Change or remove apps from the homescreen carousel

Originally written by Tania <tangela-rocks (at) protonmail.com> in October 2020.

Example of the stock quick launcher, or homescreen carousel

KaiOS may display five apps on the left of the homescreen, which change based on device models or the regional availability of these apps. To access these apps, you can press D-Pad Left when you’re on the homescreen, then use D-Pad Up/Down to switch between apps and press OK to launch the highlighted app.

You can change their order, replace or remove any of them by modifying the set in launcher.gaiamobile.org.

Before you start, make sure you have a KaiOS 2.5 device with debugging mode activated, and a computer with Android Debug Bridge (ADB) ready. This guide assumes you are comfortable sideloading apps using ADB and WebIDE.

On Windows, we recommend using 7-Zip to avoid app packaging errors.

If your device doesn’t have Busybox, download OmniBB from the BananaHackers Store and use ADB and WebIDE to sideload the app onto your phone. Once OmniBB opens, press OK on your phone to temporarily load Busybox onto the system, and wait until the app displays the “Busybox loaded” alert.

  1. Download Wallace Toolbox from the BananaHackers Store and install the app with ADB and WebIDE. Once the app opens, press 1 to grant yourself temporary root access to the ADB shell.

    You should see the alert “Rooted ADB access until reboot”.

  2. Connect your phone to a computer with ADB installed and start the ADB server, if you haven’t already done so:

$ adb devices
* daemon not running; starting now at tcp:5037
* daemon started successfully
List of devices attached
1a2b3c4d        device
  1. Get the launcher app from /system and the list of installed apps from /userdata to use as reference:
adb pull /system/b2g/webapps/launcher.gaiamobile.org
adb pull /data/local/webapps/webapps.json

ADB will save the pulled files into the folder where you execute the command from.

  1. Open the webapps.json file you’ve just pulled and find the JSON entry of the five apps you’re going to put in the homescreen carousel. Note down the manifestURL of those apps.

    You can also find a list of manifestURL for some example apps below. For example, if your device is on KaiOS 2.5, and you want to have Messages, E-Mail, WhatsApp, Calendar and Clock in the carousel, their manifestURL are:

Display name manifestURL
Messages app://sms.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp
E-Mail app://email.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp
WhatsApp https://api.kaiostech.com/apps/manifest/ahLsl7Qj6mqlNCaEdKXv
Calendar app://calendar.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp
Clock app://clock.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp
  1. Open the launcher.gaiamobile.org application folder you’ve pulled and extract the application.zip. Find and open the app.bundle.js located under the dist sub-folder of the extracted folder.

Now, here’s the tricky part. With each KaiOS version, the code for

Reference manifest URLs of preinstalled apps

Excluding preinstalled OriginData games and device/regional-specific apps, e.g. from Jio. Blank table cell means the app is not available for that KaiOS version.

Display name manifestURL (KaiOS 2.5) manifest_url (KaiOS 3)
Call Log app://communications.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://communications.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
Contacts app://contact.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://contact.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
Messages app://sms.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://sms.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
E-Mail app://email.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://email.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
Calendar app://calendar.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://calendar.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
Clock app://clock.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://clock.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
Browser app://search.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp  
Music app://music.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://music.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
Video app://video.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://video.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
Settings app://settings.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://settings.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
Camera app://camera.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://camera.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
Gallery app://gallery.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://gallery.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
FM Radio app://fm.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp  
Recorder app://soundrecorder.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://soundrecorder.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
Calculator app://calculator.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://calculator.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
Unit Converter app://unitconverter.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp  
File Manager app://filemanager.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://filemanager.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
Note app://notes.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://notes.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
SIM Toolkit app://stk.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://stk.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
Download app://download.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://download.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
Snake app://snake.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://snake.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
WhatsApp https://api.kaiostech.com/apps/manifest/ahLsl7Qj6mqlNCaEdKXv  
Facebook https://api.kaiostech.com/apps/manifest/oRD8oeYmeYg4fLIwkQPH  
Google Maps https://www.google.com/maps/preview/pwa/kaios/manifest.webapp Cached: http://cached.localhost/maps/manifest.webmanifest
update_url: https://www.google.com/maps/preview/pwa/kaios/manifest.webapp
Google Search https://api.kaiostech.com/apps/manifest/RUP-Kznhau9Id7UGc9ck Cached: http://googlesearch.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
update_url: https://api.kaiostech.com/apps/manifest/RUP-Kznhau9Id7UGc9ck
Assistant https://api.kaiostech.com/apps/manifest/OSlAbgrhLArfT7grf4_N  
YouTube https://api.kaiostech.com/apps/manifest/6x6P4Ap7oCIzOW10hBpm Cached: http://youtube.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
update_url: https://api.kaiostech.com/apps/manifest/6x6P4Ap7oCIzOW10hBpm
KaiOS News https://api.kaiostech.com/apps/manifest/TNQNy0nvZdt-jLvokjYJ Cached: http://kaios-news.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
update_url: https://api.kaiostech.com/apps/manifest/TNQNy0nvZdt-jLvokjYJ
KaiOS Pay https://api.kaiostech.com/apps/manifest/UgW01f5JflryQMM4H7SF Cached: http://kaios-pay.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
update_url: https://api.kaiostech.com/apps/manifest/UgW01f5JflryQMM4H7SF
KaiStore
(KaiOS Plus)		 https://api.kaiostech.com/apps/manifest/daR-aFQOTlGk8DJePIQA Cached: http://kaios-store.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
update_url: https://api.kaiostech.com/apps/manifest/daR-aFQOTlGk8DJePIQA
KaiWeather https://api.kaiostech.com/apps/manifest/hY_EHJAESdznRYwwfqsL Cached: http://kaios-weather.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
update_url: https://api.kaiostech.com/apps/manifest/hY_EHJAESdznRYwwfqsL
QR Reader https://api.kaiostech.com/apps/manifest/mwkpcuFJhk_Eeema8-fu  
To-Do https://api.kaiostech.com/apps/manifest/kvtKx4hVe-wM9jPIn39P Cached: http://kaios-todo.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
update_url: https://api.kaiostech.com/apps/manifest/kvtKx4hVe-wM9jPIn39P
antitheft app://antitheft.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://antitheft.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
bluetooth app://bluetooth.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://bluetooth.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
callscreen app://callscreen.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://callscreen.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
customization app://customization.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://customization.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
default_theme app://default_theme.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp  
emergency-call app://emergency-call.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://emergency-call.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
engmode app://engmode.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp  
fota app://fota.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://fota.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
ftu app://ftu.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://ftu.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
keyboard app://keyboard.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://keyboard.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
launcher app://launcher.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://launcher.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
loginpages app://loginpages.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://loginpages.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
logmanager app://logmanager.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp  
mmitest app://mmitest.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://mmitest.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
network-alerts app://network-alerts.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://network-alerts.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
ringtones app://ringtones.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://ringtones.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
shared   http://shared.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
snake-premium app://snake-premium.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp  
system app://system.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://system.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
wallpaper app://wallpaper.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://wallpaper.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
wappush app://wappush.gaiamobile.org/manifest.webapp http://wappush.localhost/manifest.webmanifest
Wallace Toolbox app://wallace-toolbox.bananahackers.net/manifest.webapp  
CrossTweak app://crosstweak.bananahackers.net/manifest.webapp  
OrigAMI app://origami.bananahackers.net/manifest.webapp  
Store client app://multi.store.bananahackers.net/manifest.webapp  
AppBuster app://buster.luxferre.top/manifest.webapp  

Data from KaiOS 2.5 pulled from the Nokia 6300 4G, KaiOS 2.5.4, build no. 20.00.17.01.

Data from KaiOS 3 pulled from the Nokia 2760 Flip 4G, KaiOS 3.0, build no. 00.2150.11.00.