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Device App

Mini Launcher

A lightweight home screen built for the dashboard. Mini Launcher replaces the standard Android home with big, glanceable cards — weather, media, shortcuts, notifications and a full phone dialer — all in a fixed automotive dark theme designed to be read and tapped at a glance while riding.

HOME LAUNCHER PRE-INSTALLED DMD DEVICES ONLY FULL-SCREEN
Table of Contents

Overview

Mini Launcher is an ultra-lightweight home screen (launcher) for your DMD device. Instead of a grid of app icons, it presents the information you need on the move as a set of large, high-contrast cards on a single home screen — the current weather, what's playing, your most-used shortcuts and your latest notifications.

It uses a fixed dark theme tuned for in-vehicle readability, runs full-screen with no status or navigation bars, and keeps every tap target large so it's easy to use with gloves or a quick glance. When it's set as your home app, pressing the device's Home button always brings you straight back to this dashboard.

Card-Based Home

Weather, media, shortcuts and notifications on one glanceable screen

Built for the Dashboard

Big tap targets, fixed dark theme and full-screen for use while riding

Phone Built In

Acts as your dialer — contacts, call history and incoming calls

Setting Mini Launcher as Home

Mini Launcher only takes over the home screen once it is selected as the default Home app. On DMD devices it comes pre-installed, so you just need to choose it.

1
Press the Home button

Android asks which launcher to use when more than one is installed.

2
Choose Mini Launcher

Select it from the list and pick Always so it becomes your default home.

3
You're done

Pressing Home now always returns to the Mini Launcher dashboard. You can switch back to the stock launcher at any time from Android's default-apps settings.

To get the most out of Mini Launcher, allow the permissions it asks for on first run — location (weather), notification access (media & notifications) and phone/contacts (dialer). Each card works independently, so you can grant only what you need.

Weather Card

The weather card shows the current conditions and temperature for your location. It uses the device's GPS directly and a free, key-less weather service, so there is no account to set up and nothing to configure.

Compact View

On the home screen the card shows the current temperature, condition and icon at a glance.

Expanded View

Tap to expand for an hourly forecast strip, detail chips (such as UV and wind) and sunrise / sunset times.

Location: Weather uses the device's location only to fetch the local forecast. Grant the location permission on first run for the card to show data.

Media Player

The media card mirrors whatever is currently playing on your device — from any music, podcast or streaming app — and lets you control it without leaving the home screen.

  • Shows the current track title, artist and album artwork.
  • Play / pause and skip controls right on the card.
  • A clean seek bar to scrub through the current track.
  • Works with any app that exposes standard media controls — no per-app setup.
Notification access: The media card reads playback state through Android's notification-access permission. If the card stays empty, grant Mini Launcher notification access and start playback once.

Shortcuts

The shortcuts card gives you one-tap access to the apps you reach for most. It comes with a set of ready-made shortcuts and can be fully customised.

Default Shortcuts
DMD2

Navigation

Manage

Device settings

Settings

Android settings

Maps

Google Maps

Custom Shortcuts

You can define your own set of shortcuts to any installed app. Open the shortcut editor to pick the app, choose an icon from the built-in icon palette and set a colour for each slot. Your custom shortcuts are saved on the device and restored every time the launcher starts.

Tip: Assign your most-used app to the first slot so it's always in the same place — muscle memory makes it a single, eyes-free tap.

Notifications

Mini Launcher surfaces your notifications right on the home screen so you don't have to swipe down a status bar you can't easily reach while riding.

Notifications Card

Shows your latest notifications. When a new one arrives, the card flips to show it, then flips back. Tap to open the full notification list.

Heads-Up Banner

If you've hidden the notifications card, new notifications appear as a brief banner across the top instead, so nothing is missed.

Low-value system notifications (for example the Android system UI) are filtered out automatically so the list stays useful.

Phone & Dialer

Mini Launcher includes a complete phone experience, designed for the dashboard. When set as your default phone (dialer) app, it handles calls end to end — placing them, showing incoming calls and keeping your call history.

Contacts

Browse and call your contacts, with photos, straight from the dialer.

History & Missed

Recent and missed-call tabs, with a badge on the Phone button so you can see missed calls at a glance.

Incoming Calls

A large, full-screen incoming-call screen that's easy to answer or decline, even over the lock screen.

Call Screening Modes

A quick selector in the dialer lets you decide which calls come through — useful when you're on the move and don't want to be interrupted:

Take All Calls

Every call rings normally. This is the default.

Only Favorites

Only calls from your starred (favourite) contacts ring. Everyone else is declined silently.

Silent Mode

All incoming calls are declined silently — no ring, no screen — until you switch back.

Call handling and screening only work while Mini Launcher is set as your default phone app. If you'd rather keep the stock dialer, leave it as default and simply don't grant the phone role.

iPhone Notifications

If you carry an iPhone, Mini Launcher can mirror its notifications over Bluetooth so they show up in the notifications card alongside everything else — the same approach used by the DMD2 app.

Pairing an iPhone

Open Settings → Add iPhone in Mini Launcher and follow the pairing flow. Once bonded, incoming iPhone notifications appear in the notifications card and heads-up banner, with the correct app name and icon.

Bluetooth permission required: Grant the Bluetooth permission when prompted. Without it the connection service can't start, so iPhone mirroring stays off.

All Apps Drawer

Everything installed on the device is still one tap away. Open the all-apps drawer from the home screen to see the full list of installed apps and launch anything that isn't on a shortcut.

Use the drawer to find an app once, then add it as a custom shortcut so it's always on the home screen.

Device Compatibility

Mini Launcher is made for DMD Navigation hardware and is pre-installed on supported devices. On non-DMD hardware the app is locked and cannot be used as a launcher.

Supported Devices
  • DMD T665, T865X and T880X
  • DMD Norte
  • Other DMD Navigation branded devices

Troubleshooting

The weather card needs the location permission to know where to fetch the forecast for. Grant Mini Launcher location access, then make sure the device has a GPS fix or has recently had one.

The media and notification cards rely on Android's notification-access permission. Grant Mini Launcher notification access, then start playback in your music app once so it can pick up the session.

Phone features only work when Mini Launcher is your default phone app. Set it as the default dialer in Android's default-apps settings and grant the phone and contacts permissions. Also check that a call-screening mode such as Silent Mode or Only Favorites isn't declining the call.

Open Android's default-apps settings, choose Home app and pick the launcher you want. You can switch back to Mini Launcher the same way at any time.
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