I made a free home screen for my Ally X. Fast, private, and no network calls.
I love my Xbox Ally X, but waiting to get to my own games was getting on my nerves. Xbox’s full-screen mode could take a few minutes just to show me the library. If I pressed a couple of buttons while it loaded, they would all happen at once when it finally caught up.
So I built PlayFast. I wanted something that opened quickly, remembered where I was and let me play without getting in the way.
Privacy was just as important to me. I don’t think opening a game library should need an account or send anything anywhere. PlayFast has no network code and makes no network calls at all. No analytics, telemetry, data collection, accounts or ads. Your library and play history stay on your device, and it runs without administrator rights. It doesn’t even download artwork, it uses what’s already available locally. You can also choose your own icon or artwork from a file on your device.
Keeping it local was a privacy decision first, but it helped keep things fast too. On my Ally X, it gets to the library in about a second once warm. The first launch after a reboot takes about a second and a half to two seconds.
Steam, Xbox and Microsoft Store games show up automatically, and other storefronts and apps are a button away. You can add something it misses, make collections, and use Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, brightness and power controls without dropping to the desktop. I wanted the whole thing to work with the controller, not suddenly need a mouse or touch halfway through.
Please note: the Store version can’t replace Xbox mode as your Home app. That needs a capability Microsoft reserves for approved device makers (OEMs). I’m trying to get approval, but for now PlayFast runs as a normal Windows app. My own test build works through Developer Mode, but distributing it would mean asking you to enable that and trust my signing certificate, and updating would be a manual nightmare. So I’d rather keep installation straightforward through the Store.
It’s completely free, Windows only and English only. I made it for myself and decided to share it. I’ve only tested it on my own Ally X, so I won’t pretend to know how it behaves on every other windows handheld. If you give it a go, I’d genuinely like to hear what works and what annoys you. Hope you'd give this one a try!