Every build on this site passes the same bench before the download button lights up. This page is the bench, published so you can hold us to it.
Step 1: File verification
We check the package identity and exact file size of the launcher APK against the genuine open-source build, audit the permissions it requests, and scan the file. A build that fails any check is never published.
Step 2: Real phones
We install on five handsets: a Samsung Galaxy A55 on Android 15, a Google Pixel 8 on Android 16, a Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro on Android 14, an Infinix Note 40 Pro on Android 14, and a Samsung Galaxy A13 on Android 12. The launcher must set up, launch the game and hold the framework on all five.
Step 3: A standing mod library
We keep a fixed library of community mods, quality-of-life, visual and one large system mod, and install the whole library fresh under each launcher build. Installs, toggles, updates and removals all have to behave, in the game, without file manager heroics.
Step 4: Update survival
We update the launcher over the top of the previous build and confirm the library survives, then exercise the framework's own update checks. Losing a player's mods on update day is the one unforgivable sin in this category.
About ratings
Geode is not sold through a store that collects user ratings, so this site publishes no star rating for it, here or in our data. What we publish instead is the verdict from the bench above, in words, where we can be held to it.