Can you have an expanded desktop with unrooted Marshmallow? - Nexus 6 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hello,
I was just wondering if there is a way to have an expanded desktop and pie controls in unrooted Marshmallow. Currently I am on rooted Lollipop and have those features through Xposed Gravitybox. I'm thinking at this point, with the advancements in Marshmallow, the expanded desktop and pie controls might be the only reasons to still root, for me. (Also, feel free to give me other reasons to still root on Marshmallow!)
Thanks!

I'm running a locked and unrooted Nexus 6. I downloaded this app to get the full-screen experience:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gmd.immersive&hl=en
GMD Full Screen Immersive Mode is your best bet if you're going to go unrooted. By default, you can force Immersive Mode (no status bar & no Navbar OR just no Navbar) on any app. If you pay a small fee (I don't remember the price, but it's nominal and it's worth it), you unlock the ability to enable Immersive Mode on an app-by-app basis. This is where the app shines. I set up all my browsing apps to go Immersive automatically.
There is one big annoyance, though... While in Immersive mode, the keyboard loses some functionality. Letters work as expected, but you won't be able to long press letters to get numbers, and your "symbols" keyboard will be rendered useless. Easy fix for that is to just swipe to get your bars back, but it's a bit of an inconvenience at times, especially if you're using a phone like the Nexus 6.
Personally, I don't think this is a big enough knock against the app to forego it. For apps where you know you're going to be doing a lot of typing, set them to "normal" mode. Also, for apps that have Immersive settings of their own (i.e. most games & video streaming apps), I'd set them to normal as well.
Ever since I discovered this app, I can't go without having it installed, and I don't feel the need to root anymore. Like you, getting the expanded desktop was my primary reason to root. Give the app a try!

d u o XIV said:
I'm running a locked and unrooted Nexus 6. I downloaded this app to get the full-screen experience:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gmd.immersive&hl=en
GMD Full Screen Immersive Mode is your best bet if you're going to go unrooted. By default, you can force Immersive Mode (no status bar & no Navbar OR just no Navbar) on any app. If you pay a small fee (I don't remember the price, but it's nominal and it's worth it), you unlock the ability to enable Immersive Mode on an app-by-app basis. This is where the app shines. I set up all my browsing apps to go Immersive automatically.
There is one big annoyance, though... While in Immersive mode, the keyboard loses some functionality. Letters work as expected, but you won't be able to long press letters to get numbers, and your "symbols" keyboard will be rendered useless. Easy fix for that is to just swipe to get your bars back, but it's a bit of an inconvenience at times, especially if you're using a phone like the Nexus 6.
Personally, I don't think this is a big enough knock against the app to forego it. For apps where you know you're going to be doing a lot of typing, set them to "normal" mode. Also, for apps that have Immersive settings of their own (i.e. most games & video streaming apps), I'd set them to normal as well.
Ever since I discovered this app, I can't go without having it installed, and I don't feel the need to root anymore. Like you, getting the expanded desktop was my primary reason to root. Give the app a try!
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Thanks a lot for all the helpful info!!

Related

Anyway to completely hide the top status bar? (but still pull down for notifications)

The top status bar is a waste of space to me and quite annoying when I am browsing the web in landscape mode as it takes up precious real estate.
I would really like to be able to hide the status bar from showing anywhere on the phone (including while I am in apps), yet still be able to swipe down to see notifications if I need to.
Is there any way I could do this? Perhaps once I'm rooted or a certain rom?
Thank you for your help.
The Nova launcher (Play store) has an option to show or hide the notification bar. Touching the top edge makes it visible if it has been hidden.
Groid said:
The Nova launcher (Play store) has an option to show or hide the notification bar. Touching the top edge makes it visible if it has been hidden.
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Launchers (like Nova) only hide the notification bar while you are on the homescreen.
I on the other hand, want to hide the notification bar throughout the entire phone, even while I'm in applications.
Is there any way to do this?
If you can root and get xposed (which doesn't work with ART), you can install the "Immerse Me" module, which will do exactly what you are asking for.
"Precious real estate".....3/16ths of an inch? Lol
K.....I got that out of the way.
Did you Google this? For real? There seems to be some ways where you have to edit this file or that. But no guarantee it works ....and to me seems like it could cause trouble.
So you could fire up Google and try these ways.....must be rooted of course.........or you could just leave well enough alone and live with that 3/16ths of space being taken up.
Sent from my Moto X cellular telephone...
There is an app in the Play Store that accomplishes this without root called Immersive Full-Screen Mode ($1.29). The keyboard doesn't work right now, which might be a showstopper for you (I only use it for things like Play Newsstand or an e-reader app so I don't mind), but the dev is very active so the keyboard issue may be fixed eventually. It's worth a look, at any rate.

Immersive mode web browser?

Can't find a web browser supporting immersive mode, I don't want to root or use a custom ROM.
Is it possible? I think it would be nice to hide buttons and do some browsing in real full screen mode
Thanks
Bart_X said:
Can't find a web browser supporting immersive mode, I don't want to root or use a custom ROM.
Is it possible? I think it would be nice to hide buttons and do some browsing in real full screen mode
Thanks
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i have no idea what you want exactly... but i disable chrome on all my phones and only use firefox. and it is as free of clutler as you can get.
and even if not enough for you, there is the fullscreen add-on that removes even the action bar buttons from the OS
Immerse mode means use the whole screen hiding the buttons at the bottom of the screen, one application that uses it is YouTube or even Gallery.
I'm rooted so I don't know if this works: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=be.ppareit.immersivemode
There are plenty of ways to do this with root. Sadly, I don't know of any ways to do this without root.
I've got immersive mode couple time when using chrome but I have no clue what I did to make it happen. It randomly happen
guys, already said... install Firefox and then the full screen mobile add on.
when you long press a page there is a menu ... it has some bugs... eg when you leave the app and come back you have to reenter full screen. but besides that it does what you want.
Sent from my XT1053 using XDA Free mobile app
edit, OK just noticed it does not remove the bottom buttons... they just become dots... not sure i like that way more or less... i think i like having access to home and back buttons at all times
Javelin has it by default
Sent from my XT1058 using XDA Free mobile app
Just root man, just root, and disable those awful on screen nonsense permanently and switch to Pie. Make use of the screen estate, everywhere.

Make the nav bar smaller??

Do we have any way to make the nav bar smaller yet ? It's so big and takes up so much screen retail!
If you're not rooted and don't plan to do it, you can download GMD Immersive from the Play Store for free. With that app, you can hide the navbar and/or the notification bar. Upgrading to the Pro version (through an in-app purchase) lets you set Immersive mode for each app individually. There's still some bugs to be worked out for Lollipop, but it's almost perfect on KitKat.
I think GMD some apps for root, too, that might be useful for you. Just search "GMD" in the play store.
Appreciate the response. I downloaded it but it requires root. So I can not use it unfortunately
GMD Immersive? I'm completely unrooted and I'm using it as we speak...
I'm hoping the designers will shrink it in upcoming versions of android. Considering the notification bar up top is shorter than it used to be, it really looks off balance with super-tall nav bar.
I used to always shrink it to match the notification bar height with xposed.

Hating Lollipop, but maybe you can help.

I upgraded via Muniz method to 5.0, meaning I can downgrade to 4.4.2 if I need to, but I'd rather try and stick with Lollipop. However, if I can't do a few specific things, I may be forced to downgrade. Perhaps y'all can help me out.
1. I hate the new notification system. I'd rather not have the annoying iOS type notifications on my lockscreen, but there's no way to just get the little icon in the top when getting a message or something. It seems you have to have that heads up stuff. Am I wrong? Is there a way to bring back just the icon at the top of the screen? Along with that, there's no way to dismiss the notification on the lockscreen while leaving an icon in the status bar. Overall, I'm just really really hating the notification situation.
With that said, when my phone is airlplane mode, which is most of the day at work, there's a damn heads up notification on my lockscreen telling me that even though there's also an icon in my status bar. Same with when Power Saving mode is on and when I'm connected to Wifi.
2. The trusted places seems to lack WIFI options, and even when connected to my trusted bluetooth device, I still need to swipe to unlock. On my old GS3 with Xposed, I had the No Lock Home module which didn't require the swiping, while also worked with Wifi and BT.
3. So far, I'm really unimpressed with the camera. Are there any cameras out there that have manual focus that WORKS on the S5? (Not totally a Lollipop issue).
4. Is there a way to get rid of the typing keyboard chooser in the notification panel?
I'm sure I could add more to this as I go on, but I feel like if I can at least fix the notification situation, I'd be ok for now until Xposed works (if it ever works) on TW 5.0.
Thanks!

What's the safest way to remove the Android 9 Navigation bar completely NON-ROOT

After the update to Android Pie, I realized I can't hide the Navigation bar anymore (in order to use hand gestures using "One Hand Operation +) .
I was able to at least apply ADB immersive mode to all my apps. However, that doesnt get rid of the navigation bar on my home screen.
I was hoping someone can suggest a good supplemental app that specifically focuses on removing the navigation buttons from my home screen. I've tried a couple Nav bar removal apps. However, they seem to still focus on immersive mode and adding white lists to immersive mode only.
I would appreciate any useful suggestions.
You should be able to hide navigation bar simply by changing to full screen gestures in Settings. If it doesn't it could due to earlier customisation. See if you can revert it back to default. Also wipe cache partition helps with issue after the updates
Yep, just enable full screen gestures and the nav bar will be gone and stay gone
Thanks. Yes, that's the first thing I did, until I quickly realized that I didn't like the native full-screen gestures capabilities of Pie. One Hand Operation + does a MUCH better job for gestures IMO.
Gunde said:
Yep, just enable full screen gestures and the nav bar will be gone and stay gone
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Download full screen gestures by xda, give it adb permission and you can safely hide the nav bar (make sure to have it enabled first). Hope it helps
Thanks. The full-screen gestures app from XDA doesnt support lanscape mode, at least when I tried it. That's why I switched to One Hand Operation +" which does gestures very well. I'm already using the ADB to enable immersive mode to auto-hide the navigation bar.
manupa14 said:
Download full screen gestures by xda, give it adb permission and you can safely hide the nav bar (make sure to have it enabled first). Hope it helps
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mkanet said:
Thanks. Yes, that's the first thing I did, until I quickly realized that I didn't like the native full-screen gestures capabilities of Pie. One Hand Operation + does a MUCH better job for gestures IMO.
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I agree. I use full screen gestures to hide nav bar but only actually use One Hand Operation+ for gestures
I'm glad you brought that up. This is exactly what i attempted to do. However, for some reason, Pie Full-Screen gestures will break One Hand Operations + "Right handle" in landscape mode after enabling it for a little while. It looks like a conflict of some kind.
Could you please test One Hand Operations + in Landscape mode WHILE Pie Full-screen gestures is also enabled? The right handle stops working for after a little while of use. I really wish I could figure out a way for both of them to run without conflicts in Landscape mode.
I dont think this happens in One Hand Operations Portrait mode.
Gunde said:
I agree. I use full screen gestures to hide nav bar but only actually use One Hand Operation+ for gestures
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mkanet said:
I'm glad you brought that up. This is exactly what i attempted to do. However, for some reason, Pie Full-Screen gestures will break One Hand Operations + "Right handle" in landscape mode after enabling it for a little while. It looks like a conflict of some kind.
Could you please test One Hand Operations + in Landscape mode WHILE Pie Full-screen gestures is also enabled? The right handle stops working for after a little while of use. I really wish I could figure out a way for both of them to run without conflicts in Landscape mode.
I dont think this happens in One Hand Operations Portrait mode.
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Huh. You are right. I almost never use landscape so hadn't noticed ...
Weird issue. Will hooefully be fixed in a future version of OHO+
Thanks for confirming. I don't think I can count on OHO+ ever fixing this bug... since there's no good way to report this bug to the developers.
I probably would be okay with using the native Pie fullscreen gestures. However, oddly it doesn't have haptic feedback for some reason.
Gunde said:
Huh. You are right. I almost never use landscape so hadn't noticed ...
Weird issue. Will hooefully be fixed in a future version of OHO+
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You can also try the oneplus gestures app on the play store, you give it adb permission, hide the nav bar, but at the same time keep the oneplus gestures disabled, I'm sure it can work for you
Thanks for the tip. The One + Gestures app looks very similar to the XDA Navigation Gestures app.
There's also an app on the Play Store called, Hide Navigation Bar that ONLY hides the navigation bar using the same technique via ADB without any extra features I won't use.
Does anyone have any experience using the above apps' technique via ADB to hide the Navigation bar on the Note 9? To be honest, I'm a little nervous to try this method to hide the Navigation bar; since there are warnings of unpredictable results for certain features on Samsung hardware... like hiding the last row of pixels of the Navigation bar. It would be good to know from someone who's already tried this on their Note 9 what issues to expect. Also, I'm curious if there's any chance I could irreversibly break an OS component on my phone.
EDIT: I finally tried Hide Navigation Bar. It worked perfectly on my Note 9. I think it might be the only app that hides the navigation bar completely WITHOUT trying to add it's own gesture support. this allows me to use my favorite gestures app, One Hand Operation + (which uses edge gestures, even in landscape, instead of trying to do it the way iphone does).
The only minor issue is that the area that used to be the navigation bar cannot be used for app icons on the home screen. However, in applications themselves, that area is completely useable.
manupa14 said:
You can also try the oneplus gestures app on the play store, you give it adb permission, hide the nav bar, but at the same time keep the oneplus gestures disabled, I'm sure it can work for you
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