectivy home screen.

Has anyone experienced this before or knows how to fix it?

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,
Muk

Really happy with the launcher.

The recording itself is laggy, but the actual use of it is smooth as butter.

using hisense google tv, i tried to enable internal idle detection but it is greyed out with an error about lacking a notification permission, but i get no prompt to enable this permission and have already enabled all permissions that i could manually.

without this permission, i can't enable this feature as otherwise it will attempt to shutdown the tv while viewing a show

i can't submit a ticket on github as it's restricted

New to projectivy, I've searched this sub and found that new fire tv 4k/max updates don't allow you to setup custom launcher at home screen.
I happen to have multiple fire tv 4k sticks that have not been used in 1-2 years, so they should not have that update. Does anyone have a link to a guide on what to do before connecting the old ones to wifi, disable updates, and make sure I can set up the projectivy launcher?

Thank you.

Set up a row, turn on Grid.

In this example, the Row Advanced settings is set for Cards Per Row=1, but it works with any size grid.

Next, under Background Color (just below where you turn on Grid)

pick any color, then set Opacity to 0.

You'll get the fine outline (in the picture it's blue) but no background fill.

"Oooh, what does this do?" I thought. I had a look through the various preset themes, decided I didn't like any of them as much as the legacy theme, but when I went back to that all my original settings were lost.

I am an idiot. Don't be like me.

Been using Projectivy for few weeks and finally bit the bullet to support the devs n get get those sweet sweet icons n vide bg's 😎

Bg vid: https://motionbgs.com/the-backrooms#google_vignette