Anyone try any good launchers lately? Something with interesting features or workflow.
A good slingshot will get you some distance but a PVC cannon fueled by hair spray is a lot more fun.
I was just using a rubber band, but this seems much better!
Niagara launcher.
It’s legitimately the best launcher I’ve ever used. It breaks the typical mould of pages of icon grids and replaces it with a vertical list of 8 or so of your most used apps.
It makes my workflows so much faster and I can’t go back to the typical Android home screen format.
This is what mine looks like right now:
And if you feel that the pricing for the full version is ridiculous, you can try out the KISS launcher that is similar in not using a home screen, but free and FOSS.
Yeah I can’t go back to normal style launchers. Niagara is great
+1 for Niagara
What app are you using for the dynamic island?
DynamicSpot
It has so many customization options, that it’s an even better solution than Apple’s.
Niagara was an easy 5 stars and lifetime purchase, but I now have a seething hatred for apps that stick random words as a prefix; for example, “myCigna” or “Fly Delta” because it ruins alphabetical sorting. I rate them 1 star for their ridiculous naming practices, but I feel like I need to do something more drastic to communicate my anger.
This is going to blow your mind: You can change their listed names.
Long press the app in the list, then press its name in the popup. It’ll let you change it.
Niagara, Kvaesitso, oLauncher, Pie launcher, Lunar launcher, Hex launcher, Stario, KISS, Posidon
So i just got a Oneplus Open (the folding phone) and have been test driving launchers to see what works well.
Call me crazy, but Microsofts launcher they made for the Duo is actually really solid. You can adjust the dock to pull out like a mini app drawer while still having a full app drawer (with folder support), and each of those is independent (you have have a dock be like 12 columns wide and 3 rows tall while your homescreens are something more normal like 4x4). Individual icon changes too, which is always a big deal for me. And you can even do things like have the app drawer show the defauot icons while your homescreen is all custom icons.
It even has a universal search bar like nova does, and you can toggle what it searches for (apps, documents, web, all of the above). I was worried it would force me to use microsoft stuff to get the full use out of it, but nope.
Im honestly incredibly impressed. Its almost as featured as the free version of Nova launcher.
With Nova selling out to a advertising firm, it’s time to find an alternative anyway.
If you are going to Microsoft because “Nova is selling out to advertising”, then I am not sure you really care about the issue at hand.
For better or for worst I still trust my data an American company marginally more than Chinese.
It’s a good launcher. But it does make connections to MS constantly.
Just from a battery life perspective I don’t like that. It’s a home launcher - I don’t need it eating battery.
Ugh l didn’t know this about nova
You’d be equally impressed to know how much of every single click and tap and app launched and app hovered over Microsoft tracks. Would make Nova tracking selling feel… Benign. They track their operations from the calculator app, FFS.
Niagara Launcher has been great! You can also try Hyperion. I find myself going back and forth every few months.
Despite now being owned by a marketing company, I always come back to nova.
Square Home is an old Windows Metro style launcher. It seems like someone’s passion project.
I like that
- It supports widgets
- Tiles are colorful and easy to find. I find it easier to use than the default Pixel launcher (ymmv).
- It supports folders on the home screen.
Yes to SH launcher. I LOVE it!
I like Kvaesitso
I have KISS Launcher installed based on a recommendation, though I haven’t used it yet.
I did too, its ok but lacking.
What’s it lacking?
Niagara Launcher does it for me, because my phone is rather tall
So far so good, thanks.
Another vote to nova. I keep trying every new launcher just out of curiosity but I always come back to nova
KISS launcher on minimal interface with a weather widget is my favourite.
Neo Launcher. Very stable on my Samsung so far. Open source.
Smart Launcher 6 is the only launcher that has stopped me from going back to Nova.
Where can i find it? Doesn’t look to be on fdroid.
It’s on the Play Store. I don’t think it’s open source.
Thanks…I don’t think I’d trust the app that knows every moment what I’m doing with my phone to be closed source.
I like to switch it up to see what’s out there pretty often though I’ve been using Nova since jellybean and before that it was ADW before development stopped for a while. However I like, Neo launcher (foss) for a trimmed down Nova like experience and Shade launcher also foss for a very simple yet pleasing to look at launcher. I find Kvaesito while a cool approach kind of buggy and not very smooth even on my OnePlus 11. Lunar launcher is also cool but not very customizable compared to Nova anyway. Really I just wish someone would bring Helix launcher to modern Android, probably mainly for nostalgia reasons.
