Unity Games Not Launching

Niagara Launcher is currently having issues launching some Unity-made games due to Google Play services blocking the launches. ~~We have to wait for Google to release an update so we can launch those apps again.~~

UPDATE: We received confirmation that they are in the process of reverting this change.

Workaround

How to still open your favorite Unity game by going to the App info screen. Depending on the phone and Android version the app info page might look slightly different; here are two examples.

For now, there is a workaround: Long-press the app, go to App Info, and launch the app from there.

Cause

It appears that new firewall rules rolled out by Google—in response to a recently discovered vulnerability in the Unity game engine—are affecting us, along with several other launchers. These firewall rules filter which apps can launch other apps. It appears that Google blocks all apps from launching Unity apps, except for explicitly allowed apps. Many launchers are included, but Niagara Launcher appears to be missing from the list of allowed apps as of now.

If you're curious about the list, here it is: https://www.gstatic.com/android/config_update/10222025-ifw.xml. The list has essentially two groups. The first list contains hundreds of games that appear to have been developed with the Unity game engine, such as Pokémon GO. The group contains apps that typically would launch them, like Smart Launcher (its application ID is "ginlemon.flowerfree", you can see that by going to Smart Launcher's Google Play page and checking its URL: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ginlemon.flowerfree)

Feedback Thread

If you want to comment on the issue, please visit the corresponding thread on our feedback and issue tracker: https://niagaralauncher.featurebase.app/p/cannot-open-some-app.