Yandex Launcher

Developer(s)	Yandex
Initial release	October 6, 2015; 8 years ago (2015-10-06)
Stable release	2.4.0 [1] / August 1, 2022; 23 months ago (2022-08-01)
Operating system	Android 5.0+ [2]
Available in	Multiple languages
Type	Operating system shell
License	Freeware [3]
Website	yandexlauncher.com

Yandex Launcher (Russian: Я́ндекс.Ло́нчер) is a free GUI for organizing the workspace on Android smartphones. ^{[4] [5]}

Functionality

According to The Next Web, one of the main distinguishing features of Yandex Launcher is the built-in recommendation service. ^[6] Machine learning technology provides the basis of the recommendation service, ^[7] with which Launcher selects apps, games, videos and other forms of content that might interest the user. ^{[8] [9]} The key elements of Launcher are the content feed of personal recommendations by Yandex Zen, as well as a system of recommended apps; both elements are built into Launcher and analyze the user's favorite websites and other aspects of their behavior with the aim of creating a unique model of the user's preferences. ^{[10] [11] [12]}

Other features of Launcher are: themes for the interface, ^[6] wallpaper collections, ^[13] fast search of contacts, apps and sites, ^{[13] [4] [14]} search by app icon color, ^{[4] [15]} "smart" folders and widgets, ^[13] built-in notifications on icons, screen manager, a visual editor grid for icons, etc.

History

In 2009, SPB Software published the SPB Mobile Shell application. The application won several accolades. ^[16]

In 2011, SPB Software was purchased by Yandex. ^[17] Through this, Yandex acquired the rights to the company's products, including SPB Shell 3D (a paid application). ^[18]

After the purchase by Yandex, the shell has become "Yandex.Shell". ^[19] The company's services were built into it, and it was distributed for free for users from Russia and other countries. ^[20]

In 2014, Yandex released a modified Android firmware, which was given the name Yandex.Kit. ^{[21] [22]} The firmware was tightly integrated with Yandex services. ^[22] One of the standard apps supplied with the firmware was the launcher that was based on Yandex.Shell. ^[22] Yandex.Kit was preinstalled, in particular, on Huawei smartphones. ^[22]

On October 6, 2015, the Yandex Launcher GUI was released. ^{[6] [23]} Despite the fact that the developers of Yandex.Shell and Yandex.Kit ^[24] took part in the creation of Launcher, these projects have little in common. Unlike Launcher, Kit was focused on enterprise applications and was not distributed through Google Play. ^[22] Shell had a different monetization scheme and different geographical distribution. ^{[25] [26]}

On October 8, 2015, Google Play accidentally blocked Yandex Launcher. A few hours later Launcher was unblocked. ^[27]

After its launch, the app was available only to users from Latin America, ^{[2] [4] [28]} later it was unlocked for users from the EU, United States, Russia and other countries. ^[6] On December 14, 2015, the app was made available without geographical limitations. ^{[2] [29]}

In October 2016, Yandex offered the pre-installation of their apps (including Yandex Launcher) to retailers and manufacturers of Android smartphones. ^{[30] [31]} Participating in this program was MTS (Russia), Multilaser ( Brazil), ZTE ( China), Wileyfox ( United Kingdom), Posh Mobile and others. ^[32]

At the start of 2016, the service's foreign audience was three times bigger than the Russian audience. ^[33]

Technology

To generate personal recommendations, Yandex Launcher uses artificial intelligence technology. ^{[24] [34]} The system analyzes which of the recommended apps the user has installed or ignored. Based on this information, the system predicts what apps users might be interested in at a later time. ^[7] The more a user interacts with Launcher, the more accurate the recommendations become. ^[35] Recommendations also depend on the user's place of residence, their interests and other factors. ^{[35] [36]}

Launcher is one of the "Discovery" products of Yandex. ^{[37] [38]} Yandex Zen, which is part of Launcher, belongs to the same product category. ^[39]

Several design elements of Launcher are generated algorithmically. In particular, the color of app information cards are selected automatically based on the color scale of app icons. ^{[40] [41]}

The user can select one of the three search engines to use within the Launcher ( Yandex, Google or Bing). ^[42]

Monetization

Monetization of Launcher is due to the built-in recommendation services. Native advertising is displayed inside the Yandex Zen content feed. Most recommendations in the app recommendation service are selected without taking into account the commercial component, but if a user installs one of the commercial recommendations, then the corresponding ad network pays a commissions to Yandex. ^{[6] [25]}

According to data from Q2 2016, the experimental business activities of Yandex (which includes Yandex Launcher and Yandex Zen built into it, along with a number of other company products) brought in 153 million rubles in revenue. ^{[43] [44]}

Management

The head of the service is Fyodor Yezhov. ^{[45] [46] [47]} Prior to this, Yezhov worked at SPB Software and SPB TV. ^{[33] [48]}

Earlier, the project was headed by Dmitry Polishchuk. ^{[33] [49]}

Criticism

Yandex Launcher has been criticized for the lack of options for fine-tuning the app. In particular, it is not possible to hide icon names. ^{[6] [50] [51]} Launcher has also been criticized for the small variety of wallpapers in the online collection. ^[13]

References