LauncherPro has expired, now locked out of phone


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Turned on phone, web browser immediately opens.

So I press the Home button, and get the message "This version of LauncherPro has expired. Please go to www... to download latest version", which means I can't get to Homescreen/Menu/Phone etc.

Now the problem is that the website it redirects to isn't working, it's just a cPanel login.

Only workaround is trying to find a web link to open the Market, then downloading another launcher to set as default.

What a complete joke, I actually thought it was a virus.

How the hell is this app in the Market, if it pretty much bricks your phone!

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What about the stock launcher? That is always an option........you should be able to access your phones settings through the menu button (which is NOT tied to the launcher....or at least never has been on my phone), where you should be able to remove LauncherPro as the default homescreen.

If you removed the stock launcher/homescreen via root, then that's your own fault.

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You can't access the main settings from the Internet browser.

Anyway problem solved, had to open Market from browser, but it's still really bad app design.

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Odd, on my phone, if I have no homescreen open I get a completely blank screen (no wallpaper or anything) but I can still open the menu with the menu button. Maybe it works a bit differently on your phone, or possibly it's because the app expired so you still had a homescreen, just a disabled one. Glad you solved it though.

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I received a warning in the last day i used launcher pro saying it would expire in a few days :p then i stopped using it.

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What about the stock launcher? That is always an option........you should be able to access your phones settings through the menu button (which is NOT tied to the launcher....or at least never has been on my phone), where you should be able to remove LauncherPro as the default homescreen.

If you removed the stock launcher/homescreen via root, then that's your own fault.

+1 (Y)

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I'm trying to understand the issue you have. Is your issue that you NEVER update your apps? LauncherPro doesn't have a trial period that expires, it just has a free and paid version, so all I can think is that you never run your updates and have old apps or something and it expired. I always wonder why people don't install their updates. 95% of the time it's new features and bug fixes.

Now, your phone isn't even close to bricked, so don't worry. It's actually a really easy fix. Just type this in the address bar of the browser: market://search?q=pname:com.fede.launcher

That will take you to LauncherPro in the market. Then you can update it or uninstall it. If this doesn't work for some reason, I can run off a list of about 5 other ways to fix it off the top of my head, but that's the easy way that should work fine. Let me know if it doesn't.

Website seems to be fine though, APK file here http://www.launcherp...erPro-0.8.2.apk

That's one of the other ways to do it. I just didn't mention the apk directly in case he wants to uninstall it or side loading is blocked for some reason (like on my phone stock). Either of these ways should let you update it and get it working again, and I do highly suggest LauncherPro, just update your apps once in a while and it's not an issue.

What about the stock launcher? That is always an option........you should be able to access your phones settings through the menu button (which is NOT tied to the launcher....or at least never has been on my phone), where you should be able to remove LauncherPro as the default homescreen.

If you removed the stock launcher/homescreen via root, then that's your own fault.

I've never seen it happen, but if it's really not even letting him get to LauncherPro, then there's no way to get to a home screen, and no way to get to the settings through the menu button. Settings is only in the menu button when you're on a home screen.

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Well its not "****ing Android" its the app YOU installed.

It is still outrageous that an app that is capable of essentially locking you out of your phone with no warning such as this is allowed on the market. As much as people praise the Android Market for allowing basically anything and everything, the possibility of this kind of situation is certainly its weakness.

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I received a warning in the last day i used launcher pro saying it would expire in a few days :p then i stopped using it.

It is still outrageous that an app that is capable of essentially locking you out of your phone with no warning such as this is allowed on the market. As much as people praise the Android Market for allowing basically anything and everything, the possibility of this kind of situation is certainly its weakness.

hmm

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It is still outrageous that an app that is capable of essentially locking you out of your phone with no warning such as this is allowed on the market. As much as people praise the Android Market for allowing basically anything and everything, the possibility of this kind of situation is certainly its weakness.

It may have been fixed in an update but if you don't update then it won't be fixed. bugs happen.

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You aren't the only one reporting this. It's quite weird. Some people have the issue, others don't. Either way, it's bad rep for the dev.

Just paste this into the browser:

market://search?q=pname:org.adw.launcher

That will take you to an alternative launcher.

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It is still outrageous that an app that is capable of essentially locking you out of your phone with no warning such as this is allowed on the market. As much as people praise the Android Market for allowing basically anything and everything, the possibility of this kind of situation is certainly its weakness.

Well it's not necessarily locking him out the phone as in "We've locked down the whole phone". When you install third party launchers (ADW, Launcher Pro, GoHome, Helix, etc) Android asks you which you want to use by default. If you say tell it to always use a launcher by default and the launcher flakes out like described Android doesn't know how to get back work properly.

It'd be the equivalent of someone installing Ubuntu, installing the KDE environment over Gnome, not properly removing KDE and trying to get back into Gnome.

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If it wont allow me to exit the browser, then i would be "locked out" if i didnt have a data connection.

Reason that i dont update apps often is down to the lack of an Update all option.

Ok, it isn't "****ing android"'s fault :), but it is very bad by the dev. Also the website may be working now, but it wasn't earlier, i'm guessing because of traffic.

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Glad you got it sorted. I'd be pretty annoyed by this, too. A launcher app shouldn't block you from accessing your settings menu no matter how old your version of the app is (or for any other reason), IMO.

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Out of curiosity did you have this pre-installed from a ROM or did you move the APK to system/app? I think that is what is causing the issue.

Neither, stock rom and downloaded from Market.

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EDIT: Nevermind, read the link provided by xendrome above and it explained everything :) all make sense now. Cheers xendrome (Y)

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LauncherPro is a great program but the dev couldn't give a flying f*ck about this users/customer base from my experience. If it weren't for the minor improvements over regular launcher and alternative to Sense, it wouldn't even be in my apps. Don't buy the Pro version as even Folder Organizer Lite craps on it.

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Reason that i dont update apps often is down to the lack of an Update all option.
Yes there is? At least, I'm certain I get it on my (stock, but updated) Desire.
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