You could try Niagara Launcher. I'm using it and it's got that decluttered home screen but it's fairly minimal. It's worth mentioning you do get most relevant features in the free version.
this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2024
74 points (93.0% liked)
Android
27856 readers
57 users here now
DROID DOES
Welcome to the droidymcdroidface-iest, Lemmyest (Lemmiest), test, bestest, phoniest, pluckiest, snarkiest, and spiciest Android community on Lemmy (Do not respond)! 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:
Rules
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.
6. Memes are not allowed to be posts, but are allowed in the comments.
7. Posts from clickbait sources are heavily discouraged. Please de-clickbait titles if it needs to be submitted.
8. Submission statements of any length composed of your own thoughts inside the post text field are mandatory for any microblog posts, and are optional but recommended for article/image/video posts.
Community Resources:
We are Android girls*,
In our Lemmy.world.
The back is plastic,
It's fantastic.
*Well, not just girls: people of all gender identities are welcomed here.
Our Partner Communities:
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
I went from Nova to Niagara and I love it!
Neo Launcher, available in the IzzyOnDroid F-Droid Repo, has been my solid go-to for replacing Nova.
https://github.com/NeoApplications/Neo-Launcher
I prefer a ton of icons/folders/widgets on my home screen, and it supports that dense layout.
I used it for a while, but it wasn't get as many frequent updates as I would have hoped. I get it straight from the GitHub with Obtainium
Is Nova Launcher stealing data?
Ever since Nova Launcher was acquired by Branch, many users have had privacy concerns.
I just blocked it's Internet access
Haven't investigated what data they may or may not be taking but they were acquired by Branch (https://novalauncher.com/branch) and with that being said, use your judgement to decide if a company like branch is one you'd want to have data of yours.
Branch is an analytics company, so I would argue that yes, yes they are obtaining your data.
I'm still running Nova on Graphene. I revoked the network permission. That should mean I'm safe from spying, right?
Reasonably safe I would imagine since it can't phone home. Similar approach I took, but I'm using LineageOS and AFWall+ to explicitly block internet connectivity.
OK cool. I've played around with blocking net permission for other apps on Graphene and confirmed it really kills Internet access. I've been on Nova since I started on Android many years ago. Old habits are hard to give up. I'm in the same boat and haven't found a replacement launcher either.
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
This was the closest for me, but the project has been slow for some time as the devs are busy with other things
Project has been slow is an understatement. Lawn chair was definitely a contender but with complete lack of updates over SEVERAL years - it's abandonware and should be treated as such.
I don't think devs or users really care about launchers in 2024. I still use Nova but only because there is nothing better.
One of the devs releases current builds of Lawnchair 14. Apart from a few bugs here and there, they work great
Thanks, I'll check it out.
The problem for me was that I got tired of tracking the team's organizational changes and busy periods.
The fact that this is not even official but a fork for builds is just frustrating.
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
I too wanted to ditch Nova, but couldn't find something that was a suitable replacement for me. Now I use older version of Nova (version 7) before it was acquired by Branch and I don't intend on updating it.
Neo-Launcher is still being worked on, they are expecting to push version 1.0 later this year to GitHub, but progress has been steady from what I know. You can get the latest beta version of Neo-Launcher from their Telegram to try out. Don't let the "beta" part turn you off, it's basically production ready, I've been using it now as my launcher for well over a year, possibly even 2 at this point.
Could you please share a link to the beta? I can't find it in the telegram chat. Thanks 😃
load more comments
(1 replies)
I always go back to Kiss Launcher after trying other launchers. With a huge amount of apps, there is no point trying to organise the icons. Nothing beats typing the first letter and launch.
I like Kiss a lot too.
Very different than Nova but simple and powerful.
I use the paid version of Niagara. It's going well for me but I get that paying 30$ lifetime for a launcher isn't for everyone. The free version is ok but it lacks several very nice features like your music app automatically being hoisted when you connect earphones.
I used it in the past. I really did like the idea of it, but I can't see myself going back. And 30$ is steep, I'd rather donate to an open source project anyways.
load more comments
(2 replies)
I really like Lawnchair! It's the only launcher that I've found to support gesture navigation
NeoLauncher is close to the feel of Nova but its a bit buggier
Niagara Launcher is so unique and difficult to switch from once you get used to it's simplicity.
The dev versions of Lawnchair have been pretty decent to me. You can grab them straight from the CI build jobs in the repo. You might need a GitHub login.
Are they recent builds, as in the project isn't dead?
I've been using Olauncher which is on F-Droid / Play Store.
It is truly minimal AF. Up to 8 apps on the home screen. Assign a swipe left/right app (calendar and weather for me). Swipe up opens a search for the rest of the apps. A clock if you want it that can be configured to open another app.
No icons. No widgets (other than a built-in clock). Reminds me more of a terminal than a traditional launcher. Really happy with it after all the time configuring Nova. Been using it for 3 years now.
That link is a Minecraft launcher, not sure that's the correct project? Or am I missing something? :)
One tip for Olauncher is that you can put emojies in the app's names! It makes things a lot less text heavy.
I'm currently using Action Launcher. It's a pretty good replacement for Nova.
load more comments
(1 replies)
When Nova sold out I moved too. Hyperion https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=projekt.launcher Well as far as I know its not open source. But I did find it to be a decent Nova replacement.
load more comments
(1 replies)
Smart Launcher. Worth the premium version. It has the alternate task feature you mentioned, it's just on double tap instead of swipe.
Not open source, but they're independent and respectful of privacy
I tried a number of them but never found one that felt right. I went back to the stock Pixel launcher. It's far from perfect but I'm getting too old to tinker on features I'm not using anymore. I use the same 4 or 5 apps every day so it wasn't worth the time investment.
I love the pixel launcher but hate that you can't disable the internet connection of the Google widget. That means that Google tracks every single app you search and I can't stand that. So I'm using the buggy and apparently just as outrageous Nova :/
I selfishly hope someone comes through for you, OP, because that feature is the exact reason I'm still on Nova. I love having only 8 icons on my home screen.
I also really like the same feature for folders (tap to open first app, swipe up to open folder) when I had a bunch of work stuff on my phone
I actually just started to learn kotlin, but maybe if I become proficient enough I'll make the damn app myself.
Niagara.
Cool disclosure: I haven't tried any others. I was really impressed by Niagara and just paid the asking price.
Not seen Lynx Launcher mentioned, free version is OK but the majority of features are for premium version.
I went from Nova > Lawnchair Beta > Smart Launcher and its been amazing. Subscription based but I bought the lifetime version for $20 cause its that good. Lawnchair is basically MIA and Nova sold out to advertising/tracking.
Not sure if Smart Launcher is okay in that aspect but it is packed with features and still being updated. All the options outside of these three arent good imo and I would rather use stock.
I still use Nova, but I block Internet to it completely. Lawnchair I didn't try because of lack of updates. And I'm trying to lean towards open source. Thanks for the suggestion
view more: next ›