Third-party developer gets Pixel Launcher exclusive features to work on other devices

The Pixel Launcher that’s included with Google’s Pixel and Pixel XL handsets has proven to be a popular one users, with features such as the Google Now panel and Google Search “pill”. Now a third-party developer says he has found a way to get the Pixel Launcher’s exclusive features to work on third-party devices.

The developer, AmirZ, revealed his work on this issue on Reddit over the weekend. He says that he decompiled the Pixel Launcher’s APK, and has been working hard to import the code from Google’s app into AOSP’s Launcher3. He says that launcher developers would need to rename their launcher with the same package name as the Pixel Launcher in order for the weather widget to work, but that would also keep those launchers from being published in the Google Play Store.

You can download the APK along with the source code for this app via GitHub at the link below. Keep in mind that this solution is not officially endorsed by Google so you will be downloading and installing this app at your own risk. That said, the developer claims that features such as the Google Now page and the Google Search pill animation should work. It will also let third-party phones swipe up to open the app drawer, and allow them to access the weather widget and date widget, the latter of which should have the correct format for all Launcher3-supported languages.

Update: Amir commented that Samsung users who have Secure Folder installed on their phones need to disable it before installing the launcher. Otherwise, installation attempts would result in an error.