PixelPill Motion

PixelPill Motion is a focused Vector / LSPosed module that gives the Pixel gesture-navigation handle a natural press, shrink, and spring-back response while leaving Android's navigation and Circle to Search gesture ownership untouched.

Current public release: v1.0.2 (versionCode 10).

Touch / long-press
        ↓
gesture pill smoothly shrinks
        ↓
long-press continues normally
        ↓
Circle to Search can trigger
        ↓
pill naturally restores and springs back

PixelPill Motion changes the handle's visual interaction; it does not replace Android's navigation system or Circle to Search.

Highlights

• AOSP-like default motion: 76% pressed width, 120 ms press, 190 ms release, 8% overshoot.
• AOSP-like, Pixel subtle, Spring, and Custom profiles.
• A separate Pixel Fold continuity surface that remains visible across per-app navigation Insets leash transitions.
• Per-handle animation ownership and lifecycle cleanup that prevent stale roots, duplicate animators, and third-party-app navbar flashing.
• Immediate touch motion or long-press-only behavior.
• Adjustable width, timing, overshoot, and persisted Off/Light/Medium/Strong haptic levels.
• Material 3 UI with dynamic color, light/dark themes, and an interactive preview.
• Focused scope: com.android.systemui, plus Pixel Launcher for the Pixel Fold/taskbar handle.
• Multi-path compatibility probes for Android SystemUI package moves and method signature changes.
• Safe failure: every probe and animation is exception-isolated; no gesture event is consumed or replaced.

Requirements

• A rooted, compatible Google Pixel device. Pixel / Pixel Fold devices are the intended target family.
• Android 17 / API 37 is the primary design and build target. See the compatibility notes below.
• Vector or LSPosed-compatible framework with legacy Xposed API support.
• Root is normally required by the framework, not by the PixelPill Motion app itself.

Install and activate

1. Download and install PixelPill-Motion-v1.0.2-release.apk from GitHub Releases.
2. Open Vector, LSPosed, or another compatible Xposed manager and enable PixelPill Motion.
3. Scope the module to System UI (com.android.systemui). On the tested Pixel Fold setup, also select Pixel Launcher (com.google.android.apps.nexuslauncher) because Android 17 can route the active gesture handle through Launcher's taskbar implementation.
4. Reboot the phone. For later settings changes, the app's Restart UI services · Apply now action can refresh SystemUI and Pixel Launcher after root access is granted; a full reboot remains the safest fallback.
5. Test an ordinary press, then long-press the gesture handle and confirm Circle to Search still starts normally on your installed Pixel build.

If SystemUI behaves unexpectedly, disable the module in Vector/LSPosed and reboot. The app never writes to SystemUI resources or system partitions.

Compatibility

Android	Status	Strategy
17 / API 37	Designed and targeted; Pixel Fold press/release motion verified in the recorded Vector development setup	Probes current and moved NavigationHandle / NavigationBarView class paths, plus the Pixel Launcher taskbar input chain
16 / API 36	Expected, not comprehensively device-tested	Same AOSP navigation-handle contracts with fallbacks
15 / API 35	Expected, not comprehensively device-tested	Legacy and moved package names are both probed
Other devices / OEM ROMs	Not claimed	OEM SystemUI implementations and private class layouts can differ

The app has a minimum SDK of 33, but that does not imply verified hook compatibility on every Android release or device. Pixel quarterly updates may rename private SystemUI classes. A failed probe is designed to be a no-op and is logged as PixelPillMotion.

Implementation

For SystemUI-owned handles, the module observes navigation touch callbacks and drives one per-handle IDLE → PRESSING → PRESSED → RETURNING state machine. Width changes use a centered View.scaleX RenderNode property, so layout bounds remain stable and an interrupted animation reverses from its current scale.

On the tested Android 17 Pixel Fold outer display, the active pill is a Pixel Launcher StashedHandleView inside a taskbar navigation surface. A newly opened app can temporarily reparent that surface under an insets_animation leash that drops the native pill pixels at ACTION_UP even though the Java View is still attached, visible, and opaque. v1.0.2 therefore draws the same pill in a small, non-touchable Launcher-owned navigation-panel continuity window outside the per-app leash. The original View remains attached and visible; only its duplicate background drawable is transparent, so Quickstep continues to own hit testing, the long-press recognizer, and Circle to Search. The overlay mirrors the current handle's scale, visibility, alpha, position, display, and sampled light/dark color.

Every animation is resolved against the currently attached handle and a valid ViewRoot/SurfaceControl. State is weakly keyed by the handle. Detach cleanup cancels animators, removes the continuity window, restores native drawing, and drops the old state. The luma sample band is placed above the complete taskbar surface so it cannot sample the pill itself during an Insets transition. Release starts from Quickstep's native NavHandleLongPressHandler.onTouchFinished lifecycle, with an input-consumer after-hook as a deterministic compatibility fallback. It never waits for optional luma sampling or app-transition state—there is no package allowlist, arbitrary delay, automatic SystemUI restart, or per-app navbar recreation.

The hook does not consume MotionEvent, replace the long-click listener, or alter Circle to Search arguments. The setting provider is read-only and exposes only non-sensitive animation preferences.

Relevant upstream references:

• AOSP SystemUI NavigationBar
• AOSP Launcher taskbar handle controller
• LSPosed module activation guide

Build

Requirements: JDK 17–25 and Android SDK platform 37. The included wrapper uses Gradle 9.1.0.

For a local verification build:

./gradlew.bat :app:assembleDebug :app:lintDebug

For a signed release, provide the signing values outside the repository and run the release tasks:

$env:PIXELPILL_RELEASE_STORE_FILE="C:\private\pixelpill-motion-release.jks"
$env:PIXELPILL_RELEASE_STORE_PASSWORD="your-store-password"
$env:PIXELPILL_RELEASE_KEY_ALIAS="pixelpill-motion"
$env:PIXELPILL_RELEASE_KEY_PASSWORD="your-key-password"
./gradlew.bat clean :app:lintRelease :app:assembleRelease

Never commit the keystore or passwords. Unsigned release builds remain possible when these variables are absent.

The Xposed API 82 jar is compile-only and is not packaged in the APK. Its SHA-256 is f48c635f1c7469fdec0e00ad2ea0b7a6b2f5b55065784a35b7ca3a84615e8e25.

Known limitations

• Private Pixel SystemUI details can change with any OTA; a device log is needed to add a new fallback.
• The app cannot authoritatively query whether a framework injected its hook. Use Vector/LSPosed scope state and the PixelPillMotion framework log tag.
• The v1.0.2 continuity path was validated by physical observation on a first-generation Pixel Fold outer display across newly opened apps without another SystemUI restart. Recheck press/release motion and Circle to Search after each Pixel OTA.
• Folded/unfolded and transient-navigation states can use different handle instances; each discovered instance is animated independently.

Privacy and license

No network permission, analytics, account access, or background service. Licensed under MIT. Contributions and device compatibility reports are welcome.