Everything you can do with JINA NeXt.

This guide describes what you can do with JINA NeXt 0.11.0, based on the 19 October 2026 reference version. It follows everyday tasks: finding an app, organizing your space, creating shortcuts, and making JINA work your way.

JINA can work alongside your current Home screen. You do not need to change launcher to use the Drawer, hotspots, or widgets. Here, Drawer means the main app catalog; a collection is a group of apps and shortcuts that you organize yourself or update through a rule.

Available actions depend on the selected item, the screen, and Android permissions. Uninstall applies to an installed app; a widget color setting applies to that widget.

The three kinds of window

The Sidebar is the side panel. In this guide, “Panel” means the movable window opened from a hotspot. Some older labels in the app may still call that Panel “Floating.”

1. Open JINA and choose a starting view

• JINA icon: open the catalog independently of your launcher's settings.
• Hotspot: call up the Drawer or a panel from a screen edge, even while using another app (see §13).
• Home widget or shortcut: open a particular collection directly.
• Starting view: open apps, the collection index, or the last view you used.
• Start in search: open the Drawer with search and the keyboard ready, from the icon or a hotspot. Returning from a launched app does not unnecessarily restart search.

JINA distinguishes copies of an app in accessible Android profiles, such as personal and work. If a profile is locked or unavailable, its apps may temporarily appear unavailable; that does not necessarily mean they were uninstalled.

2. Browse the Drawer and change its layout

The Drawer brings apps, collections, and shortcuts together. Tap an app to launch it, a collection to enter it, or a shortcut to open its destination. A navigation path helps you move back through nested collections.

Grid or List

Grid emphasizes icons. Choose compact, standard, or spacious density according to the available screen area.

List can display selected information beside each icon. Its editor offers a preview, presets or a custom layout, two reorderable detail lines, compact or fuller field labels, optional app names, and collection indicators shown as icons, names, both, or neither. You can select which collections appear as indicators.

Available fields include version, size, install and update dates, last use, usage duration, category, and developer. Missing information is not invented. While membership is being calculated, JINA can indicate that collection information is updating.

Scrolling and screen space

Choose continuous scrolling, vertical pages, or horizontal pages, and show or hide the page indicator. The Drawer header can be Standard, Compact, or Immersive to make more room for content. Wider windows offer command layouts suited to the space and an optional bottom search bar; the layout adapts when a window changes size, including on foldables.

The List editor affects app rows in the Drawer. It does not automatically change Sidebar rows or widget grids.

3. Find apps and shortcuts

Keyboard and T9 search

• Normal search: type an app name or personal alias. Collections and shortcuts also appear where the context includes them.
• T9: use number keys to spell a name without opening the full keyboard. JINA remembers whether you last used QWERTY or T9.
• Attribute search: look in supported fields such as developer, category, note, description, or package.
• Icon color: narrow results when you remember what an icon looks like rather than its name.
• Search everywhere: decide whether results extend beyond the current collection.

You can also type a search prefix directly:

Attribute search relies on data already available; searching a description does not automatically download every missing store listing.

Letter bar and search after launching

The Smart letterbar jumps to a letter without scrolling through the full catalog. Enable it and choose automatic, left, or right positioning separately for the Drawer, Sidebar, and Panels. A temporary alphabetical jump does not replace your saved sort order.

Exit search after launch closes search after a successful launch and preserves it when launch fails. Bottom priority moves results nearer the controls on supported views.

4. Filter and sort

Search finds a specific item; filters define which items remain visible. You can combine them, such as searching for “photos” only among work profile apps.

App filters in the Drawer

Filter by content type (apps, games, shortcuts), favorites, apps with personal notes, Android profile, app source, availability, and hidden apps in management views. Collection filters can require membership in any or all selected collections, or exclude selected collections. A separate criterion identifies items you added manually in a collection.

In the collection selector, each row can be neutral, included, or excluded. “In Work but not Communication” combines inclusion and exclusion; filtering does not remove membership. The panel shows a match count and lets you undo or clear criteria.

Customizable quick controls can open the collection filter, the view of apps with recorded recent usage, or apps with active notifications. “Recent” is not a user-selected threshold in hours or days.

Sort orders

Apps can be sorted by recent use, most used, name, favorites first, recently installed, recently updated, size, or manual order. “Most used” prioritizes recorded usage duration. Manual order saves the sequence you arrange; sorting by name only changes how you view it.

The collection index has its own search, sorting by name, recency, kind, or item count, and filters for kind, rule status, empty/nonempty content, and Drawer visibility.

5. Organize collections

Arrange apps without duplicating them

An app can belong to several collections, such as Work and Documents. Adding it creates another route to the same app, not another installation.

You can create manual and nested collections; add apps or shortcuts; rename, change icons, and sort; move a collection or place another access to it elsewhere; combine collections where supported; pin or hide them in the Drawer; publish a Home shortcut; and delete a personal collection when the action is available.

A collection link reaches the same collection from another location. Clone on a rule collection instead creates an independently editable collection. Hiding a collection does not uninstall its apps. JINA-managed collections may offer Hide instead of permanent deletion.

Ready-made collections and Overview

JINA offers useful, intent-oriented collections and views such as Favorites, Games, Contacts, and Other apps, alongside optional store categories. Other apps gathers apps without a place in JINA's collections; it is not the list of apps without a Play Store category.

Settings let you show JINA collections, Play categories, and your own collections independently, and optionally show empty automatic collections. Enabling a family does not pin every member to the Drawer's first screen.

The collection index offers Overview and Detail. Overview groups collections by themes such as home and family, money and errands, organization, reading and learning, and leisure. It reduces first-level clutter without moving your apps.

On supported collections, you can show subcollections as tiles or expand nested content into one view. This changes presentation rather than moving items to the parent. The Sidebar keeps subcollection navigation.

Work with several items

Depending on selection and screen, multi-select can copy or move items, add or remove favorites and memberships, change visibility, exclude apps from usage rankings, and organize collections. Only compatible actions appear. Removing an app from a collection does not uninstall it. Remove from JINA manages its catalog entry or shortcut; Uninstall starts Android's app removal flow.

6. Build collections that update through rules

A rule collection selects matching items, for example “favorite work profile apps” or “apps by these developers except games.” JINA recalculates results when the underlying data changes.

The Rule Builder lets you add, edit, and remove conditions, nest groups, and combine them with AND or OR. AND requires every condition; OR requires at least one. A preview shows how many items match before you save.

A store keyword search may need a network connection. A condition using already acquired store data works with what JINA has; these are different mechanisms.

You can import an existing rule as a starting point, clone supported rule collections, customize a JINA rule and restore its original definition where offered, freeze a compatible rule to keep its current content and later reactivate it, add apps manually, or exclude an app from automatic results and undo that exclusion. Manual additions and exclusions handle exceptions without rewriting a complex rule.

7. Use and review classification

Automatic organization and suggestions

JINA combines device data, store information, preclassified lists, and rules to organize apps. Results may be incomplete when information or network access is missing, and you can correct them. Preclassified lists can recognize apps before a store lookup; new store information or keyword searches may need the network.

You can enable or disable automatic classification, complete missing work, run it again, and pause, resume, or stop supported stages. Use mobile data controls automatic work on metered networks. A classification summary links to Other apps for review.

When adding apps to a compatible collection, Suggest to me can propose relevant apps based on its name or a term. You decide which suggestions to accept. Where available, you can turn the criterion into a reusable rule.

Get help from an external AI assistant

On compatible collections, the AI assistance action prepares a request for an assistant app you choose, or for copying to the clipboard. You can request placements for apps in Other apps or review a collection by describing what belongs in it and, optionally, what should stay out.

The flow is deliberate: prepare the request, use it in the assistant, copy its reply back into JINA, review the proposed additions and removals with their reasons, and confirm only what you want. The assistant's reply is not returned automatically. JINA does not choose an AI provider for you or send this request to its own AI classification service; you choose the app and whether to share the displayed information. The assistant's availability and terms are external to JINA.

This is a guided review, not an offline AI engine that automatically classifies every app. Experimental diagnostics in special builds are outside this guide.

8. Keep Favorites close

Mark apps and shortcuts as Favorites, remove them later, and reach them from the dedicated collection. The Drawer's quick Favorites panel opens without leaving the main view and remembers scroll position. It supports launching, item menus, and adding content. During initial setup, you can choose how many suggested items to populate and review the selection.

Custom Drawer bar or side-column commands can open that panel. The default side-column layout may instead use Favorites as a filter. A Sidebar panel can start at Favorites and show or hide its Recent strip. Favorites are not a permanent strip above or below every app.

9. Create shortcuts and contact access

Shortcuts bring activities and content together with apps. Save them in the Drawer or supported collections, rename them, change icons, copy or move them, and remove them from JINA.

Another app's Share menu can pass a link to JINA for naming and saving in a collection. A link to a cloud document still depends on its provider and permissions; the shortcut is not a backup of that file.

Contacts

Add a contact and open a panel for calls, SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram, and email, depending on available details and apps. Choose which number or address each action uses and what tapping the contact does. With the requested access, the contact can show a photo, name, and multiple details; Android's picker may offer a limited route without full contact access. Broken links can be reconnected.

JINA opens communication apps rather than replacing them. The Contacts collection gathers contact shortcuts you saved in JINA; it does not import your whole address book automatically.

10. Inspect and customize one app

Open Details from an app's menu. Choose an Overview or Detailed view for personal, usage, store, and technical information.

Your information

You can change the displayed name and restore the original, add comma-separated search aliases, write a searchable personal note, mark Favorite or hidden, exclude the app from usage rankings, manage collection membership and rule exclusions, and supply a personal icon. You can also correct category, app/game type, developer, source, and paid price, then remove corrections to return to automatic data. These changes in JINA do not edit the developer's store listing.

App origin

App origin can be a known store, another source, or your own entry. Correct it, add a custom source, or restore automatic detection. JINA retains the initially available origin rather than replacing it with the installer of a later update. Details distinguish observed source, earlier data, your correction, and last installer. Android cannot always provide a reliable history of the first installation.

Information and actions

• Usage: last use, foreground time, and detected sessions, subject to Android access and data limits.
• Storage: code, data, and cache sizes when Android makes them available.
• Store: description, what's new, category, developer, price, ratings, installs, version, and available links.
• Refresh: request new metadata; if local retrieval fails, the flow may offer a retry through the JINA server.
• Technical: package, component, version, dates, profile, availability, power status, permissions, and accessible APK/certificate information.
• Android screens: open relevant permissions and App info pages. Tapping a permission does not grant it automatically.
• Entry points: inspect declared entry points and, when Android permits it, launch one or create a shortcut.
• Export APK: save an app package; split APKs are included in an archive.
• Uninstall or reinstall: use Android or store flows where available; unavailable catalog entries have management actions.

APK export does not include private app data and cannot universally transfer a complete app between phones. Technical information may vary across profiles.

11. Choose theme and icons

General appearance

Choose a light, dark, or system theme and one of the independent color families: Violet, Autumn Harvest, Aqua Forest, or Pastel Breeze. Drawer and overlay animations can be enabled separately.

App and collection icons

Apply a compatible installed icon pack globally, including to apps installed later. Choose a custom icon for an individual app, collection, or shortcut from the offered icon pack, file/image, or catalog icons. Restore the automatic/original or previous icon where supported. Enable icon plates for a more even grid, and decide whether they also cover icon pack images. Ready-made collection symbols can use JINA's integrated style or the device style.

Collections can show an automatic content mosaic or an icon you select. Widget sizes and panel colors belong to those surfaces; they do not act as an independent global zoom for every JINA icon and label.

12. Adapt controls and gestures

Preferred hand and long press

Preferred hand moves ergonomic controls in supported views, including the Drawer and T9 search; the physical side is independent of interface language. Long press can open an action fan, context menu, or Quick menu. The fan places targets near the item, the context menu lists actions, and Quick menu highlights a smaller set while keeping the rest accessible. Available actions depend on the item.

Customize Quick menu

Use profiles for setup or daily use, or build a custom layout. Assign and reorder actions in available positions for different item types, leave positions unused, restore defaults, and preview the result. A menu customization cannot enable an action that does not apply to its item.

Drawer commands

Assign positions in the bar or side column to Apps/Collections navigation, Favorites, Sort, Filters, Action menu, collection filter, Recent, Notifications, and Clear filters. Choose normal or compact presentation. The number of visible positions follows available space; More holds commands that do not fit, without duplicating visible ones. The Action menu retains organization actions. You can restore the default layout.

13. Use hotspots, Sidebar, and Panels

A hotspot is a responsive screen-edge area that opens its assigned destination. Sidebar is the side panel; Panel is the movable window opened from a hotspot. You can configure multiple accesses, with up to four hotspots active at once.

Configure hotspots

Hotspots and contents guides you through edge selection, destination, and a live test. Name, enable, duplicate, or remove an access. Choose the left, right, or bottom edge and position; adjust vertical and horizontal placement; set touch target length and width separately from visible thickness; choose color, opacity, and squared, rounded, semicircle, or invisible tab style; select system, JINA-only, or no haptic feedback; show it in the Drawer where supported; and lock positions against accidental movement.

An invisible tab still responds to touch. Previews show the visible and responsive areas and potential overlaps.

Choose panel contents

A hotspot can open the full Drawer, or a Sidebar or Panel showing one collection, the collection index, all apps, all shortcuts, or the Drawer composition. Different edges can thus lead to Work, Favorites, or Documents without rebuilding content.

Sidebar: choose list or grid; compact, standard, or accessible density; automatic or one to three columns; grid label visibility; size and position; toolbar and Recent visibility. QWERTY/T9 search finds apps and shortcuts, then returns to the panel's source when cleared.

Panel: set row/column capacity, icon size, labels below/beside/hidden, geometry, and header visibility. Actual size adapts to screen and text. Panels and Floating windows can follow Drawer scrolling or use their own continuous, vertical-page, or horizontal-page mode and page indicator. Sidebar keeps continuous scrolling.

Each panel has its own background, transparency, text, and accent colors and sort selection. Manually reordering a collection's content is shared by other accesses to that collection.

Pause or hide access

Pause overlays for two minutes or until you resume them, hide hotspots in games, or choose apps in which they should not appear. Long pressing a hotspot offers related quick actions; a service notification shows status and links to settings. Screen overlays require Android's overlay permission; detecting a foreground app or game for hiding also needs usage access.

14. Put collections on Home

There are two main widget approaches, plus collection shortcuts supported by the launcher.

Compact collection widget

An icon widget opens its collection in a dedicated window. Customize its icon or automatic mosaic, label and visibility, icon size and vertical placement, icon–label spacing, and label size and light/dark color. The editor lets you compare it with Home.

Grid widget

A grid widget shows collection content directly, with scrolling and navigation supported by the launcher. Resize it; show or hide the title; choose background and transparency; scale icons and labels separately; invert label contrast; and use supported controls to add, manage, reorder, or expand nested content. Each widget instance has its own settings. Exact Home placement also depends on the launcher.

Collection Floating

Floating opens on Home from a 1×1 widget or collection shortcut. Move and resize it, navigate, and use collection menus. Choose content colors and a separate header background, keep it Automatic, hide the header, or restore it. The first hide explains the gesture and offers Undo. A Floating opened from Home does not require permission to draw over other apps. Its colors do not automatically alter the Home widget's background.

Service Floating: edit a widget

When you edit a widget, the configuration window is the Service Floating. It applies to that widget and its editor settings; it differs from the Floating used to browse a collection and from a hotspot Panel.

15. View and manage app notifications

With notification access, icons can show a dot or count, or no badge. A count reflects active notifications reported by Android, not necessarily unread messages inside each app.

Choose badge style, content preview visibility, and included apps per profile. Available actions can open an app's notification panel, open an actionable notification or its app, remove one dismissible notification or all dismissible notifications from that app, and use a Drawer Notifications command to find apps with active alerts.

Disabling previews hides notification text while retaining allowed actions. This is not a history archive: when Android removes an alert, it leaves the current set. JINA does not read an app's private “read” state. Access to other apps' notifications is distinct from permission to post JINA's own notifications, used for its messages and overlay service.

16. Back up, restore, and export

JINA backup

Create a backup of collections, rules, customizations, notes, shortcuts, managed icons, settings, and usage data covered by the format. Save it through Android's local or compatible cloud picker and optionally encrypt the archive with a password.

This backs up JINA's configuration and data. It does not automatically include every app's private data, all APKs, or documents targeted by shortcuts.

Selective restore and preview

Restore recognizes NeXt and classic JINA backups and offers the appropriate route. For NeXt, choose full restore, no usage history, settings only, selected collections/shortcuts, or Favorites only. Ordinary backup creation still produces a full archive.

Preview the summary before applying and resolve decisions about profiles or items that differ on the destination device. Supported flows let you decide how to handle apps already unavailable at the source. Full restore may restart JINA.

Recover widgets helps recreate saved widgets and associate them with compatible collections. Launcher confirmation and Home placement remain under the launcher; exact old coordinates are not guaranteed. Android permissions do not transfer with a backup. If a restored function needs them, Configure guides you to access settings; Not now keeps its choices but leaves the function off.

Excel report and APK

Export an Excel report with seven sheets covering collections, apps, app details/usage/customizations, store metadata, rules, notes, and managed media. This is a catalog report, not just the currently filtered view and not a restorable archive. An individual app's APK export is in its Details (§10).

17. Language, settings, and permissions

Find a setting

Settings are organized by area and include internal search. They remember section and scroll position; wide windows can show navigation beside content. General options live here, while local options open from the selected app, collection, panel, or widget. You can include unavailable apps in the catalog to retain their record and customizations without presenting them as normally launchable.

Language

Available languages are English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Brazilian and European Portuguese, Arabic, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Turkish, Hungarian, Greek, Persian, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese. Some are marked “preview” pending native-speaker review. On Android 13 and later, choose the app language in Android's selector; earlier versions follow an available system language. Right-to-left interfaces adapt without changing the physical preferred-hand choice. Supported controls follow Android text scaling; touch exploration provides accessible menu routes for long-press actions.

Permissions by function

The Permissions screen shows key access states and opens the relevant Android settings. Basic catalog and organization work without enabling every optional function. Device, profile, and external app limits still apply.

18. Contact the team and contribute

• Contact us: prepares an editable draft in your email client with a proposed recipient, subject, and essential details. You decide whether to send it.
• Help us improve: prepares and previews a catalog/classification report that you can explicitly copy or send. This is separate from email contact and personal backup.
• About and licenses: find app references, privacy information, and accessible licenses.

Diagnostic screens and experimental engines available only in test builds are outside this ordinary feature guide. The content describes the version named above.

19. Where to customize what

You can start with a few choices: starting view, Grid or List, some collections, and Favorites. Add rules, custom controls, and edge access as your needs grow.