emtee40/taskbar

PC-style productivity for Android

Taskbar puts a start menu and recent apps tray on top of your screen that's accessible at any time, increasing your productivity and turning your Android tablet (or phone) into a real multitasking machine!

On devices running Android 7.0+ (Nougat), Taskbar can also launch apps in freeform windows for a PC-like experience! No root required! (see below for instructions)

Taskbar is also fully supported on Chrome OS - use Taskbar as a secondary Android app launcher on your Chromebook!

Features

• Start menu - shows you all applications installed on the device, configurable as a list or as a grid
• Recent apps tray - shows your most recently used apps and lets you easily switch between them
• Collapsible and hideable - show it when you need it, hide it when you don't
• Many different configuration options - customize Taskbar however you want
• Pin favorite apps or block the ones you don't want to see
• Designed with keyboard and mouse in mind
• 100% free, open source, and no ads

Freeform window mode (Android 7.0+)

Taskbar lets you launch apps in freeform floating windows on Android 7.0+ (Nougat). No root access is required. Android 8.0+ (Oreo) is also supported via an adb shell command.

Simply follow these steps to configure your device for launching apps in freeform mode:

1. Check the box for "Freeform window support" inside the Taskbar app
2. Follow the directions that appear in the pop-up to enable the proper settings on your device (one-time setup)
3. Go to your device's recent apps page and clear all recent apps
4. Select an app using Taskbar to launch it in a freeform window

For more information and detailed instructions, click "Help & instructions for freeform mode" inside the Taskbar app.

Download

Taskbar can be downloaded as a standalone Android app from:

Taskbar is also included as part of the following Android distributions for PCs:

• Android-x86 (7.1-rc2 and later) (http://www.android-x86.org)
• Bliss OS (x86 builds) (https://blissroms.com)

How to Build

Prerequisites:

• Linux or MacOS
• JDK 8
• Android SDK
• Internet connection (to download dependencies)

Once all the prerequisites are met, simply cd to the base directory of the project and run "./gradlew assembleFreeDebug" to start the build. Dependencies will download and the build will run. After the build completes, cd to "app/build/outputs/apk" where you will end up with the APK file "app-free-debug.apk", ready to install on your Android device.

Icon Pack Support

Taskbar includes support for ADW-style icon packs. If you are an icon pack developer and would like to include support for applying the icon pack from within your app, simply use the following code:

Intent intent = new Intent("com.farmerbb.taskbar.APPLY_ICON_PACK");
intent.putExtra("android.intent.extra.PACKAGE_NAME", "com.iconpack.name");
startActivity(intent);

Contributors

• Mark Morilla (app logo) (https://plus.google.com/106169552593075739372)
• naofum (Japanese translation)
• HardSer (Russian translation)
• OfficialMITX (German translation)
• Whale Majida (Chinese translation)
• Mesut Han (Turkish translation)