Just got a new work phone: Galaxy S22. Wanted a pixel but it was out of stock in our internal allocation. Already tired of samsung's UI and interested in something new.
So what do you like? Bonus points if it works with android enterprise's profile mode dual app drawers.
I was a huge fan until their acquisition by the shady company. I keep the pre-acquistion version on older phones.
+1 for Nova.
Been using it since my Pixel 1 XL, on a Pixel 6 Pro now.
I am going to switch back to the default Pixel Launcher for a week to see if anything has changed(and just for fun), but I think I'm going to be on Nova after lol.
I've been using nova launcher prime since forever. Make a backup on my old phone when getting a new one, and import it on the new phone.
How do you feel about nova launcher being bought out by that data collection company?
:( I used Nova Prime for many years, and I don't like this one bit. I hope that the devs got a good payout, and best wishes to them, but it makes me uncomfortable. Luckily, while it's definitely no Nova, Samsung's launcher has finally on the most recent version gotten to a point of usability. Everything is more awkward to do, and you have to install extra Samsung apps (Good Lock with applets) for a lot of the customization, but most of my favorite features from Nova are finally there. So, for the first time in many years, I'm running the Samsung default OneUI 5.1.
Yes, I do think they are, but by choosing a Samsung smartphone, I've already decided to be OK with that on some level. I turn off features that connect to outside companies for the most part, and I've chosen to believe that Samsung does what it claims with the settings that users have available to them on the phone. It doesn't mean that I'm just fine with handing everything over to any other random company. Samsung states that they use Branch for searches inside their Galaxy Store. Some claims have been made that Branch powers the Finder (search) function on Samsung phones (althugh I can't find confirmation), but this Finder Customization Service is a feature you can disable on a Samsung Galaxy phone. You can also turn off search suggestions for Finder and disable it's ability to open links. You can disable Google and Samsung's browsers and Internet searches as well.I am the sort of user who checks permissions of apps before downloading them (and disables everything I don't use), and I don't want my launcher (which I paid for) on a device I paid a not small sum of money for, to send every single tap back to a marketing firm directly.
Wait. What happened?
Since they mentioned backups they might be on the last good version of the launcher pre purchase (I guess)
Use Lawn Chair
It's also FOSS and respects your privacy. Also very lightweight.
Since i bought Niagara Launcher my phone(s) feel very fluent and contemporary. I'd say the best piece of software I bought for Android.
I actually had a similar issue but I believe I got around it by listing it first into the app list THEN putting it into the folder. Let me know if that doesn't work and I'll try and recreate it and let you know what I did
Niagara is so fundamental to me that I simply can't imagine my phone without it. My partner really likes the whole one UI themed experience, and everytime she gives me her phone I'm lost for 5 minutes trying to find anything.
It's a different paradigm and not for everyone (eg. people that rely a lot on widgets) but it really puts you in sync with your stuff. totally worth the buy.
Niagara my beloved.
I installed it but def need to give it some time. Pretty confusing at first. Seems like a super neat idea though! How long did it take you to get used to it?
My nova styling was actually pretty close to how Niagara looks already. So the transition was actually pretty easy for me. Niagara is far cleaner than customizing Nova to look and function that way.
Just switched to Niagara after seeing other comments about Nova being sold. Rip Nova, I only use like 8 apps anyway.
KISS Launcher for me. Minimal UI so you can see your wallpaper, decent search and open source. I'm surprised there aren't more mentions of it here actually.
Giving it a try now - seems great so far!
Gave it a try and I can see the appeal, but for me the lackluster widget support/customization is a bummer.
I like having a clock widget with two other wildly different timezone clocks shown on my home screen beneath my timezone (makes it easier to know when things in those places are happening in my timezone), and it doesn't support displaying the clock widget that way with multiple timezones so far as I could tell, despite allowing the display of the clock widget.
Edited for clarity.
I think you may have misread/misunderstood my reply. I didn't say you couldn't, only that their support/customization was lackluster.
As I said, I could place a clock widget, but it wasn't able to display the full customization with additional timezones' clocks displayed.
I'm going to piggy back on this comment for all the people who don't want to do the research on Nova and their recent acquisition by Branch. You can opt in or out of usage statistics and all permissions in the app. The new mods on their discord have a FAQ that expresses this also. I have no way to prove otherwise but if all we have is their word then you should take all apps usages disclosures with a grain of salt.
Edit: funny enough I just installed and read the first few paragraphs of Niagra's privacy policy which says it collects and shares user analytics. To each their own I guess.
Protip: If you are somewhat skeptical of the Branch integration, you can disable network permission in Android for the Nova Launcher. It doesn't need to connect to anything to work fine generally speaking. Without network permisson, the launcher can't send anything to the internet.
Wait, what? I didn't hear about them getting acquired. That sucks.
Happened like a year ago or something. If you go look at the ratings on the Play store by recent a lot of people were upset. I still use Nova but I haven't updated it to the new branch version of the APK. I'm sure eventually I'll have to find a new launcher
Yeah I just turned off automatic updates on Nova the minute I found out about branch. I'm just going to stick with the pre-branch version of the app until it doesn't function anymore or I find a suitable replacement.
But you're right, a lot of the alternatives aren't all that much better in terms of their privacy policy. Being owned by a shady data company... It's absolutely discouraging. Obviously something like Microsoft launcher probably isn't that much better in terms of privacy of course.
I bought Nova Prime 10 years ago and was using it already years before that. Unfortunately they were bought out by Branch last year. And most of the time this isn't positive for the app. Guess I have yet an other app tracking and sending my data.. 🙄
Nova Launcher Prime. The only one I stuck too, and never managed to leave.
Nova launcher, made this with it
I appreciate you sharing this. I had no idea. Time to find an alternative.
Seconding Nova. It's been a while since I've used it, not since when gesture navigation was added and changing launchers would break it. Prior to that though, I loved it for the customization ability. It was a must-have on every phone.
That looks nice. Digging the grayscale look!
Also Nova. I'm pretty sure that Google and Samsung copied features from it for their official UI over the years. It's always been forward thinking and extremely customizable for the use experience.
I love Niagara Launcher. simple, yet very effective.
Finally a launcher that won't be bought by a data telemetry company
KISS
Neo launcher for me. it's on fdroid.
it's not perfect and can get buggy, but once you set it up, and don't mess with the settings too much. it's acceptable replacement for Nova launcher.
Had nova prime, but switched after the buyout
... what buyout?
Yeah... What buyout? I have it in Graphene, with no permissions granted and only as a secondary launcher while i was considering my options, since Neo sometimes doesn't update new installed apps for a while...
https://www.androidpolice.com/...
It was bought by a data analytics company last summer, unfortunately.
Oh what? Damn I've been using only Nova for years and years. Who bought them?
According to this article, an analytical giant by the name of Branch last year?
Yeah ever since that happened I turned off automatic updates and have been sticking with the pre-branch APK. So far no issues but I will probably eventually have to pivot away from it.
But I struggle to find stuff that has every feature I need. Nova lets me customize a swipe up and a swipe down on each icon. For instance if I swipe up on kiwi browser it automatically opens the YouTube music browser and if I swipe down on it regular YouTube browser.
It allows me to get three times as much usage out of my icons on the front screen and keep it much more minimal.
Alternatives usually only have one swipe option if that.
But I'll keep trying. Like a half dozen launchers downloaded right now but every time I switch I miss something about Nova and end up going back.
Especially on my LG and Samsung devices. Crazy about these stock software on those with phones. I'm using a pixel I'd be more inclined to stick with the stock software. Although I would still probably download zone launcher or floating bar to control my remote control and the flashlight
Do you have a link for "Active launcher"? When I search for it I can only seem to find "Activity launcher" but that is a completely different app.
Edit: Reading the the other posts I guess he meant Action launcher.
@M_Reimer I got lawnchair thru f droid, but my pixel is pretty old. I'm not sure if it gets updates.
Says not available on the play store... So I see what you mean. I'll try to grab the GitHub version
Wow that looks nice! Neat that it works so well with the fold form-factor.
I'm using Niagara, it's not free but it's only like 10€ yearly. I like it because it stops my muscle Memory from mindlessly opening stuff
I use neolauncher Not quite nova but okay once you set it up
You can grab it on fdroid or directly on GitHub https://github.com/NeoApplications/Neo-Launcher
Huh... Looks very nova-esque.
Wait, what now? Nova'a been my go-to, what happened?
Last year they got acquired by Branch, an analytics company. Android Police article about it here.
The one-hand navigation is just....cheff kiss
Okay, so I really really like KISS launcher. KISS stands for keep it simple stupid and that should tell you all there is to know about the launcher. It is a search based launcher, you can do quick calculations, one click call/text your contacts, configure additional search engines (eg: you can search directly on YouTube, Maps, Google or just open an url directly). No matter what I try it never satisfies as much as KISS, I find it an hassle to go through the icons searching fot your app. It is available on F-Droid
Oh interesting. I use Linux on my PC and love just hitting super + typing the name of a program.
I'm using Nova, but your reply convinced me to try it out. Sounds like a cool launcher for someone who likes to tweak around (me basicly) :)
I went to check it out and was so happy with the idea and the first impression that it gave me that I went ahead and bought the lifetime premium for it hoping to customize it to my tastes, only to quickly learn they are very anti-customization.
Damn I really hate opinionated software.
I like Kavaesito a lot. Found Here
I've noticed this too, especially while swiping up to open the app drawer. Sometimes I notice that it takes a few seconds to load the icons as well. The developer updates if frequently so I hope there is some updates to address the issue(s)
Niagara Launcher. It's a very clean and simple launcher and perfect if you have around 8 top apps with the way it's designed, but still very easy to navigate all other apps. Definitely recommend you give it a go
I use Kvaesitso, and have used it for a while now. I like it! https://kvaesitso.mm20.de/
I don't think it gets bonus points though
I use Action Launcher, great for doing things from your home screen without needing a bunch of widgets. Also Samsung's One Hand Operation app is a lifesaver, no need to awkwardly shift my plone down to reach the notification shade.
Another vote for action launcher. Switched back to it after Nova was sold off. I have had the same basic home screen for years now, and because everything is so easily accessible using covers/folders etc, most of my single home screen is a picture of the cat
Haha perfect!
Currently using and have used the Niagra launcher for years. To me, ease of use and getting to the apps I need quickly and efficiently is the most important thing about a launcher. I've tried many of the "minimalistic" launchers over time, and this is the only one that truly felt useful. I'd highly recommend it to people who just use their phone as an app launcher, as opposed to having a bunch of widgets on the homescreen or something.
Agree on Niagara. I've been a Nova Launcher user for many-many years. Tried to switch to other launchers with no success. Around year ago, when Nova was bought by Branch (if memory is right) I decided to force myself to use a different launcher. Tested several, but Niagara was best once you understand the simplicity of the design concept. Now I'm a very satisfied user of the PRO version.
SmartLauncher, no contest.
Tell us why. I've never used it. What's the feature that keeps you there?
Probably the app drawer is my favorite feature. It automatically sorts your apps into catagories (Contacts, Games, Internet, Media, Communications, Utilities and Settings, although you can change any categories or create your own). In addition to the categories, you can search alphabetically or find apps via a universal search. The widgets and widget stack handling is great, icon Pack Studio to design your own icons if you're into that sort of thing. Fun little features like blur and parralax 3D if you choose to enable it. Overall, its a really slick launcher and mature product that's actively developed with devs that interact with the community. I've been using the paid version for years and its the best $ value for anything I've ever purchased on Android. It's this very first thing I put on a new phone. I love playing with new launchers and I try out pretty much every launcher I come across, but this is always my daily driver.
I've been using smart launcher for years, I love it. But I just got a new phone, and they seem to have taken away the "flower" pattern for the homepage? I loved having my home page blank, then tapping the center of the screen and having my folders appear
I think those configurations are under smart widgets now, but to be totally honest, I never used the flower stuff, so Im unsure exacctly what you're describing. Im boring and always just have rows of icons.
I use the KISS launcher. It's on both Play Store and F-Droid.
Stupid simple and really nice looking imo
The screenshots look kinda outdated, how themeable is it? the global search looks great
Themeable in that you can change colors and icons and sizing to your liking. But inherently it's just a search bar and an app drawer basically. The screenshots do a bad job of showing the variety of looks you can achieve though. I've been pushing for a custom color hex picker for a while but it hasn't made any releases so far though.
Here's an example of mine below...
Can also set favorites to float above the search bar like more traditional if you're into that.
This is the one that I use. Don't know if it is appealing for people who like to tinker with themes and stuff though. Not much of a themes guy myself. You can tweak colors and use icon packs at least.
Maybe this screenshot of the UI settings can be helpful for you:
If you want to try something alternative check out "niagara launcher". You need some time to get used to it, but the UX is really clever IMO
Despite the privacy issues after the buyout, I'm still using Nova Launcher.
On the work phone I'm using the Microsoft one and it's surprisingly good too. It's not quite as customisable as Nova but it does a fair amount as well. I like the configurable leftmost screen, it's like a powered up widget viewer.
Two bits of info I wasn't aware of! Going to check out MS!
Thanks for the suggestion!
I really enjoyed Lawnchair for some time. Been trying Niagara for a few months as well. Lawnchair is my favorite for it's simplicity.
Not available on Android 13 :(
I am on GrapheneOS, based on Android 13, on a 64-bit only CPU. It is available. You might need to download it from F-Droid, I have no clue about whether the Play Store version is downloadable, as it isnt too actively maintained.
that went much better, unfortunately it seems it's not for me. despite my phone having a slide-out keyboard, it is not tenable for me to open either it or the softkeyboard just to open an app. thanks for the suggestion anyway!
Neo Launcher, it's the closest think to Nova, but there is still a lot of bugs.
I just replaced Nova with Neo after trying several from this thread. The only bug I've seen has been renaming folders. But other than that it has been smooth sailing. Thanks for the recommendation. 👍🏻
I still have the app icon disappearing when you update it bug. Plus the in general unpolished feel of the app.
For free I can't complain, but it's not as smooth or as polished as Nova... Yet
No it's not as polished as Nova and it looks like it hasn't been updated for a while. Do you know of another launcher that has "Cover mode" where the first app in the folder is displayed and other apps are displayed when you swipe up?
I use nova. I haven't shopped around but it's solid and does what I ask it to
I still have nova prime from like 8 years ago... Time to give it another try I guess
After many years with Nova, I dumped it after the sale, and tried a few. MS Launcher was pretty good, but I settled on Total Launcher.
Very, very customisable, although a bit of a learning curve. I have a feeling I'm only scratching the surface of what it can do, but that's enough for me :-)
Not that guy, but last year they got acquired by Branch, an analytics company. Android Police article about it here. The same company also acquired Sesame of Sesame Universal Search.
To clarify, I'm unaware if they've done anything suspicious since the acquistion, but potentially giving an analytics company launcher level access raised eyebrows for more than a few people, myself included.
Yeah, all this. Plus, when they did an AMA about it, I thought their answers and general attitude were pretty lacking in substance/reassurance. That was the final straw for me, although the sale was the first point of doubt.
Let's see that home page!
Nothing too fancy on the surface, but what's hidden is that every folder has 4 swipe actions so I can launch a different app or action with each - 48 in total, plus other desktop gestures.
The clock, music, charge, weather widget is my own design, in KLWP. When I swipe into my second screen (a full page calendar widget) they slide off the screen (up, down, left, right) so as not to obscure the calendar. Also, two other info panels hidden behind invisible touch points - one for international timezones and one showing fixtures and useful links for my football team, Dunfermline Athletic.
Kiss launcher all the way! It basically works like the windows start menu. Type the first few letters of the app name, press enter and it starts.
You can also add keywords to apps and those will get searched as well.
It's purely awesome. And it combines really nicely with my Fairberry physical keyboard attachment.
I have an S22+ and I've been using one UI for years now. What do you find inadequate about it if you don't mind my asking?
I have found samsung's software to be the most feature complete android experience so far.
In earlier versions of the past, OneUI was slower than something like Nova Prime (on the same hardware). In earlier versions, you also could not customize icon sets, you could not drop a widget into the dock, widgets were less flexible in how you could resize them, you could not customize the animation styles the same way. Plus tons of other details of customization/layout/scaling combined with speed (or lack thereof). The last 2 versions were huge improvements on these areas, and as a former Nova Launcher Prime power user, I consider OneUI 5.1 to finally be usable if you install and make extensive use of Good Lock. I've been using Samsung devices since the Note 2, btw. We won't even talk about "Samsung Experience" or the even older and kinda terrible TouchWiz. TouchWiz drove a lot of people to other brands of phones and to use other launchers.
It's a fair question. I don't feel like it's missing any feature per se. Maybe the issue is too many features. I want something minimal and easy to use.
I also spent a lot of time with early Samsung Android phones and to be honest that probably somewhat permanently ruined Samsung ui for me. There's just an... ick factor or something. Hard to put my finger on it.
Seconding Smart Launcher. Automatic categorization beats pretty much every other feature I can think of in a launcher.
I try to treat my devices as commitments as far as spending but disposable as far as usage habits and not having invent my own categories helps me just USE my phone instead of playing with it.
Yeah, AIO is great, a lot like having Rainmeter on Android. Extremely customizable and functional. Gets me the information I need quickly and then gets out of my way. The dev is constantly adding new features too!
Using Nova Prime since many years now. Very satisfied, never felt the need to use anything else
No need to root and you can always switch back to your previous launcher / uninstall the launcher. It's pretty much an alternative homepage and app drawer.
Then just customize it the way you like it and grab some icon packs, most of them are free or at a symbolic price
You could try Niagara Launcher or Nova, my current one and see how you like it
Smart Launcher. It feels more polished than Nova Launcher, and has most of the features I'd expect from an alternate launcher.
With that said tho, I'm actually using the stock Pixel launcher because... Why not, it's not really bad.
Dunno. What do CalyxOS use? Quickstep? That one.
I'm this weird person who loves the pixel but at the same time tries to degoogle myself. Meaning I have a Pixel 7 Pro with Nova launcher. I think it works okay!
Haha totally get it. I'm there too....
I use productivity launcher. Its very barebones, works well, quick access to my apps and it's not bright and colorful so my phone is a little less appealing to look at and might reduce my screen time a tiny bit.
Haha 😂 I'll check it out, thanks!
I also use Niagara Launcher. Went pro about two years ago.
I like the minimalistic look and the alphabetical drawer. Also the widget for calendar and clock is neat. And the media widget only shows up when needed, as well as the chosen media apps.
Looks interesting, I'll check it out! Do you like the combined messages / conversations feature?
Which gestures do you mean? Like edge swipes for back and swipe up for home? Works fine for me, Pixel6P using Total Launcher.
Gestures have worked fine with all the ones I've tried so far... Maybe it's fixed? I do notice app switching takes holding the up Swype a half second longer than stock but other than that everything is fine.
Because recents recent screen is still handled by the stock launcer even if you use a 3rd party one. And you will always notice more frame drops in animation when using 3rd party launcher.
Smart Launcher for me. I've been using it since the Smart Launcher 3 days, and it's really still a launcher with no-nonsense UI that doesn't change a lot, for example you can still modify it to feel just like SL3 with the left side app menu and gestures. Plus the design language used in SL6 is just beautiful to me.
Liked it so much I bought the pro version of SL3 and later on, get the full license for SL5 (and onwards).**
Sadly 3rd party launchers don't work well with widgets, at least on One UI. I found Nova Launcher to do well with gestures and animations, but it's not there yet for me. The One UI launcher works as expected but lacks the ability to change stuff like the icon shape which I don't like very much (Theme Park doesn't do it well).
If you're into minimalism, you can try Mere Launcher. I created it to declutter my phone, use on older hardware, and have an option that doesn't use any swipe gestures (for my wife's aging grandmother, who gets thrown off my such things).
I have been using Action Launcher for yeeeears. my favorite feature from it is cover: it's like folder, except the first item is the "cover" that opens itself instead of the folder, and you can swipe down to open the folder, useful to put some web apps under the cover of chrome for example.
MLauncher, sadly no option to sort alphabetically once you add the apps to the homescreen, or at least I haven't found it
Trying to pivot to an alternative since Nova was sold but I just can't find anything that matches it feature for feature. Like Niagara but not something I want to use always. I just really depend on the app swiping functionality on Nova and the customizable gestures like double tap to prompt my remote.
But there is a cool launch aUG. lets you swipe a letter of an alphabet with a stylus or your finger and all your apps with that letter pop up. If it had landscape mode support and search function in the app drawer I would use it a lot more
What's happening with Nova? I use it in all my android devices
It used to be posidon launcher, but it was glitchy and laggy as hell, also used neo launcher, it was fine, but not really what I want. I use Lawnchair from the izzyondroid fdroid repo nowadays.
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@lemmy.world
Welcome to the Android community on Lemmy. Here you can participate in amazing discussions and events relating to all things Android.
The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:
1. All posts must be relevant to Android devices/operating system.
2. Posts cannot be illegal or NSFW material.
3. No spam, self promotion, or upvote farming. Sources engaging in these behavior will be added to the Blacklist.
4. Non-whitelisted bots will be banned.
5. Engage respectfully: Harassment, flamebaiting, bad faith engagement, or agenda posting will result in your posts being removed. Excessive violations will result in temporary or permanent ban, depending on severity.
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I absolutely love Nova Launcher Pro. Easy to get to what I need. Also integrates with sesame and Delta icon pack.
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