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Kamoji Mini Apps

Kamoji Mini Apps are small add-ons that give Kamoji new things to show: a clock, the Excite-O-Meter, a big counter, a live value from your smart home, and more. You install them from the Kamoji app on your phone, and they run on Kamoji itself.

This page is for Kamoji owners. If you want to write your own mini app, start at Writing a Kamoji Mini App.

Where mini apps appear​

Kamoji's built-in modes (the eyes, the ferrofluid, the cup, the G-force meter and so on) are a ring you move through with a tap on the left or right side. Every mini app you install adds one more mode to that ring, right after the last built-in mode:

  • From the last built-in mode, tap right to reach your first mini app, and keep tapping right to go through the others.
  • Tap left to go back. The ring wraps around, so from the last mini app a tap right takes you back to the first built-in mode.
  • Mini apps are listed in alphabetical order of their internal name.

Left and right taps always work the same way inside a mini app, so you can never get stuck in one. Holding left and right together for 3 seconds still opens the Settings menu.

Some mini apps also use the top of Kamoji: a tap, a hold, or a short squeeze of left and right together. The mini app's description tells you what they do. In a mini app that does not use them, they do what they normally do.

Installing a mini app​

  1. Connect your phone to Kamoji in the Kamoji app.
  2. Open the Apps screen (from My Kamoji, or from Settings). It lists the Kamoji Mini Apps you can install.
  3. Pick one to see its description, what it needs (for example Wi-Fi or the motion sensor), its version and size.
  4. Tap Install. A progress bar shows the mini app going over to Kamoji; it usually takes a few seconds.

The mini app is ready as soon as the install finishes: tap right past the last built-in mode to see it.

The first mini apps in the catalogue are by Originally US, the team behind Kamoji, and carry a verified mark. Among them is the Excite-O-Meter, with its Comfort and Excitement gauges, which you install from the Apps screen like any other mini app. Mini apps from other authors will follow.

Older firmware

Mini apps need a recent Kamoji firmware. If yours is too old, the Apps screen says so: update Kamoji and try again.

Favourites​

Tap the star on a mini app to add it to your favourites. The Apps screen can show all mini apps, only your favourites, or only the ones installed on the Kamoji you are connected to. Favourites are saved on your phone, so you need no account.

Changing a mini app's settings​

Many mini apps have settings of their own: the clock's time zone, the city name it shows, the colour of its accent, whether the Excite-O-Meter plays its sounds, or the server an MQTT mini app listens to. Open an installed mini app on the Apps screen and you find a Settings section built from that mini app's own options. A change is saved on Kamoji straight away, and if the mini app is on screen it restarts so you see the change at once.

Passwords and keys a mini app asks for are kept on Kamoji. The Kamoji app shows that one is set, but never shows it again.

Updating and removing​

When a newer version of an installed mini app is in the catalogue, its page shows Update instead of Install. An update keeps your settings. Remove deletes the mini app, with its settings, from Kamoji. If you remove the mini app that is on screen, Kamoji goes back to its first mode.

What mini apps can and cannot do​

  • Mini apps only run while they are on screen. As soon as you tap away, the mini app stops completely and frees everything it used; it does not keep running in the background. Opening it again starts it afresh.
  • Kamoji's other built-in modes and features are unchanged: mini apps add to them.
  • A mini app can read Kamoji's motion and light sensors, react to bumps, hard braking, hard acceleration and cornering, and play Kamoji's own sounds. Kamoji's driving sounds still follow your Motion Sound setting.
  • A mini app can show turn-by-turn navigation from Google Maps or Waze on Android (the Kamoji app forwards it), and read your car's RPM, speed and fuel level through an OBD-II Bluetooth adapter paired with Kamoji.
  • A mini app that uses the internet (for example MQTT) only works while Kamoji is on Wi-Fi.
  • If a mini app goes wrong, Kamoji shows a card with its name and a short error message instead of the mini app. Tap left or right to leave it, and tell its author.

Installing a mini app from a file​

Someone can also send you a mini app as a .zip file, for example one they are writing. Use Install from file on the Apps screen and pick the file. Only install mini apps from people you trust; see Sideloading.

Making your own​

Anyone can build a mini app: start with Writing a Kamoji Mini App. To share it with every Kamoji owner, submit it to the store at the developer portal, developer.kamoji.bot; the Kamoji team reviews it before it appears in the store.