HTC phones offer one of the most user-friendly interfaces out there. HTC Sense offers great functionality and convenience and one of the main features supported is BlinkFeed launcher. This solution adds a home screen page that provides quick access to your favorite RSS feeds, news outlets and also to the latest media streams. For those who are familiar with Samsung’s TouchWiz home screen app, or the Google Now Launcher, the HTC BlinkFeed Launcher can be described as a kind of My Magazine or Google Now, but with additional features and customization options.
BlinkFeed is a very practical solution that is even available on non-HTC devices, thanks to the work of some developers focused on helping more people to enjoy the convenience that HTC BlinkFeed offers. Nowadays, it is possible to install the BlinkFeed launcher on pretty much any Android device, without requiring special permissions. The port works without issues on Android 4.4 KitKat and above and all that you need to do is to enable Unknown Sources. Rooting is not required so you won’t need to go through the process to root your device, if it hasn’t been rooted already.
How to install HTC BlinkFeed Launcher on any Android device
- 1. First of all, it is important to note that you will need to download multiple APK files in order to be able to get BlinkFeed Launcher on your non-HTC Android device. This include the base BlinkFeed launcher and all the elements that support it. This will help you to get started. You can find them here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/htc-one-m8/themes-apps/htc-sense-home-m8-7-1-1-roms-t3536654
- 2. Install all the files and once they have been installed, press the Home button on your device.
- 3. Next, you’ll be asked to set a default app for this action. You can select “HTC BlinkFeed” and after that, just press “Always” to select BlinkFeed as your default home screen app.
How to use BlinkFeed
Once you open the BlinkFeed part of the launcher, you will be asked to add sources to your feed. Then, you need to tap “Get the latest news that matter to you” in order to add the news sources and websites that interest you, then you can simply select your favorite options.
After you have chosen your preferred options, you can tap “Connect and share with people from all your Social networks”. This will direct you to the social media plugin menu.
In order to add any social media services to the leftmost page of the new launcher, you can get them from here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/htc-one-m8/themes-apps/htc-sense-home-m8-7-1-1-roms-t3536654
There are plugins listed for popular options like Twitter, Google +, Facebook and LinkedIn. Once the downloads are completed, you can tap the relevant Download complete notification. Then go to the BlinkFeed page and open the side navigation menu. From there, tap the three-dot menu button. Then you can select “Services & Apps”.
In the next screen, mark the box next to any social media plugin that has been installed. Then you will be asked to grant BlinkFeed permission to access your account.
Select OK or Allow. Then, all your social media streams will be integrated directly into BlinkFreed.
If you want to uninstall BlinkFeed to set a different launcher as default, you just have to uninstall every HTC app from Settings – Applications in order to do this.
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