README.md (2918 bytes)
1 # Ink Recents 2 3 A recent-apps switcher drawn for e-ink. 4 5 The screen shows one app card at a time. Swipe sideways to go to the next card. 6 Tap a card to open that app. Swipe a card up to close that app. Swipe a card 7 down to close all the other apps. Two tall buttons do the same thing with one 8 tap. 9 10 Nothing animates. The row jumps from card to card in one step, because e-ink 11 shows a moving row as a smear. 12 13 Made for e-ink readers (Viwoods, Onyx Boox, Bigme and others) and any 14 Android 12 or later. 15 16 ## Screenshots 17 18 <p> 19 <img src="docs/screenshots/recents.png" width="260" alt="One app card, the icon strip, and the two close buttons"> 20 <img src="docs/screenshots/settings.png" width="260" alt="Settings: usage access, Shizuku, about"> 21 </p> 22 23 The pictures are from a Viwoods AiPaper Reader. 24 25 ## Install 26 27 Download the APK from the Releases page and install it. 28 29 The app needs one of the two modes below. Open the app and follow the screen. 30 31 ## The two modes 32 33 Android does not tell an app what is running. So the app works in one of two 34 ways. 35 36 ### Usage access 37 38 You give the permission in Android settings. The app reads the usage log and 39 puts your apps in order of last use. A card shows the app icon. "Close" ends 40 the background processes of the app, and the app leaves the list until you open 41 it again. 42 43 ### Shizuku 44 45 Shizuku is a separate free app. You start it from the device through wireless 46 debugging. There is no computer and no root. 47 48 With Shizuku the app reads the real task list of the system. A card closes its 49 task. Where the shell is root, a card also shows the picture that the system 50 keeps of the task. 51 52 The settings screen has the four steps and a button for each one. 53 54 ## Open the screen from somewhere else 55 56 Bind a key to this intent action with a key remapper: 57 58 dev.equwal.inkrecents.OPEN 59 60 Example with adb: 61 62 adb shell am start -a dev.equwal.inkrecents.OPEN 63 64 There is also a quick settings tile. Its name is "Recent apps". Add it to the 65 quick settings panel, then tap it. 66 67 ## Open it with a hardware button 68 69 [Rebind](https://github.com/equwal/rebind) remaps the buttons of an e-ink 70 reader or any Android device. It can put this screen on a button: for example, 71 a double tap of Power. Rebind is from the same maker. 72 73 More extensions: [Awesome Rebind](https://github.com/equwal/awesome-rebind). 74 75 ## Say thanks 76 77 Ink Recents is free and open source. If it made your device better, you can 78 [buy me a coffee](https://ko-fi.com/truex). 79 80 ## Build 81 82 You need JDK 17 or later and the Android SDK, with platform 36. 83 84 ./gradlew testReleaseUnitTest assembleRelease 85 86 The APK is in `app/build/outputs/apk/release/`. 87 88 Release signing is optional. Put a `keystore.properties` file in the root of 89 the project with `storeFile`, `storePassword`, `keyAlias` and `keyPassword`. 90 Without that file the build makes an unsigned APK. 91 92 ## Licence 93 94 GPL-3.0-or-later. See [LICENSE](LICENSE). 95 96 Copyright (c) 2026 equwal.