I’m looking for something as close to Nova Launcher as possible.
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Out of the loop: Is there a problem with nova launcher?
It was acquired by an analytics company, so there are privacy concerns.
Looks like this happened a year ago and analytics can be opted out.
If you are still using Nova, make sure you go to Settings> Advanced > Disable “Error & usage reporting”
Not sure if that fixes anything…
I’ll keep watching this post…I’m curious about recommendations. The default pixel launcher is…just garbage
Thanks for the warning, checked settings on all devices and corrected on some.
Time to look for a replacement I guess. The only thing I use is the icon size/grid settings.
Just don’t allow to Nova app to connect to internet. It doesn’t need network connection for its functionality. All apps on my phone which doesn’t need network connection are blocked through AFWall+.
Yeah, although so far nothing has happened. It’s one of those cases where we all thought it would immediately go to shit like QuickPic did, but oddly… that’s not happening. Feels weird. This isn’t how good software being bought up usually plays out!
It’s proprietary I guess? That’s never good.
I just found Lawnchair. I’m going to try it out today. Thanks for letting me know of Nova’s potential privacy concerns.
Edit: looks like Lawnchair has not been updated in 4 years. I will be trying Olauncher instead.
They released a more recent Lawnchair 2 last year.
https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/index/apk/app.lawnchair
The repository is updated I think, but the release apk is already a year ago.
So lawnchair is still maintained here’s their github
And if you want to try Olaucher try the clutter free version on fdroid
I did not check github, just the info on f-droid. I may try Lawnchair again.
I like the minimalist way of Olauncher, but I would like to see app icons on my home screen instead of just the names of the apps. In the few minutes of trying Olauncher I was not able to find a setting to switch to icons.
Now, I’m trying Kvaesitso. So far I like it. Again there are no icons on the home screen. There are no app names either. For some reason I like this better. I’m going to have to try and get used to swipping up to see my widgets and swipping down to get to the app drawer. This is reversed from what I’m used to.
I have been concerned about this but every launcher alternative I have tried is always missing at least one function I use a lot.
I am on graphene and have nova launcher locked down so it has access to absolutely nothing, should I still be worried?
Not at all, in fact so far they’ve changed nothing even in the new beta. Keep an eye on it, but while they bought the launcher, they’re not doing anything with it except fund development a bit and get some of the purchase money it seems.
Nice. Appreciate the clarification, I didn’t think it would be an issue with everything revoked in graphene but it’s nice to get another opinion xD
I switched from nova to niagara and I love it. It is very different, but if you give it a shot for a few days you might just fall in love too.
Niagara Launcher is great. I used to use Nova, but found myself only using one home screen page and only like one widget. Niagara does take some getting used to, but I also suggest giving it a try.
I can echo this. I used Nova for close to a decade, and everybody talked about Niagara so I tried it a couple of times but it didn’t stick. I guess it took three tries for me, because I realized that the one-handed navigation for any app, the ability to easily find things alphabetically, and the fact that I could have my home screen apps pinned to the top of the list all make it way cleaner
I can echo echo this.
I did the same and fell in love too. Niagara is the best!
I’m using Hyperion now. I don’t know if it’s any better in terms of privacy. I would love to hear people’s thoughts.
I tried a handful, but keep going back to Action Launcher
Action Launcher had lots of the good stuff Nova has first, anyway. Heartily recommend. Tbf as long as the launcher has covers/smart folders/whatever they’re called then I’m happy
Do any other launchers have that feature?
I’ve really enjoyed Smart Launcher. Customization flexibility is on-par or better than Nova, and I really enjoy their app tray
Does it have gesture shortcuts? Like two finger swipe down opens Y app and 2 finger swipe up opens Z?
Yeah, proper customization for one and two finger swipes in each of the four directions
I miss the tap-then-swipe gesture but overall in digging smart!
ADW Launcher
I want to switch to this, myself, but haven’t found the energy to do the effort.
Neo Launcher is the closest to Nova I used, but its feel like a work in progress
I’ve given Neo a shot. Hasn’t got as many features sadly. The main one I miss is infinite scroll through home screens.
Highly recommend Kvaesitso!!
Kvaesitso is a search focused, free and open source launcher for Android. -> https://github.com/MM2-0/Kvaesitso
I’m using Action Launcher and despite one or two differences that made it a little difficult at first (folders!) it works for me.
I’m building one right now, which key features/ new feature would you all like to see in a launcher?
For me, I’d like:
- Multiple pages
- A dock at the bottom w/ wraparound scrolling
- Ability to set grid size
- Smart theming for icons
- Flexibility with resizing and location of widgets
Can you elaborate on smart theming for icons?
Like if I choose a particular theme, all of my icons match that theme. I’m not sure if that’s possible or not.
I am pretty happy with Hyperion Launcher
Like really, I tried every launcher, but Nova is the best, and I actually used the Prime Hack 7.x not updated since forever.
Make sure to block internet access. If your OS cant do that, maybe switch devices.
