With the phosh app grid open, a launched app goes straight to recents -- and every measurement of it is void

scope: generic · severity: trap · confidence: proven · subsystem: display

Evidence

taimen 2026-09-02. With the overview open, three consecutive fresh Epiphany launches (systemd-run –user –scope, new window, session_state.xml removed) never reached the panel; the grid stayed on screen with an unchanged carousel while the clock advanced. wlrctl toplevel focus app_id:org.gnome.Epiphany returned success and changed nothing. Tapping the window’s card in the carousel raised it immediately.

If the phosh overview/app grid is open, launching an app does not bring it to the front. It is created, it is mapped, it renders – into a card in the recents carousel. The grid stays on top, because it is a layer-shell surface and layer-shell sits above every xdg toplevel. Raising the toplevel therefore cannot help:

wlrctl toplevel focus app_id:org.gnome.Epiphany   # succeeds, changes nothing

This is worse than a cosmetic annoyance, because the app keeps compositing into its thumbnail. Every symptom of a healthy app is present:

• lswt lists the toplevel with the right title
• the page reports document.visibilityState === "visible"
• WAYLAND_DEBUG shows the client committing buffers steadily
• the inspector evaluates JavaScript normally, the video plays, currentTime advances

…and the numbers are still meaningless, because what you are measuring is a scaled thumbnail behind an overlay, not the window on the panel.

document.hasFocus() is not the check. It reports keyboard focus. A window that is fully on screen and being interacted with reports hasFocus() === false routinely (measured here on a foreground Epiphany showing a YouTube page). Using it as a visibility gate rejects good arms and, inverted, accepts bad ones.

The check that works is a screenshot. grim costs a few hundred milliseconds and is the only instrument here that answers “what is on the panel”. Take one before the measurement window, not after the numbers disappoint:

grim -s 0.5 /tmp/shot.png     # then look at it

To raise the window, tap its card in the carousel – that both closes the grid and activates the toplevel. Panel coordinates, via ph-touch.py tap X Y; swipe the carousel first if the card is not centred. Nothing programmatic was found that beats the layer-shell overlay.

Related: the-dpu-counter-is-phocs-frame-rate-not-the-apps – both are the same mistake, measuring something adjacent to the app and calling it the app.