Launcher hangs on loading spinner and doesn't load when phone booted up

[wesinator]

Android 9 device with boot encryption enabled

• Installed lens launcher.
• Lens launcher set as default home launcher
• Shut down phone, powered off for several hours.
• Powered on and entered boot encryption passphrase and unlock

The launcher was stuck on the spinner for at least a minute and never loaded the app lens. Workaround was to open the top drawer of functions, access the settings, and change the default home launcher back to Quickstep.

This is a nonstarter for using the launcher as the default.