Niagara becomes unresponsive intermittently / 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.

Statement

We have reproduced the issue on some devices. This is just one cause and it seems there are others.

Our current theory is that the issue appears on devices running Android 14. When the screen is locked and another application takes charge of its awake state, Niagara Launcher and other third-party launchers have issues realizing they are in the foreground after unlocking the device and thus will not update their UI while staying responsive to actions. This takeover was reproduced via Tasker opening an app in the background while the device screen is turned off, using Google Assistant, and receiving a call.

We need your help

This issue is an Android incompatibility with third-party launchers in general, please check the information below to see how you can help!

Responding to this survey might help (amongst other things related to custom launchers) with solving this issue from the platform side 🤞 See the announcement of the survey and this news article for context (from @Wikiwix on GitHub)

Possible workaround

If this sounds like what you are affected by, please read the section below describing a possible workaround. We would appreciate others confirming this information.

Massive thanks to @burny90 for finding the following information:

Steps to reproduce the issue on devices it appears on:

• navigate to the home screen

• turn off the screen

• have an application activate the screen in some way (ask Google Assistant a question / let Tasker open an app)

• go back to the lock screen (use back navigation)

• unlock the phone

• notice that the home screen UI is unresponsive

Workaround instructions

Please react to this post with :tada:, if this workaround worked for you and with :-1: if it did not work.

• go to your system settings

• tap Accessibility

• tap Niagara Launcher

• tap the toggle and allow Niagara Launcher accessibility access

Workarounds worked for:

Links

For our help page entry for this bug, please refer to this article.