frongt 105 points a year ago

Nova launcher has been dead since it was sold to an ad company three years ago.

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SpaceCadet 6 points a year ago

It's been dead since they didn't release it under a FOSS license.

That's really the only way a piece of software is guaranteed to survive.

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smeg 0 points a year ago

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SpaceCadet 2 points a year ago

Yes, I get your point and I paused for a second if I should really use the word guarantee, because sometimes development just stops on software, regardless of license.

The thing is, if development stops on proprietary software, the project is truly dead. With FOSS it can always be revived by someone with enough interest in the software because the codebase is freely available. So instead of being dead, it's merely "in hibernation".

A good example is the Amarok mp3 player that I used in KDE 15 years ago. It stopped being maintained around 2011 and fell in disuse until last year some people picked up the code, cleaned it up and ported it to Qt5, and now it's being actively maintained again.

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smeg 1 point a year ago

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CubitOom 37 points a year ago

I'm pretty happy with the lawnchair nightly release

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digger 12 points a year ago

I switched over after the sale and have had no issues.

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commander 30 points a year ago

It's not a real replacement but if you want to support open source stuff, fossify apps including the launcher. Users and support will get it improving faster. On F-Droid and google Play store

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petrescatraian 24 points a year ago

[...] and Android is worse off for it

Hard disagree!

The only damage the whole Nova Launcher thing does is mostly sentimental. Nowadays, there are plenty of launchers to choose from, all with some great degrees of customizability. Here are my top picks:

Kvaesitso - my current pick. It's not the most flexible on this list, but I generally find more and more ways I could integrate it in my personal life. And the font pick is just great.
Lucid Launcher - another top pick of mine that is not relied on AOSP. Goes more like a vertical scroll than a horizontal one. Used it on my tablet for as long as it lived, almost.
KISS Launcher - If you want to Keep It Simple, Stupid. It's all just a search bar. That's it. Search for everything you need and when you're done, you're done.
Niagara Launcher - also minimalist, but more functional. Didn't really get the hang of it just yet, not sure if I will. Kvaesitso is quite cool.
AIO Launcher - let's just call it the best strike between minimalist and functional, ok?
Lens launcher - for when you want to be so minimalist you put all your apps on the home screen
ap15 launcher - same as Lens but there are only labels instead of icons
Total launcher - goes the opposite way. Probably the most customizable on this list. Really great once you get the hang of it.
Square home - if you used a Windows phone, you know what this is about. If you did not, you will know (alternative implementation, Mur)
Microsoft Launcher - as the name implies, it's Microsoft's current attempt at a phone launcher. Really useful, especially if you are invested in Microsoft's ecosystem.
Plus there are plenty more others that I didn't get to test really much, such as Smart launcher, Action launcher, hyperion etc. However, the most hyped in this thread seems to be Lawnchair. Looks like it follows Nova the closest among the open source picks.

Really, there's no point in worrying about this. I'm also sad to see Nova go, especially since it was that popular. But there's that. The launcher landscape is the one I worry the less in Android.

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9488fcea02a9 20 points a year ago

None of these are a good replacement for nova.

I've been using android since 2007. Nova allowed me to stick with the old school UI paradigm of dock and app drawer... nova was so good, that i set up my homescreen in 2013 and basically never touched the settings again until i migrated a new phone....

All these new launchers break my 20 yr old workflow... i dont like the "everything is a search bar" thing

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Auli 6 points a year ago

Huh lawn chair can remove all the search bars.

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lka1988 1 point a year ago

Lawnchair is great in many aspects, but it doesn't play nice with PWAs.

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lka1988 4 points a year ago

dont like the “everything is a search bar” thing

Same here. Been using Android since 2010. Currently running KISS for the last few months, but it doesn't quite work with my muscle memory. I don't want to type things to find them when I can just open the app drawer, or drop a shortcut on the desktop.

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FrederikNJS 3 points a year ago

I feel the same. I like having my desktop with easy to reach commonly used apps, and a few widgets, such at a Google calendar widget and my keep notes. And I want all the things in the exact spot I put them, so I can build muscle memory to go where I want. The dock is not so necessary as long as I can have enough icons on the desktop. And then I want an app drawer, where I can divide it into tabs, one for regular apps and one for games.

The closest I could find are either:

Lawnchair launcher, but it's missing the drawer tabs (it has folders though)

Pear Launcher, it has everything, but unfortunately it doesn't remove the games from the main apps tab when I add them to a games tab...

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9488fcea02a9 2 points a year ago

Drawer tabs is really what i want

Cant find any modern launcher with tabs

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pirat 3 points a year ago

Kvaesitso has tags. Each app can have multiple tags, and selected tags can be pinned (somewhat like a tab) to favorites, possibly resulting in something a bit like drawer tabs? You can also use the search bar to search for a tag and list the tagged apps.

I use tags like #stream #media #video #audio #download #p2p #torrent #tools #navigation #maps #transport #social #chat #messenger #sms #appstore #files etc. and often I add multiple relevant tags for better brainless searchability, though only a few general useful tags are pinned to the favorites section (e.g. #stream #files #chat and #tools).

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FrederikNJS 3 points a year ago

Pear Launcher has them but calls them "App Groups". But as I said, the missing piece is to hide them from the main tab when they have been added to another tab

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xcjs 2 points a year ago

Same here - I heavily rely on drawer tabs, and it's a very under-implemented feature across all of the competition.

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eclipse 1 point a year ago

Octopi and Smart Launcher also have tabs.

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Kraven_the_Hunter 1 point a year ago

Action Launcher is what you seek then. I liked it better than Nova back when Nova was everybody's darling, and finally stopped trying other launchers because they lacked something or other.

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other_cat 4 points a year ago

I use Smart Launcher! I picked it up a few years ago, after Nova was sold. Nowadays I'd probably focus on a FOSS launcher, but at the time I didn't care about such things. That said, the app sorting into categories within the app drawer is super nice, and I love it a lot. Everything else about the app is pretty fine, though I am disappointed at how it can lag when I'm trying to switch between apps or the home screen. I'm pretty cozy with it so I'm reluctant to change but I probably will on my next phone.

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ls64 4 points a year ago

Hey thanks for the list!

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KRAW 3 points a year ago

I personally recommend Multi Launcher, which is KISS with just a few more features that stay out of your way if you don't want them

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kadup 3 points a year ago

Microsoft Launcher - as the name implies, it’s Microsoft’s current attempt at a phone launcher. Really useful, especially if you are invested in Microsoft’s ecosystem.

I'd rather communicate using smoke signals than willingly installing Microsoft software into a portable device

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Delusion6903 1 point a year ago

I second Kvaesitso. Great list though.

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yarr 20 points a year ago

Sorry, if you sell your project to a data collection firm you have already lost the plot anyways. These companies care only about one thing, and it's not "making a quality app".

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tim 18 points a year ago

Meh. It's been dead to me since it was sold off to an ad company years ago. It was novel and cool 10 years ago but today there are plenty of better alternatives and even default launchers have come a long way. OneUI + Good Lock has been more than enough for me on my phone and tab.

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lka1988 16 points a year ago

Nova was not the end-all-be-all of Android development. It had a lot of features and was highly customizable, sure, but there are many other launchers to pick from.

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bobagem 15 points a year ago

With Nova, I set the grid to 13 rows and left off the labels.

Based on recommendations for a Nova replacement, I tried Lawnchair. But it only goes up to 10 rows, leaving space for labels even when labels are off.

Can anyone point me to a launcher that allows 13 rows?

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Tithen 13 points a year ago

Currently on Lawnchair 15 beta and you can do up to 20 columns and rows. But it needs to be enabled under experimental features.

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bobagem 7 points a year ago

I discovered I don't need the beta for that, just the experimental features I didn't know were there.

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bobagem 2 points a year ago

Thanks. I'll try.

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DampSquid 5 points a year ago

I've been using Smart Launcher for however long since Nova sold out, 3 years?
I just checked and mine is set to 7 columns, 17 rows. Might be worth a look?
https://www.smartlauncher.net/

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Altruistic_Flower 1 point a year ago

Have you tried Hyperion launcher? It's what I gravitated to after Nova.

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bobagem 3 points a year ago

Just tried now, thanks.

It only goes up to 12 rows, but rechecking Nova I see that it also only goes up to 12 rows. I miscounted my home screen.

The other feature I used to smash a lot into a single home screen is the swipe up and swipe down gesture on each icon to get two other closely related apps. I haven't verified if Hyperion has this yet.

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Altruistic_Flower 1 point a year ago

It does! It's my favorite feature. I put all my games under one app and swiping up or down on the main icon and it brings up a folder.

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bobagem 1 point a year ago

This might be better for me in some ways. But what I have now is different. Tapping gets me one app, swiping up gets me a second, and swiping down gets me a third.

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Starfarer 1 point a year ago

Just downloaded Hyperion and trying to add gestures to apps but cannot see where.

Am I missing something obvious?

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bobagem 1 point a year ago

Yes, thanks. I've been experimenting with Hyperion.

I feel obliged to report on which one I settle on, but I haven't quite gotten there yet.

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surfrock66 15 points a year ago

Neo Launcher has development stagnation, but otherwise it's very feature close and an influx of users might get more dev attention.

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omegabyte 11 points a year ago

I've been using Neo pretty much since Nova was sold to the ad company. I definitely wish it had more active development, but it's been a good enough replacement for me.

It was the first launcher I found that also has the feature to set a folder to launch a specific app on single tap and show everything in the folder with a swipe up. I didn't realize how much I relied on this with Nova until I tried other launchers that didn't have it.

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Waffle 3 points a year ago

Oh wow, I started using neo recently as a Nova replacement and didn't know it has this. Great news!

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omegabyte 5 points a year ago

It's called cover mode. If you open the folder and press the 3 dots to the right of the folder name on the bottom you can toggle it on. It just uses the first app in the folder as the primary app/icon for the folder.

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can 2 points a year ago

I feel the same way. I like folders but don't want to see them. I'll try Neo Launcher.

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Auli 1 point a year ago

That was a nice feature.

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can 13 points a year ago

Does any other launcher allow setting of custom swipe actions on home screen icons?

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JoKi 7 points a year ago

As far as I know, Action Launcher supports custom swipe actions, but it's years since I tried it.

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can 3 points a year ago

I'll look into it, thanks.

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smeg 1 point a year ago

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lka1988 6 points a year ago

Yes. This is not an exclusive feature.

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can 4 points a year ago

It's either gotten more common since I last explored or I was looking in the wrong places.

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IllNess 6 points a year ago

Lawnchair 15.Beta 1 has swipe left and swipe right.

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phuntis 2 points a year ago

only works on the home screen though not the dock maybe that'll be fixed though

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IllNess 1 point a year ago

It works on the dock.

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phuntis 2 points a year ago

I literally tried it and it doesn't work it just tries to change the homepage

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GreenMartian 5 points a year ago

I've settled on Total Launcher. It has custom swipe on all 4 directions.

Also background double & triple tap. And double finger swipe up & down.

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gila 1 point a year ago

Niagara launcher has "pop-ups" on swipe which can act as an app folder, or display app shortcuts or widgets. Not exactly the same behaviour but imo tidier & more elegant approach to basically the same use case.

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sabreW4K3 0 points a year ago

Thought all of them did

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FailBetter 10 points a year ago

Man I hope linux phone somehow rises through the ashes....not many places to find hope anymore

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the_q 10 points a year ago

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herseycokguzelolacak 9 points a year ago

I am using Lawnchair from IzzyOnDroid, and very happy with it. Strong recommend.

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Lazylazycat 7 points a year ago

I've been using Octopi since yesterday and it seems really similar to Nova so far.

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ibot 4 points a year ago

Same here. I really like it and bought the Premium version already to support the developer. It's not on the same level of customization and not as feature rich as Nova, but it's quite nice. And it's under active development.

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Ilandar 1 point a year ago

Are you a Phones Show Chat listener?

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Lazylazycat 1 point a year ago

I don't know what this means soz 😂

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Ilandar 1 point a year ago

It's a long running podcast about phones. One of the hosts recently started mentioning Octopi Launcher a lot after switching to it from Nova, and several of the listeners seem to have started using it as well. I'd never heard of it outside of that podcast community so I thought perhaps you were a member!

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Lazylazycat 1 point a year ago

Ahh ok, thanks for the explanation! No, I actually found out about it on a reddit thread regarding Nova coming to an end. Maybe people listening to the podcast are spreading the word :)

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nbas3 7 points a year ago

Wait ppl still use nova launcher?

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eclipse 2 points a year ago

I was until the announcement. It worked for me. I liked the tag based app drawer and nova search.

I'm now oscillating between smart launcher and octopi launcher. Changing your habits is difficult.

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Psythik 1 point a year ago

Tried it once back in the 2010s, didn't like that I had to pay for features that my phone's built-in launcher offers for free, uninstalled and never used it again. I especially didn't like that there was no burn-in protection feature (cause this was back when OLED burn-in was still an issue).

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jaemo 5 points a year ago

Belly laughs in Niagara.

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pfr 4 points a year ago

Lawnchair launcher

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albbi 1 point a year ago

Are you in a cave? I heard an echo.

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nieminen 4 points a year ago

I moved over to octopi launcher. It's really good, and single dev like how nova started.

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sabreW4K3 3 points a year ago

The developer also posted here IIRC, so that's a W.

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bobagem 2 points a year ago

So here's the problem I'm having with Octopi, and I'm not even sure of the right vocabulary to describe it.

I'm using the Outline icon pack, not that I think that matters here. But I'm trying to make an icon for the calendar that updates the date each day. I can see the icons 1 through 31 in several different icon styles, but if I choose today's date, Octopi doesn't update tomorrow.

Another way of stating this is that in the icon drawer itself, several other launchers show my Google calendar with today's date but Octopi shows the standard 31st.

What is this feature even called?

And am I right to assume that it's a feature that depends partly on the launcher?

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nieminen 1 point a year ago

I do believe that is a launcher functionality. octopi launcher has a subreddit and you can suggest features and stuff there.

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bobagem 1 point a year ago

Thanks. I've been trying to stay off Reddit, but it's still so much more active than Lemmy.

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nieminen 2 points a year ago

Yeah, I only landed there because there was a Google result for this same post there, don't know if the dev has a sub in lemmy

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bobagem 2 points a year ago

Octopi is my current leader.

I'm not sure whether I will actually use this feature, but it's fascinating the way each icon can be resized to a different size.

Also I note that it lets you set the number of columns, but not the number of rows. By setting the number of columns you set the grid size and then the number of rows is forced. But not entirely forced because if you show icon labels you're arranging rectangles and if you don't show icon labels you're arranging squares. And also not entirely forced because just because you said that there were seven full size icons across the screen doesn't mean you can't fit in 14 half-sized icons or one double wide double tall icon and five regulars.

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nieminen 1 point a year ago

Yeah, it's a feature request I'm sure he'll get to eventually. You can also control the number of rows by changing the icon size, it leaves a bit of whitespace, but it's manageable.

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Hazmatastic 3 points a year ago

Fuck, first I'm hearing of the sale or anything. Like most things in my life, I picked it years ago and never bothered to switch because it works. Might have to give some of these alternatives a shot. I just want pretty phone

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Anti_Iridium 2 points a year ago

I've been using Hex launcher since the whole selling data nova launcher thing. Essentially you get your widgets as a home screen, and thats it. You press on the screen and get 6 app choices, the search at the the top, and notifications at the bottom. To get all the apps you put three periods "..."

Its almost too simple.

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Altruistic_Flower 1 point a year ago

You're welcome! Yeah I'd be interested in which one you choose. I might end up checking it out too.

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Sunshine -6 points a year ago

Another reason to stop being bound to Android.

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BunScientist 1 point a year ago