gemini-shell

A minimal Android launcher for Gemini web, built to replace the "web-to-apk" wrappers that ship ads, analytics, and a desktop user-agent spoof.

Why this exists

The Google app was removed from the device as bloat, and the official Gemini app depends on it. Two third-party wrappers were evaluated:

	webtoapk template	Android Studio WebView template
Engine	Capacitor + WebView	WebView
User agent	default	spoofed to desktop Chrome/120
Bundled SDKs	AdMob, Unity Ads, OneSignal, Firebase, ML Kit, Play Billing	none
Permissions	camera, location, storage, DUMP	minimal

Both render the page in android.webkit.WebView with a spoofed desktop user agent, which is exactly why the mobile layout degrades. Neither shares Chrome's cookie jar, so an existing Google session is not reused.

Chrome's own "install this site as an app" path is not available for Gemini: gemini.google.com returns 404 for /manifest.json, and its CSP declares manifest-src 'none', which instructs the browser to refuse any manifest for the origin. x-frame-options: DENY also rules out framing.

What this does instead

• Opens https://gemini.google.com/app in a Custom Tab — Chrome's engine, Chrome's cookie jar, so an existing sign-in is reused with no re-authentication.
• No WebView, so no user-agent spoofing and no login wall.
• No third-party SDKs. The only declared permission is INTERNET.
• Toolbar tinted to the Gemini surface colour so it reads as an app.
• Background warm-up plus mayLaunchUrl prefetch to avoid a cold-start flash.
• Falls back to ACTION_VIEW if no Custom Tabs provider is installed.

Build

Built by GitHub Actions without Gradle: aapt2 for resources, javac for the single activity, d8 for dexing, zipalign and apksigner for the artifact. See .github/workflows/build.yml.

Scope

This is a shell, not a client. It does not authenticate, store, or intercept anything; it hands the URL to Chrome and exits.