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LauncherPro FAQ

Eris Ed

Android Expert
Jul 20, 2010
979
248
Manchester, UK
There's a lot of questions being asked about using LauncherPro, so here's my FAQ that I hope provides most of your answers.

:) If this guide helps you, don't forget the THANKS! button :)

Android is the operating system (OS) on your phone, yet what most people see on their screen isn’t actually Android – it’s a User Interface (UI, often called a ‘launcher’ or 'home replacement app') that sits between the OS and you and presents the OS in a better looking, user friendly and customisable way. HTC Sence is a UI, so is Motorola’s Blur and Sony Ericsson’s Timescape, for example.

One of the best things about Android is how easy it is to customise just about every aspect of your phone, and replacing the UI is probably the most significant change most people can make. There are a couple of replacement UI’s available on the Market, and this Guide is for one of the most popular, LauncherPro, and is based on using it on a Desire with HTC Sense.

What’s the difference between the standard version and the Plus version?

LauncherPro and LauncherPro Plus are basically the same except that the Plus version includes widgets for People, Bookmarks, Calendar, SMS Messaging, Twitter, Facebook and Friends. They’re generally good widgets and are similar to the widgets from HTC Sense. The Plus version also gives you the option to resize any widget - not actually resize as such, but you can for example make a 2x1 widget sit centrally inside a 3x2 box. It's a useful feature if you need to adjust widget positions outside the standard Homescreen grid layout.

What phones will work with LauncherPro?

LauncherPro works with any phone with Android 2.0 and above, and with custom ROMS too. Earlier versions are not supported and may encounter problems if you try and install it.

When I install LauncherPro, will HTC Sense be deleted?

No. When you install LauncherPro, you don’t lose your existing launcher – nothing is deleted, you’re just using a different launcher to move around the phone and do stuff. You can go back to your old launcher at any time, and it’s easy to switch between different launchers while you’re working out which one you like best.

I’ve installed LauncherPro, how do I switch between LP and HTC Sense?

There’s a couple of options here, and option 1 below is what I used:

1) Download and install Home Switcher from the Market. Open the app and it gives you a list of the available launchers on your phone, including LauncherPro and HTC Sense. You have the option to set or unset each launcher as default, or you can simply start the launcher of your choice. After setting a default, your phone will use your chosen launcher on boot up and when pressing the Home button.

2) Without Home Switcher installed, pressing the Home button gives you the choice of which launcher you want to use. Select HTC Sense for HTC Sense, and ditto for LauncherPro. If the “Set as default” box is unchecked, you’ll get these options every time you press Home. Checking the default box will return you to your chosen launcher when you press the Home button.

I set LauncherPro as default and I want to switch to HTC Sense for a while, how do I do that?

You can open the Home Switcher app if you have it installed, uncheck the default box and start HTC Sense. If you haven’t got Home Switcher then you can do it this way:

Menu > Settings > Applications > Manage Applications > Running/Downloaded.

Look for LauncherPro and select it, and tap “Clear default”. Then exit your settings menu, press the Home button and select HTC Sense.

What happens to HTC Sense when I install LauncherPro?

Nothing, it’s still there on your phone. The problem is that any widgets and apps that are running, syncing and refreshing on your HTC Sense Homescreens will continue to run in the background while you use LauncherPro, and will use the same data, processor time and battery as when Sense is running as your launcher. So, the solution is to remove all the active stuff from Sense before using LauncherPro long term.

Do this: Menu > Scenes > Clean slate.

This clears your Homescreens and means there’s nothing running in the background after you switch to LauncherPro, except the apps and widgets that you add to your LauncherPro Homescreen setup.
 
Right, I’ve started LauncherPro. What’s the first things I should do?

Upgrade to the Plus version! Seriously, if you like the software and will continue using it, the upgrade is worthwhile and supporting developers of excellent apps like LauncherPro with a teeny tiny donation is always a good thing.

How do I change settings in LauncherPro?

Press the Menu button and you’ll see a slight change. “Preferences” has been added to the menu options, and this is where your LauncherPro settings are found. The existing phone “Settings” menu is there at the right of the screen.

Will you tell me every last detail about every single menu option available?

No, that would take me a month and I got work to do! But I will hit the highlights and point out the most useful and most commonly used features.

Can LauncherPro help tidy up my app drawer?

Yes. Menu > Preferences > General Settings > Hidden Apps.

Tick the apps you want to hide. They won’t be deleted or uninstalled, they just won’t appear in your app drawer until you untick them.

How many Homescreens can I have?

Menu > Preferences > Homescreen Settings > Number of screens

You can choose any number between 1 and 7

Menu > Preferences > Homescreen Settings > Default screen

This sets the default Homescreen – the screen you jump to when you press Home. Screens are numbered starting with 1 at the far left.

I’m too lazy to scroll back from screen 7 to screen 1, surely there’s an easier way?

Menu > Preferences > Homescreen Settings > Enable virtual looping

This lets you scroll past the last Homescreen and takes you back to the first one.

What about columns and rows on Homescreens, can they be customised?

Yes. Menu > Preferences > Homescreen Settings > Number of rows / columns

The default number of rows and columns is 4 up and 4 across. These settings let you change either to any number between 1 and 10. But be warned, 5 rows works well, but going to extremes can make widgets appear incorrectly, so trial and error recommended.

What is a “Dock”?

The dock is the strip along the bottom of the screen that has your most commonly used shortcuts, and the dock is displayed at all times even when you scroll through different Homescreens.

So what can I do to the Dock in LauncherPro?

Lots of things! A custom dock gives your phone a completely unique look and feel and separates it from the crowd. Here’s what you can do and how to do it:

Menu > Preferences > Dock Settings > Number of docks

The standard dock has 5 spaces for shortcuts on it, but you may want to have more dock shortcuts. Setting the number of docks to 2 or 3 gives you an extra 5 shortcuts each, so that’s either 5, 10 or 15 dock icons available. You scroll left or right to the additional docks by swiping, just as you do with Homescreens.

Menu > Preferences > Dock Settings > Enable loop scrolling

Lets you scroll through the docks in an endless loop.

Menu > Preferences > Dock Settings > Unread SMS count

Ever changed the icon for your SMS app using FolderOrganizer and was disappointed to find that custom icons don’t show the unread message number? If your SMS app is added to the dock in LauncherPro, enabling this feature will show the unread count no matter what icon you choose. Add the link to your SMS app to the dock (with it's original icon), long press it and select 'Change Icon' from the list that appears. The unread count will be shown whatever icon you use.

Menu > Preferences > Dock Settings > Missed call count / Unread Gmail count

Same function is the SMS count above, but with the Gmail and phone apps.

How do I change Dock icons?

Long press any dock icon and you get a menu with the following options:
1) Change Shortcut – assign a new shortcut to that dock position (to apps, bookmarks, etc)
2) Change Icon – lets you select a different LauncherPro Icon or you can select something stored on SD card.
3) Swipe gesture Action – this feature effectively gives you double the number of shortcuts on your dock. Normally you tap an icon and an app opens. With the swipe gesture, you swipe across the icon and it does something completely different. For example, tapping my “Email” dock icon opens my K-9 Mail app, while swiping the same icon opens my Touchdown Exchange email app for work. Also, tapping my “Apps” icon opens the app drawer, and swiping it hides or shows the Status Bar at the top of the screen. There’s lots you can do.

Where can I get dock icons?

believe it or not, there's a great website called LauncherPro Icons that have a LONG list of icons for just about every app and setting on your phone.

Link: LauncherPro Icons

What about changing the dock background?

Just like wallpaper, you can change the dock background (or remove it completely). There’s a small selection of dock backgrounds included in LauncherPro, or you can download some from the web and put them in a folder on the root of your SD card and select them from there. Dock backgrounds can be anything as long as they are 480x84 pixels.

To change the dock background:

Menu > Preferences > Appearance Settings > Dock background.

Select either “None” or one of the LauncherPro options from the list, or select “Custom” to open the Gallery and choose an image from SD card.

Are there any dock backgrounds on the web?

Yes, the LauncherPro Icons site has dock backgrounds too. Copy the image file to a folder on your SD card and the Gallery will find them.

Link: LauncherPro Docks

Can I make my own dock backgrounds?

Yes, you can use any image or artwork as a dock background, as long as the image size is 480x84 pixels.

There’s a new Wallpaper option when I press the Menu button…..

Shortcut to your Wallpaper files, either on the phone or stored on SD card. The best thing about having the option to change dock background as well as Wallpaper is that you can choose images that complement each other and get that full screen personal look.
 
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Can LauncherPro let me change the functions of the buttons on my Desire?

Yes. There are a few things you can change:

Menu > Preferences > Homescreen Settings > Enable trackball scrolling

This turns on or off the ability to scroll through Homepages using the trackpad.

Menu > Preferences > Behaviour Settings > Home key action

Change what happens when you press the Home button. Options are:

1) Do Nothing
2) Open/Close Screen Previews
3) Open/Close App Drawer
4) Open/Close Notification – same as dragging the bar down the screen
5) Show/Hide Status Bar

How can I tell which Homescreen I’m on?

Menu > Preferences > Appearance Settings > Show screen indicator

This puts a thin indicatior on the Homescreen, just above the dock, that appears when you touch the screen. It highlights which Homescreen you are on and moves as you swipe between screens, fading out after a few seconds.

Can I hide the text labels under the Homescreen icons?

Menu > Preferences > Appearance Settings > Hide icon labels

FolderOrganizer lets you change app icons and edit the text label, but LauncherPro gives you the option to remove the label completely leaving just the icon on the screen.

I use really cool wallpaper and a custom dock background but the Notifications bar at the top of the screen looks ugly. Can I remove it?

Yes. As mentioned above, you can show or hide the notifications bar by changing the function of the Home button, or by adding the Show/Hide Status Bar function to a dock icon swipe gesture. If you want to hide it completely:

Menu > Preferences > Appearance Settings > Hide notification bar

How do I stop the wallpaper moving when I swipe through my Homescreens?

Menu > Preferences > Appearance Settings > Disable wallpaper scrolling

Good feature if you have a cool portrait wallpaper image. Also handy if you have widgets and icons positioned around part of the wallpaper image and the look would be spoiled if the wallpaper moves.

I want to try some new LauncherPro styles but I really like what I have, can I back up my current theme?

Yes. Menu > Preferences > Backup homescreens & settings

This does exactly what it says, creates a backup of your current LauncherPro theme on SD card. The only thing it can’t backup is any widgets on your Homescreens. If you ever restore the backup, everything will be restored but you’ll have placeholders where widgets used to be. It’s not really a problem – adding the widgets again is easy, and the placeholders tell you what widget is supposed to be there.

But LauncherPro can only make one backup! What if I want to save two or more different themes?

It can be done, with a little work. Your LauncherPro backup is stored on SD card as /sdcard/launcherpro_backup. Connect to a PC and copy the file to your hard drive and give it a name you remember. The file on your phone will be replaced with your next backup and it will be called the same thing. If you have a few theme backups on your PC, delete the backup on your phone, rename the backup you want to restore “launcherpro_backup” and put it back on your SD card. Then to restore it press Menu > Preferences > Restore backup. So, you rename it after putting it on your PC, and rename again before putting it back on your SD card to restore.

My Homescreen is behaving strange, I think LauncherPro is crashing, what do I do!?

Menu > Preferences > Restart LauncherPro

Glitches can happen in all apps, so try this first if you have any problems.

What is "Elastic Scrolling"?

Menu > Preferences > Advanced Settings > Elastic scrolling

This adds a slight 'wobble' animation when you swipe between Homescreens, most people like it because the movement seems more 'real'.
 
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LauncherPro Updates:

20 Jan 2011 - Added Homescreen Transition Effects for LauncherPro and LauncherPro Plus - just downloaded the update and this feature is COOL! Different animations when moving between Homescreens.

Menu > Preferences > Homescreen Settings > Transition effect

Options are:

1) None - same swipe effect as the standard launcher
2) Scale - screen reduces in size then springs up again on the next screen (very slick!)
3) Rotate - screen rolls along sideways, like it's pinned at the top left
4) Flip - screens flip like you're inside a cube
5) Cube - like the screens are displayed on a cube that spins when you swipe

Try the transitions with Elastic Scrolling turned off (Menu > Preferences > Advanced Settings) if the animation feels laggy, that will speeds things up and make transitions smoother (thanks to blackberrywidow for the tip)
 
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not bad I'll have to check it out

EDIT: just updated...and thank god, it kept everything as it was lol was worried it would wipe the widgets because when you use the backup feature it says on restoration it wont bring widgets back thats manual...

but yea, they are nice, the cube one seems a tiny tiny bit laggy anyone else notice that? and the scale is just too fast to notice it well lol..

they havent made the rotation for the homescreen any quicker, it still lags on mine..but could be cos my screens are full I dunno..
 
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one thing to ask....mentioning above about the screen rotation....can I turn it off? not the WHOLE phone screen rotation for everything...just for the damn launcher homescreens....I hate accidently knocking it and it taking a lil while to redraw

Yea it's in the LP settings. I find it's the laggiest thing about LP actually.

Haven't tried the new update because I have a modded LP that uses transparent widgets which imo look a LOT better than the standard ones as they aren't just Sense clones..



Well done on the FAQ Eris Ed, you must have been very bored tonight :D
 
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FYI - The transitions are pretty neat. **Note though... I didn't think so at first. If you have 'Elastic scrolling' enabled in the advanced options, you will most likely want to disable that. By itself elastic scrolling was great, almost an animation in and of itself, but I don't really think it plays well with the new transitions.

So, if you didn't like the transitions check to see if you have that enabled and give it another go
 
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I'll say thanks again Eris, even though I basically thanked all your posts...I already knew alot of this anyway, but its been trial and error and hours of playing since I got it...but damn if I DIDN'T know then this would of been perfect....

kudos!:D

Yea it's in the LP settings. I find it's the laggiest thing about LP actually.

Haven't tried the new update because I have a modded LP that uses transparent widgets which imo look a LOT better than the standard ones as they aren't just Sense clones..

oh thank you...your a damn lifesaver of sorts lol....I had seen that setting there but for some reason never bothered to untick it thinking it would stop the whole rotation for the phone..

and when you say transparent widgets...which ones? as me an a few others run transparent widgets with things like folder organiser...but thats just using custom PNG files with transparent backgrounds..or have you modded the LLP widgets for things like facebook and that?

FYI - The transitions are pretty neat. **Note though... I didn't think so at first. If you have 'Elastic scrolling' enabled in the advanced options, you will most likely want to disable that. By itself elastic scrolling was great, almost an animation in and of itself, but I don't really think it plays well with the new transitions.

So, if you didn't like the transitions check to see if you have that enabled and give it another go

I have unticked and reticked and unticked again...and I dunno, I would say elastic scrolling is still quite nice with them except the cube which is a lil laggy....it definitely is nice with the rotating transition...but I've turned it off again to smooth things out more...
 
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I have unticked and reticked and unticked again...and I dunno, I would say elastic scrolling is still quite nice with them except the cube which is a lil laggy....it definitely is nice with the rotating transition...but I've turned it off again to smooth things out more...

I actually like both, can't make up my mind between them so I enable elastic scrolling every couple of days just to be different :)
 
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i love launcher pro and i wanna buy the full version but i cant create a back up of my settings.....

i get an error saying the sd card isnt accessible, but my sd card is fine i can read files off it and play files of my sd card

any ideas why? does there need a be a specific file on the root of the sd card or something like that?

any help would greatly be appreciated
 
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I can't seem to find an answer anywhere.... Is there a way to use 4 icons in the dock instead of 5? Basically I'm wondering if you can make the dock look somewhat like TouchWiz. I wanted 4 icons that were bigger than the standard icons. Also to have them spaced evenly, not just removing one icon from the dock and having 4 that way.
 
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i just switched to the launcherpro plus today and im just now messing around with it
i have a couple questions...

1) for the "people" widget is there anyway you can make their pics smaller so i dont have scroll through as much? i cant find the settings for the people widget in the launcherpro widget settings

2) is there anyway you can change the icon color?

sorry if either of these have already been said, from what i saw they havent
 
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I can't seem to find an answer anywhere.... Is there a way to use 4 icons in the dock instead of 5? Basically I'm wondering if you can make the dock look somewhat like TouchWiz. I wanted 4 icons that were bigger than the standard icons. Also to have them spaced evenly, not just removing one icon from the dock and having 4 that way.

I think the default is 5 icons on the dock. The only way you can change it to 4 icons is to remove one of them and insert a transparent icon to a null link, but they won't be equally spaced like TouchWiz.
 
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