Bug reports on Android's issue tracker
We cannot fix some issues reported to us because they are caused by Android natively or by its interaction with third-party launchers like Niagara Launcher. These issues often affect other third-party launchers as well.
We try to report these issues to the Android development team as best we can to help make the experience better for everyone 💙
We need your help
You can help Android developers prioritize and become aware of these issues by upvoting them on the Google Issue Tracker. This will, in turn, improve everyone's experience of using third-party launchers!
Bugs reported to Google
If you are affected by one of the issues on this list or are interested in it being fixed, please follow the respective link and upvote the issue by logging into your Google account and tapping the +1 icon in the top right corner.
Overview
- Recent-apps screen / app overview: Most recent app is transparent
- Predictive back gesture animation is broken
- Incomplete private space API
- User interface freezes / Wrong app opens
- App overview button not working
- Yellow lines behind icons or across the screen
- Blank screen when going home and quickly opening an app
Recent-apps screen / app overview: Most recent app is transparent
Using a third-party launcher and gesture navigation can lead to faulty behavior in the recent app screen, which leads to a transparent entry and disappearance of all app previews on the screen. Alternative issues on newer versions of android include all entries being replaced by single color sheets.
View on the Android Issue Tracker
Predictive back gesture animation is broken
The so-called predictive back gestures animation does not play on third-party launchers, instead delaying the back navigation and then instantly switching to the launcher.
The predictive back gesture was introduced in Android 13 and could be enabled via developer settings. With the release of Android 15 this becomes a setting accessible to everyone, making this issue more relevant.
View on the Android Issue Tracker
Incomplete private space API
The private space feature introduced in Android 15 allows users to keep sensitive apps in a separate space with additional authentication. To properly support this feature in third-party launchers, we need access to functionality that is currently restricted to system apps.
View on the Android Issue Tracker
User interface freezes / Wrong app opens
There is a bug where Niagara Launcher's UI freezes after unlocking your device. You can still interact with it but won't get any visual feedback. This can lead to different apps opening from the one you tap on (because there is a different entry where you tap, but you cannot see that).
Usually, force quitting Niagara Launcher temporarily fixes the issue.
Another workaround is granting Niagara Launcher the accessibility permission. However, this seems to not work for everyone.
(Thanks to burny90 for the screen recording.)
View on the Android Issue Tracker
App overview button not working
On some devices, the recent apps / app overview button and gesture do not work when using third-party launchers. Nothing happens when executing the gesture or tapping the button.
We have gotten reports of this happening on Android 12 and 14, specifically on MagicOS and XOS.
View on the Android Issue Tracker
Yellow lines behind icons or across the screen
When using the home gesture, yellow lines appear across big parts of the screen, or a grid of yellow dots appears behind the app icon being animated.
Observed on Pixel devices running Android 13, 14 and 15.
The development team at Nova Launcher investigated the issue more and thinks it is a bug with the GPU driver on Tensor Pixel devices.
You can disable the home animation by clicking this link or typing /toggle-close-app-animation into Niagara Launcher's app search and hitting enter. This will also stop the issue from appearing.
View on the Android Issue Tracker
Blank screen when going home and quickly opening an app
When going home, using the back gesture, and immediately opening another app, the screen goes blank and stays empty until the home gesture is used again.
View on the Android Issue Tracker
Encountered another issue?
Please look at commonly reported issues; if it is not listed there either, please report a bug.