useAppDiscovery

Fetches installed Android apps from the AppListerModule native bridge.

useAppDiscovery

Source: hooks/useAppDiscovery.ts (54 lines)

The useAppDiscovery hook fetches the complete list of installed applications from the Android device via the AppListerModule Kotlin native bridge.

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Native Bridge Call

The hook calls the AppListerModule’s getInstalledApps function, which uses Android’s PackageManager API to enumerate all installed packages:

const apps = await AppLister.getInstalledApps();

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Return Data Shape

Each app entry contains:

Field	Type	Example
packageName	string	com.instagram.android
label	string	Instagram
icon	string	data:image/png;base64,iVBOR…

The icon is a Base64-encoded PNG of the app’s launcher icon, rendered directly in Image components.

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Caching Strategy

The app list is fetched once on mount and cached in component state. Subsequent renders return the cached list without re-querying the native module. The list is only refreshed if the component remounts (e.g., navigating away and back).

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Performance: JSI Bridge

The AppListerModule uses JSI (JavaScript Interface) rather than the traditional React Native bridge for data transfer. This eliminates JSON serialization overhead and enables synchronous, high-performance enumeration of hundreds of installed packages without blocking the JS thread.