An Android home-screen launcher that faithfully recreates the Modern UI / Metro aesthetic of Windows 10 Mobile: resizable colored tiles, live-tile notification previews, an alphabetical app drawer, and a fully customizable wallpaper.
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- Resizable tiles in four sizes matching Windows Phone 10: Small (1×1), Medium (2×2), Wide (4×2), Large (4×4).
- 4-column grid (classic WP) or 6-column compact grid — switchable from Settings.
- Drag & drop reordering: long-press a tile to enter edit mode (tiles wobble), drag it anywhere. A white overlay highlights a valid drop target; red signals a collision. Tap anywhere else to exit.
- Auto-placement fills gaps top-to-left, mirroring the original Windows Phone Start screen behavior.
- Notification badge: Wide and Large tiles show a numeric badge (top-right corner) with the count of active notifications.
- Text live tile: the latest notification's title and body appear directly on Wide and Large tiles.
- Messaging apps (WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Messenger, Messages…): tiles show the total unread message count aggregated across all chats, plus the last message preview (sender + text). Data is extracted from
MessagingStyle, so any app using the standard Android notification style is supported automatically — no per-app integration required. - Media tiles (Spotify, YouTube Music, VLC, podcast apps…): tiles for apps playing audio become a mini-player — album art as background, track title, artist name, and an animated progress bar on the bottom edge. Tap the play/pause icon (top-right) to toggle playback; Wide and Large tiles also show previous and next skip buttons. The rest of the tile still launches the app. Works with any app that publishes a
MediaSession.
- 10 Metro accent colors: Blue, Teal, Green, Red, Magenta, Purple, Orange, Brown, Gray, Graphite — selectable per tile via long-press menu.
- Auto-color: the initial tile color is extracted automatically from the app icon using
androidx.palette. - Transparent tiles: tiles can be set as transparent to reveal the wallpaper behind them.
- Font size for tiles: Small / Normal / Large — configurable in Settings.
- Opens via swipe left, swipe up, double-tap on the background, or tap the "›" arrow (bottom-right).
- Alphabetical sections with A / B / C… headers and a side index for fast scroll.
- Search bar for instant filtering.
- Long-press an app to pin it to Start, open App Info, or uninstall.
- Font size for the drawer: Small / Normal / Large.
- Uses the system wallpaper (
WallpaperManager) by default, or pick a custom image via the image picker (persistent permission). - Settings accessible via long-press on any tile or by swiping down from the top.
- Portrait-only lock option.
- Shortcut to system Notification Access settings.
- Reset Start (clears all tiles).
MetroLauncher/
├── app/
│ ├── build.gradle
│ └── src/main/
│ ├── AndroidManifest.xml # Declares the app as HOME + DEFAULT launcher
│ ├── java/com/metrolauncher/
│ │ ├── MetroApp.kt # Application singleton — app icon cache
│ │ ├── model/ # Tile, TileSize, TileKind, AppInfo, WeatherCondition
│ │ ├── util/ # AppLoader, TileStorage, GridPacker, ColorUtils,
│ │ │ # Prefs, AlarmProvider, CalendarProvider,
│ │ │ # GalleryProvider, MediaInfoCache,
│ │ │ # WeatherProvider, FaviconCache
│ │ ├── view/ # TileView (custom Canvas), TileGridLayout (ViewGroup),
│ │ │ # SearchBarView, SearchPullDownLayout, TileMaskView,
│ │ │ # WeatherBackgroundRenderer
│ │ ├── adapter/ # AppListAdapter (sectioned drawer)
│ │ ├── service/ # NotificationListener, PackageChangeReceiver
│ │ └── activity/ # MainActivity, AllAppsActivity, SettingsActivity,
│ │ # DrawerFragment, StartFragment, ShareToStartActivity
│ └── res/
│ ├── layout/ # XML layouts
│ ├── values/ # colors, strings, dimens, themes
│ ├── anim/ # slide transitions
│ ├── xml/settings_prefs.xml # PreferenceScreen definition
│ ├── drawable/ # Launcher icon (vector)
│ └── mipmap*/ # Adaptive icon + round fallback
├── build.gradle
├── settings.gradle
├── gradle.properties
└── README.md
| Component | Description |
|---|---|
TileView |
Custom View that draws a tile entirely on Canvas: colored background, icon, label, notification badge, live-tile text, media art and controls. Everything is hand-drawn for pixel-perfect control and smooth performance. |
TileGridLayout |
Custom ViewGroup implementing an absolute N-row × 4-column grid. Each tile occupies size.cols × size.rows cells at position (row, col). Handles drag-and-drop in-place. |
GridPacker |
Auto-placement algorithm that fills the grid top-to-left, replicating Windows Phone Start screen behavior. |
NotificationListener |
NotificationListenerService that captures title, body, MessagingStyle data, and MediaSession metadata, forwarding them to MainActivity via local broadcast. Requires user-granted BIND_NOTIFICATION_LISTENER_SERVICE permission. |
ColorUtils |
Uses androidx.palette to extract a vibrant color from the app icon when a new tile is pinned; the color can be overridden manually at any time. |
| Gesture | Action |
|---|---|
| Tap tile | Launch app |
| Long-press tile | Open menu: resize / color / transparency / remove |
| Swipe ← on Start | Open All Apps drawer |
| Swipe ↑ on Start | Open All Apps drawer |
| Double-tap on Start | Open All Apps drawer |
| Tap "›" (bottom-right) | Open All Apps drawer |
| Swipe → in drawer | Return to Start |
| Long-press app in drawer | Menu: Pin to Start / App Info / Uninstall |
- Android Studio Hedgehog (2023.1) or newer
- JDK 17 (bundled with Android Studio)
- Device / emulator running Android 7.0 Nougat (API 24) or higher
File → Open…and select theMetroLauncher/folder.- Wait for the first Gradle sync (~1–2 minutes).
Build → Build Bundle(s) / APK(s) → Build APK(s).- The debug APK is generated at
app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk.
The repo does not include the gradle-wrapper.jar binary. Generate it once with a globally installed Gradle, or let Android Studio create it on the first sync:
cd MetroLauncher
gradle wrapper --gradle-version 8.2 # only if Gradle is installed globally
./gradlew assembleDebugFor a signed release build:
./gradlew assembleRelease
# Requires keystore configuration — see the Android signing documentation.Via ADB:
adb install app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apkManually: copy the APK to your device and install it (enable Install from unknown sources for your file manager if prompted).
-
Set Metro Launcher as the default home app:
Settings → Apps → Default apps → Home app → Metro Launcher
(path may vary slightly by manufacturer) -
Grant Notification Access (required for live tiles):
A dialog appears on first launch — tap Open Settings and enable the toggle next to Metro Launcher.
Manual path:Settings → Privacy → Notifications → Notification access → Metro Launcher -
Six example tiles (the first six installed apps, alphabetically) are placed automatically. Long-press any tile to resize, recolor, or remove it.
| Library | Version | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
androidx.core:core-ktx |
1.12.0 | Kotlin extensions for Android core APIs |
androidx.appcompat:appcompat |
1.6.1 | Backward-compatible Activity/Fragment support |
com.google.android.material |
1.11.0 | Material Design components |
androidx.constraintlayout |
2.1.4 | Flexible XML layouts |
androidx.recyclerview |
1.3.2 | All Apps drawer list |
androidx.viewpager2 |
1.0.0 | Horizontal paging between Start and drawer |
androidx.palette:palette-ktx |
1.0.0 | Auto-extract accent color from app icons |
androidx.preference:preference-ktx |
1.2.1 | Settings screen |
com.google.code.gson |
2.10.1 | Tile/config persistence via SharedPreferences |
kotlinx-coroutines-android |
1.7.3 | Async icon loading, notification processing |
- Full color picker (currently limited to 10 preset Metro colors)
- Android widget support (
AppWidgetHost) - Light theme
- Multiple Start pages
- Start configuration backup / restore
- Animated live tiles (flip between icon and content)
Personal project — feel free to adapt it.
No affiliation with Microsoft. "Windows Phone" and "Metro" are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation, used here solely to describe the visual aesthetic being replicated.