Database Info

Android 8.1 "Google Has Stopped Working".

Pixel 2XL recent upgrade to 8.1. Added Substratum theme to all apps and since then Google crashes. For example, can't search and constant messages Google has crashed anytime the system tries to pull the app for various services. Tried rolling back and re-updating Google app, clearing cache, removing or adding substratum theming, pixel launcher instead of Nova, but nothing seems to fix it. Anyone else experience this?

Xolition said:
Pixel 2XL recent upgrade to 8.1. Added Substratum theme to all apps and since then Google crashes. For example, can't search and constant messages Google has crashed anytime the system tries to pull the app for various services. Tried rolling back and re-updating Google app, clearing cache, removing or adding substratum theming, pixel launcher instead of Nova, but nothing seems to fix it. Anyone else experience this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make sure you're applying the right version of the theme for this. Hold down on the name of the app and Substratum will display your version at the bottom of the screen. Apply the corresponding version.

[Solution] Fix 3rd party launcher bug with new gestures.

So as is commonly known, if you use the new gestures on 9.0.2 & a 3rd party launcher (such as Nova) when you lock the screen with an app open you will get automatically brought home upon unlock. I figured I'd try something random to see what it did.
This requires root & titanium Backup.
With Nova Launcher set as my default, I opened Titaniam backup & froze the stock Oneplus Launcher. I lost the home/recents gestures (interestingly enough, I still had back working on both sides).
In toying with it, I backed out of titanium Backup to my Nova home screen. Discovered I had no home or recent apps gestures & concluded that was a lost cause & opened up Titaniam backup again. I unfroze the Oneplus launcher and called it quits.
However, I started noticing that I wasn't always being taken to my home screen when I lock it with an app open. I've tested phone calls and several apps (reddit, ESPN, Chrome, messaging, etc...). When I lock the app open, I get taken back to that app when I unlock the phone again!
So in short, here are the steps you can use to replicate
1) Have a rooted device with Titaniam backup installed
2) Set your default launcher (mine is Nova)
3) Open Titaniam Backup & freeze the Oneplus Stock Launcher
4) Use your back gestures unil you get to the home screen (this probably isn't required, but I'm just including exactly how to replicate)
5) Go back into Titaniam, unfreeze the Oneplus stock launcher.
See if it worked! Let me know if this works for any of you. Also mention if you bothered with step 4,so I can update accordingly.

Really wierd since I don't have this issue at all.
I'm using latest nova and if I lock in instagram/telegram/chrome/camera or whatever app I'm in I get the same app after I unlock.
But good that you brought a fix for this that's facing this.

There is a simple solution that I posted in the thread above this one. This thread will probably be closed.
Delete the stock OP launcher then the home and recents gestures don't work. Install OnePlus Launcher from the Play Store then reboot. After rebooting uninstall the OnePlus Launcher that you just installed from the Play Store. Then reboot again and the gestures will start working like they should. I did this on OB6 and 9.0.2 Stable pie and can confirm it works for me. I use Nova Launcher as well. Then you won't have to have the stock Launcher installed at all.

ajsmsg78 said:
There is a simple solution that I posted in the thread above this one. This thread will probably be closed.
Delete the stock OP launcher then the home and recents gestures don't work. Install OnePlus Launcher from the Play Store then reboot. After rebooting uninstall the OnePlus Launcher that you just installed from the Play Store. Then reboot again and the gestures will start working like they should. I did this on OB6 and 9.0.2 Stable pie and can confirm it works for me. I use Nova Launcher as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or better: just install latest oneplus launcher released 9th November and problem is gone. (yes.. For 3rd party apps aswell)

So I seem to be facing a different problem. For whatever reason I'm not sure I have yet to figure out why. Everytime I update my launcher past 3.0.0 and reboot my phone automatically installs launcher 3.0.2. I have never had that version of the launcher on my device. I can update to 3.1.5 and as soon as I reboot I have 3.0.2

Picture one is updated launcher
Picture two is after reboot

3rd party launchers - recents tab

I'm currently on Android 10 and reluctantly sticking with the pixel launcher. When I use Lawnchair or Nova I get the the recents tab as sort of an overlay over the homescreen. This happens a few times a day and the only thing I can do to get rid of it is to reboot. This is wicked annoying. Has anyone experienced this and/or know if there's a fix?

guitarsmurf2501 said:
I'm currently on Android 10 and reluctantly sticking with the pixel launcher. When I use Lawnchair or Nova I get the the recents tab as sort of an overlay over the homescreen. This happens a few times a day and the only thing I can do to get rid of it is to reboot. This is wicked annoying. Has anyone experienced this and/or know if there's a fix?
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Click to collapse
I've not experienced this ? although I am using Lawnchair with QuickSwitch on a LC build that supports Q as a recents provider, but I've had no real issues regarding the weird recents overlay stuff.
Sent from my Google Pixel 3a XL using XDA Labs

I also experience this with Nova launcher. I am really missing the clear all button. I am guessing some compatibility issue with the pixel launcher. I typically freeze or delete the stock launcher, however when I froze it I lost the ability to open the recent tab at all.

Im using Evie launcher. Its simple, but does what I want for my Pixel 3A.
Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

lancasterv3 said:
I also experience this with Nova launcher. I am really missing the clear all button. I am guessing some compatibility issue with the pixel launcher. I typically freeze or delete the stock launcher, however when I froze it I lost the ability to open the recent tab at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The clear all button only shows when using a launcher that is the recents provider.
Sent from my Google Pixel 3a XL using XDA Labs

guitarsmurf2501 said:
I'm currently on Android 10 and .... [w]hen I use ... Nova [Launcher] I get the the recents tab as sort of an overlay over the homescreen. ...
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Click to collapse
I don't use gesture navigation, rather I prefer the old-style three-button system navigation (System settings -> System -> Gestures -> System navigation -> 3-button navigation). I'm not sure this suggestion will help you but it was offered to me through the Discord support site:
After a reboot go into Nova Launcher's settings and scroll near the bottom. Click on "Set Default Launcher". The normal Android prompt asks if you want to "Use Nova Launcher as Home". Tap "Always". It will appear as if the Nova Launcher Settings window is re-drawn. Back out of Nova's settings.
Now when you tap on the square recents button you'll see your recent application list in a manner which is similar to Android 9. Even though you told Android 10 to always use Nova Launcher, after each reboot you'll need to follow this process to get the three-button navigation to work in Nova Launcher the way it traditionally has. So this isn't really a fix but a circumvention for how Android 10 and third-party launcher software work together.

wpscully said:
I don't use gesture navigation, rather I prefer the old-style three-button system navigation (System settings -> System -> Gestures -> System navigation -> 3-button navigation). I'm not sure this suggestion will help you but it was offered to me through the Discord support site:
After a reboot go into Nova Launcher's settings and scroll near the bottom. Click on "Set Default Launcher". The normal Android prompt asks if you want to "Use Nova Launcher as Home". Tap "Always". It will appear as if the Nova Launcher Settings window is re-drawn. Back out of Nova's settings.
Now when you tap on the square recents button you'll see your recent application list in a manner which is similar to Android 9. Even though you told Android 10 to always use Nova Launcher, after each reboot you'll need to follow this process to get the three-button navigation to work in Nova Launcher the way it traditionally has. So this isn't really a fix but a circumvention for how Android 10 and third-party launcher software work together.
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Click to collapse
Thanks I'll try that. So far it seems to work. I used to just go into settings and pick there default home there. Fingers crossed!

The Clear all works with nova launcher when using 2 button navigation but not 3 button.
I sent an email to Nova about this and this is on Googles side according to them. They sent this back
Hello,
You can read Google's official statement and our statement about the issues you and anyone else using Android 10 is experiencing. Please take note that Google admits to this being broken on their end of things and that a fix will be coming in a future update to Android.
We understand that this statement was made 2 months during a beta of Android 10. However, as is stated in the below URL, this issue will remain broken even after Android 10 is released in its final form, which was September 3rd, 2019. What this means is that Google knew well ahead of time that they had no plans to fix this until much later so it's still a relative issue today.
Google's statement: https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2019/07/android-q-beta-5-update.html
Our statement: https://help.teslacoilapps.com/faq/gesture-navigation
What this means is that Nova, nor any other 3rd party launcher, can fix or change this in any way at this time. This issue is 100% on Google's end and Google is the only ones who can fix this issue. Their entire statement is below. Please note that the statement was from some time in July 2019, but it still pertains today and will continue to pertain until Google includes a fix for it in an upcoming release of Android 10.
PLEASE READ OUR SIGNATURE BELOW
If you didn't do so this time, please always use Nova Settings -> Contact Support to contact us as this provides us with a ton of useful information that can and will help us help you quicker and better. When doing so, please make sure the supportdetails.txt file remains attached to your email.
Answers to your questions are often found in the FAQ's so please read them prior to sending an email to possibly find your answer without having to wait for a response: https://help.teslacoilapps.com/faq You can also always access the FAQ's via Nova Settings -> FAQ's.

Yeah, looks like I'm stuck with the Pixel Launcher, which is not too bad really.
I knew Android 10 gestures don't work with 3rd party launcher, but now recents is buggy as well... Almost as if they tied the recents in with the launcher.
Don't want to sound like I'm ranting, but... My Huawei had these gestures since Android Pie (EMUI 9) and it worked properly from day one. Just saying...
I'll have to wait.

Launchers and gestures problems

Pixel launcher has the annoying search bar on its home screen which is irremovable.
Nova launcher is arguably the best for customizability. But there's something that ticks me off when using Nova. Whenever you open recent apps the transition isn't smooth as with Pixel. It has a small hiccup.
(See https://imgur.com/a/lewvZu3 for what I mean)
I tried almost every launcher on the market and they all had the same problem.
So I contacted Nova's development team to give them my feedback. This is what they had to say:
"Hello,
PLEASE READ THIS RESPONSE IN FULL!
You can read Google's official statement and our statement about the issues you and anyone else using Android 10 and Android 11 are experiencing. Please take note that Google admits to this being broken on their end of things and that a fix will be coming in a future update to Android(Stated March 2019.).
However, it's now well over a year later and there are still many issues with full system gestures and 3rd party launchers on both Android and Android 11. These issues will remain for the foreseeable future as Google has no plans to completely fix their full system gestures.
This includes things such as the CLOSE ALL/CLEAR ALL button not showing up when you access the Recent Apps screen. As well as a delay of being able to tap on app icons when returning to the home screen from another app, from viewing the Recent Apps screen or anything similar.
These problems will still be there when Android 11 is released in its final form as Google has made it clear it's not going to fix/change things any time soon.
Please understand, there is absolutely NOTHING WE CAN DO TO FIX OR CHANGE THIS IN ANY WAY! Contact Google or your device OEM directly with these issues as contacting any launcher developer isn't the correct thing to do and isn't going to accomplish anything.
SAMSUNG USERS: Samsung has enabled full system gestures to be enabled within 3rd party launchers with their One UI 2.5 update. This means you can enable those gestures, but things are still very broken, especially when it comes to animations and how smooth the gestures work. This is NOT something Nova, or any other 3rd party launcher can fix. Only Google can fix it.
In the end, none of this is something we(Nova) can fix or change in any way and neither can any other 3rd party launcher for that matter. It is ultimately up to Google and only Google to fix full system gestures completely. Though they have made it clear that full system gestures will remain broken even with the final release of Android 11 and likely well beyond that.
We understand that this statement was made during a beta version of Android 10. However, as is stated in the below URL, this issue will remain broken even after Android 10, and now Android 11, is released in its final form. What this means is that Google knew well ahead of time that they had no plans to fix this until much later so it's still a relative issue today.
GOOGLE'S STATEMENT:
https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2019/07/android-q-beta-5-update.html
OUR STATEMENT:
https://help.teslacoilapps.com/faq/gesture-navigation
As of the December 2019 Security Patch from Google, you can now enable full system gestures within 3rd party launchers. However, please note, there are still a lot of issues with the gesture system such as animations not working, Close All button not showing up and several other things. This is not something any launcher developer, including us here at Nova, can fix or change in any way.
This is still all up to Google to fix at some point in the future and to get things working 100% the way everyone expects them to be.
If you experience any issues at all while using full system gestures, it is highly suggested that you contact Google directly and/or file bug reports with them directly so that your voice can be heard by them directly.
ACTION LAUNCHER'S FALSE CLAIMS: Action Launcher made an announcement back in late December 2019, is actually misleading and 100% incorrect. They are referring to the back swipe edit zones and similar stuff. Full system gestures are completely controlled by Android and not something a launcher can just suddenly add support for or change in any way.
If you actually try to use the full system gestures in Action Launcher, you'll see they are still as broken as they have been and will remain that way until Google fixes things themselves."
Edit: uploaded an animated gif of the example but XDA converted it to a still image, so I had to upload on imgur.

I'm using Nova as well. Have you also had an issue when swiping up and holding to access recent apps, the apps fill the entire screen instead of showing the smaller preview window?

Wulfegang said:
I'm using Nova as well. Have you also had an issue when swiping up and holding to access recent apps, the apps fill the entire screen instead of showing the smaller preview window?
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Click to collapse
Just updated to A11 beta and the bugs are gone. It's working smoothly now.

The gestures work fine if you're willing to root and use QuickSwitch with a supported launcher. (No third party launchers support A11 with QuickSwitch yet though)
Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using XDA Labs

i have this problem on a oneplus ,Do you have enable the navigation with gestures?
when i use navigation bar this issue solve it most of the times its a common problem on nova for not having all the code for android 10 as nova tell that navigation gestures on android 10 are not totally compatible with the launcher

M0shi said:
Pixel launcher has the annoying search bar on its home screen which is irremovable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Search bar can be removed and more options.
See this thread
Just make sure you get the right files for A10, I have not tested on A11 yet.

kc6wke said:
Search bar can be removed and more options.
See this thread
Just make sure you get the right files for A10, I have not tested on A11 yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome! Thanks!

Launcher keeps crashing

Hello there,
I just updated the Oneplus Launcher (to version 5.0.2.3.210107152713.2314693) via the PlayStore and since then it immedately stopps working as soon as i press home / recents. This happens also when I switch to an alternative launcher like Nova. When I try to uninstall the Oneplus Launcher from the PlayStore, the phone is not responsive when opening home / recents. With Nova the OP launcher no longer crashes, but looks kinda weird:
https://imgur.com/YP8kqXG
I am having the same problems with older versions of the launcher from apkmirror. It either does not respond or immediatly crashes.
I am running stock OxygenOS 10.3.7 on the OnePlus 6.
Any help is appreciated :3

Hey there!
I'm currently going through exactly the same, also on a OP6 running OxygenOS 10.3.7. After I uninstalled all launcher updates in the app settings I now get the same weird-looking recents menu as you do. At least it works again.
I tried installing several prior versions from apkmirror.com but all of the 5.x versions lead to a non-working menu and home button. All 4.x versions result in this ugly recent screen.
I'll let you know as soon as I find a solution.
Greetings, hundertzwoelf
Edit:
Oh my..I figured it out. The problem was caused by an overlay I had installed via the Swift Installer. After uninstalling the theme it all works very well for me.

Uninstalling all my Substratum themes solved the issue for me too, thanks.