Disable Touchwiz launcher on a rooted Samsung Device


Question

I used Samsung Tabs 3 and 4 for a product and have been searching for ways to disable permanently the Launcher of Samsung's Touchwiz application (leave the rest as it is). I've found only two approaches which do not feet my needs. Both of them are: replace the launcher with another launcher one and rooting the device and replacing the stock ROM with a custom ROM.



This is what I'm currently doing but it's not enough because if my custom launcher (developed myself) crashes then the selection box will ask again to set the default launcher (mine or Touchwiz's). I want Touchwiz's to get of the equation (list of available launchers).



Replacing the ROM is not an option because I would have to test again my whole product. So this is not an option.



Is there a way to disable the Touchwiz's launcher component of the Touchwiz app? Maybe through ADB? If anyone knows I would love the help.



My devices are rooted and my custom launcher is a system app.


Answer

There's no need to uninstall the Touchwiz's launcher or to install a new ROM. The solution to this particular scenario is to disable the package asociated to the Touchwiz's launcher APK (Thanks to @AaronGillion for pointing out its name and location).



To do this just execute the following command as root in the ADB shell:



pm disable com.sec.android.app.launcher


In both, Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7" wifi (Android 4.1.2) and Samsug Galaxy tab 4 7" Wifi (Android 4.4.2), the previous command worked correctly.



Having my custom launcher installed but having selected deliberately the Touchwiz's launcher as the default launcher, after disabeling its package my custom launcher was set automatically as the new default launcher.



Just as a side note, notice that I had the same results in both tablets even though on the Tab 3 I installed the custom launcher as a regular app and on the Tab 4 as a system app (/system/priv-app/).


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