nova launcher and its few hundred legitimate business partners needs your permission to display ads

7 months ago by 14th_cylon to c/privacy

it was bothering me for at least two weeks now with "nova launcher can't open network connection". today it finally presented this shitty ad dialog with missing reject all option where you can either accept all, or dive into few dozens of separate section, each of them containing few dozens sliders, all of them enabled by default.

let this be warning to others and you can deal with it before it surprises you when you are somewhere outside.

what privacy concious launchers do you people use? i have tried kiss launcher, but that doesn't seem to be for me.

i want classic launcher where i have icons on desktop where i put them and i can manipulate them blindfolded, not something that is trying to reinvent the wheel.

kronarbob 35 points 7 months ago

I use lawnchair. From f-droid.

Fossify launcher is good and simple too. (Also on f-droid).

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dual_sport_dork 12 points 7 months ago

Lawnchair for me as well.

Back in the good old days Nova was actually one of the three apps I paid for. Can't say as I'm pleased about things with Nova going down the way they did, but I can't say as I'm too surprised, either. (The other two in case anyone cares are Torque and Alpine Quest.)

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kronarbob 3 points 7 months ago

I guess I paid for nova too, a very long time ago (maybe when I was on android 4 or 5), I stopped using it because of some disturbing bugs. I didn't follow that much of its evolution after that. I kinda lost interest for custom launchers, as the ones from the phones I bought or the ROMS I installed were good enough for me.

I started looking for launchers again because I started using /e/os a few years ago, and I do not like their launcher at all.

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voxel 12 points 7 months ago

Fyi, those consent banners are illegal in the EU.

See: https://www.edpb.europa.eu/...

You can file a complaint with a data protection authority: https://noyb.eu/...

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14th_cylon 2 points 7 months ago

do you have any experience, first or second hand, with whether filing such complaint is more than just waste of time?

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phar 11 points 7 months ago

Nova used to be great. Dropped them a couple years ago when they got bought by an ad company. Maybe it was longer ago. Now I have Lawnchair running on GrapheneOS and couldn't be happier until a more useable Linux phone OS comes about. I tried postmarket and it's cool as an alpha but it really wasn't daily usable.

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jobbies 1 point 7 months ago

Same. I miss Nova. No other launcher comes close.

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GreenShimada 10 points 7 months ago

Dropped this garbage a month ago and went over to lawnchair. This betrayal cuts me deep.

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Darkard 10 points 7 months ago

Those are rookie numbers

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ArfArfWoof 14 points 7 months ago

literally 984 😔

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Ulrich 1 point 7 months ago

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dotCody 8 points 7 months ago

I downgraded my nova. I paid for premium and they still sneak in ads and background tracking bullshit.

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AlsaValderaan 2 points 7 months ago

I downgraded back to 7.0.58 recently, iirc the last version before they sold. Still looking for a comparable launcher that's not ad/privacy garbage.

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schwim 6 points 7 months ago

Octopi became my Nova replacement.

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DarkSirrush 6 points 7 months ago

That reminds me, I really need to find an alternative to nova launcher, but for now grapheneos lets me deny network access to it completely, which helps a lot.

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zitrone 6 points 7 months ago

Kvaesito

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harrys_balzac 5 points 7 months ago

Niagara Launcher. I paid for pro. No regrets. Well, so far.

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GreenShimada 5 points 7 months ago

What I said about Nova pro a few years ago...

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harrys_balzac 7 points 7 months ago

Exactly. I'll dump Niagara in a heartbeat if they start enshittifying.

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DudeImMacGyver 5 points 7 months ago

Nova Launcher has been cooked for years, uninstall it if you care about your privacy. Maybe even install Graphene!

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IcedRaktajino 4 points 7 months ago

My standard is "Fast Draw". F-Droid

The only limitation is you can only have one widget. So if your home screen is typically widget-heavy, this probably isn't for you.

It also only sorts apps alphabetically, but that's how I like it, so isn't an issue for me.

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ICastFist 4 points 7 months ago

Something that annoys me immensely is how 99% of the launchers on f-droid are "type on the search bar to find the fucking app"

Personally, I use Fossify Launcher, which is "default android launcher, no bullshit"

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14th_cylon 1 point 7 months ago

that is what i am currently trying, seems to be working reasonably well and i swear it is faster than nova was.

there are some minor annoyances that are not really functional problem but will piss me off for some time (the icons of apps grouped into folder are far smaller than they could have been) and there is one big wtf moment, which is that screens do not wrap, so there is no left screen from the home one, resulting in number of screens being reachable of one slide cut to 50%, which is just... why?

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titanicx 0 points 7 months ago

I mean honestly that's one of the things I really like about these type of ecosystems is that I can just search for an app rather than scrolling through my hundred 150 whatever number of apps I have installed at this point.

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14th_cylon 1 point 7 months ago

that is why people have icons on the desktop. you do you, but i for one don't want to type the name of the app i am using on the daily basis instead of it being one click.

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titanicx -1 points 7 months ago

I personally hate icons on my desktop. Why close the app im using just to open another?

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14th_cylon 2 points 7 months ago

Why close the app im using just to open another?

because you can't use two of them at the same time? what does that have to do with method of launching that another app and comparing two clicks/gestures that can be done one handed, vs typing into some search box, which is a lot more complicated and longer operation?

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vermeil 4 points 7 months ago

I'm a fan of Ion Launcher from Fdroid.

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RandomLegend 3 points 7 months ago

NeoLauncher feels quite like Nova for me.

that's what j switched to

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femtek 3 points 7 months ago

Hyperion

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shiftymccool 2 points 7 months ago

Kvaesitso on f-droid

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parson0 2 points 7 months ago

Olauncher anyone? I like clean list

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titanicx 1 point 7 months ago

Bro are you seriously telling me that you thought Nova was a privacy minded ecosystem?

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14th_cylon 2 points 7 months ago

i don't know about your bro. but i wasn't even remotely close to suggesting something like that.

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