Open sourcing DigiLux
DigiLux Icon
Today, I pushed the code for the DigiLux app to a public github repository.
A primer for what DigiLux is:
The reasons are manyfold:
Transparency: DigiLux uses accessibility permissions on Android and it’s a privilege I don’t take lightly. It helps when the source is freely available for people to build the app on their own in case they have any privacy concerns.
Android OEMs and fragmentation: When DigiLux launched, it launched on Android Oreo and everything was great. Most phones that had a fingerprint sensor (barring Samsung) supported the Fingerprint gesture API. With Android Pie however, One Plus, Nokia and Xiaomi all removed support for the API in phones that supported it, as they explored other biometric authentication options like in display fingerprint sensors and face detection. DigiLux had some unlockable features, and when these features stopped working after people had acquired them, they were understandably upset. It therefore makes sense to offer everything for free as I can not guarantee wether the app works indefinitely for any device. Currently, I’m only sure of Pixel phones and The Essential phone supporting the app.
Android Q / Android API changes: With the launch of the first Android Q beta came the news that background services would no longer be able to launch an app’s activities. Given that DigiLux is an Accessibility service in the background, it meant that DigiLux would effectively be non functional in Android Q for the pop up brightness slider, or docking functionality. Users on the Q beta sent feedback noting that they saw a toast message saying the app they used frequently was incompatible with the version of Android they were using, and would be non compatible with the final release; this was the case for over 2 months. Last week, Google relented, and with Android Q beta 3 DigiLux is allowed to launch activities from the background, explicitly because it is an Accessibility service. The full list of compatible services can be found here. Again, because I can not guarantee this will not change again in the future, the app is not viable as proprietary code.
Open source merit badge: I’ve always wanted to work on an open source app, and well, here it is.
That’s it! Go look at the source, suggest changes, request features, log bugs and so on!
The Github repository for DigiLux can be found below:
You can also download DigiLux from the Play Store here:
Again, please note, I only know of the Google Pixel Phones and the Essential Phone supporting the necessary APIs.