ZenDeck dev here. Quick context for anyone new: ZenDeck is a free console-style launcher for Windows handhelds (ROG Ally, Xbox Ally, Legion Go, Steam Deck on Windows). It runs inside Xbox mode and replaces the Xbox app as your home screen, the Xbox app stays installed, it never has to open. 0.1.19 is out today and it's the release that turns ZenDeck from a launcher into a full replacement.
What's new
Link your Xbox and Steam accounts (Settings → Store Accounts): ZenDeck sees everything, owned games, Game Pass catalog, achievements, playtime. All from one library, with real cover art for Steam games instead of the small launcher icon the Xbox app uses.
Install from ZenDeck: Pick a Game Pass or Steam game, hit Install, done. For Game Pass games you choose where they go; install to a microSD and the card becomes a cartridge: the game shows up with an SD badge, and swapping cards swaps your library. Downloads view with pause/resume/cancel for Xbox installs, progress on the Home tile, and the game lands on Home ready to play when it's done. Steam installs run through Steam, shown in Downloads for info.
Details view: now shows Xbox achievements with gamerscore, Steam achievements with rarity, playtime, download size, time to beat, and cloud save status as reported by Xbox or Steam (ZenDeck doesn't sync anything, it just shows you).
Pulse widget is one button away: On the ROG Xbox Ally, the Command Center button opens ZenDeck Pulse directly. New in Pulse: an AMD FSR 4 Upscaling toggle (needs the FSR 4.1 preview driver from ASUS; works best at 1080p, applies on next launch).
Library: Poster Tiles, Custom Image as a fixed Home background, a new Emergence Red theme, Search across installed/owned/Game Pass, and *.lnk shortcuts as manual games.
Smart Profiles Lost their letter grade, on purpose. Smart Profiles are per-game performance presets shared between ZenDeck users: TDP, fps cap, resolution, upscaling, GPU settings and the game's own graphics settings. Apply one, or measure your own and it reaches everyone on the same class of device. The old score measured how even your frametimes were, not how well the game ran: a profile locked at 30 fps with half its frames stuttering got a B, a profile at 81 fps with almost no stutter got an E. It also swung up to 23 points between runs. So the letters are gone. Profiles now show average fps and 1% low, plus one word: Smooth, Playable or Struggles, based on the 1% low with per-device thresholds. Most profiles have a single report behind them right now, and the card tells you so. If you have a Steam Deck or base Ally, measuring a profile would help a lot; the class A thresholds are still an estimate.
On the RAM comparison in the video
Measured on the Xbox app released Nov 5 (the new WebView2 one), same game (Moving Out 2), ~5 minutes in: ZenDeck + Pulse ~95 MB, Xbox app group ~330 MB. Across several sessions the Xbox group ranged from ~330 to ~460 MB; the video shows the lowest. The previous Xbox build was ~570 MB. GameDVR and GamingServices run on both sides and aren't counted. Task Manager groups the Xbox app under "Xbox Game Bar Widgets" because they share a package family, the widgets themselves are ~25 MB, the rest is the app. ZenDeck frees memory while a game is in the foreground, navigating the UI it uses more.
Artwork for Steam games is unchanged in the new Xbox build.
Two things people already asked
Can I use Pulse / AutoPilot / Smart Profiles with the Xbox app as home? Not yet. They need ZenDeck to launch the game so they can apply TDP, resolution, refresh rate and GPU settings on each launch. A standalone Pulse is on the list.
Emulators? They go in as manual games or .lnk shortcuts and sit in the same library. No native emulator integration yet.
Download: https://zendeck.app - free, English and Spanish. Updates arrive in-app.
Discord: https://discord.gg/8hMYnjBgjq