Third-party launchers may get a shot in the arm at the launch of Android 12, as the developers of the Niagara Launcher have found an entry for an "AppSearchManager" API in the Android 12 Developer Preview documentation, which It seems to suggest that launchers will be allowed to include universal device search as part of their package.

Universal Device Search is a feature that can be placed in Spotlight on the iPhone, the Google widget in the Pixel Launcher, or directly on the home screen. Rather than limiting search results to the Internet, Google Play Store, or cell phone content, results from all three are combined, eliminating the need to search each area separately.

But until now, third-party launchers have not had this option in their built-in search solutions, limiting the results that are displayed; others like Sesame Search try to fill the gap, but are not without their quirks, and to make them work smoothly It requires a bit of time investment.

The Niagara Launcher developers' discovery should make things more seamless once implemented in Android 12. According to the documentation, any app will be able to activate the AppSearch index, allowing for a "completely offline on-device solution" and allowing apps to "index documents and retrieve them via full-text search." There will also be an "API for applications to allow the system to display content on system UI surfaces."

It remains to be seen how this will be implemented in practice, but this suggests the possibility of the Android launcher being able to dig out content from within an app, for example, finding a particular document in Google Docs or a song on Spotify. This would bring third-party launchers closer to the built-in search capabilities of Windows, macOS, and iOS.

Some handset manufacturers, like Samsung's Finder and OnePlus' Scout, have introduced similar functionality in their devices with their own UIs. However, the possibility of opening up the functionality to third-party launchers will make buyers less nervous about fiddling with various launchers.