Yandex Launcher

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

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