I've switched to LawnChair a few months back. It's not perfect and I miss some features of Nova but I don't want to support that anymore.
this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2024
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Nova launcher for over a decade now.
Okay, I'm seeing a lot of "alternatives" posted. But to all of you recommending minimal launchers: They are NOT an alternative for Nova.
I've used Nova for near on 10 years now, always trying other launchers for a while. In those 10 years I realized that I want a fully fledged "traditional" launcher, not a list-based one where I have to search for my apps.
Thank you. I've been thinking the same thing. People keep posting things that aren't remotely close to Nova. I'm beginning to think there's just nothing else at their level. Lawnchair seems like the closest so far but it's still not customizable enough and the Google feed implementation randomly broke and I couldn't get it to work again (amongst other annoyances and performance issues).
I use neo launcher which comes close. The lack of recent updates is concerning though.
Edit: found that they have some pre releases in their telegram.
There are zero good alternatives.
Been using Niagara for nearly ten years, I think. Absolutely perfect launcher IMO.
One of my biggest problems always was that you cannot have proper app opening/closing animations on third party launchers without root.
Already posted here in Lemmy. State of Nova Launcher (August 9, 2024)
I'm Kevin Barry, the original creator and primary developer of Nova Launcher. (...) This week Branch parted ways with some employees, including people involved with Nova. (...) However, I've always been the lead and primary contributor to Nova Launcher and that hasn't changed. I will continue to control the direction and development of Nova Launcher.
It sucks, but it could've been worse. They could just have killed it.
Nova being a mature product, maybe it'll be okay third way. Hopefully.
It's a shame. Years ago, I adored their luncher, before I found Niagara and found how amazing it was. It will be sad to see it go, but these things happen. The luncher market is so full, you need to be special to stand out.
I felt like Nova's not being special was what made it special. It was the closest to stock android while having a bunch of little tweaks here and there that allowed for more custom setups.
any other lauchers that allow you to change app icons?
Action launcher.
saved
Lawnchair as well
Wish Lawnchair didn't have some sort of ghosting when it won't react to any inputs for like quarter of a second after minimizing the currently active app. Guess it's a Samsung thing but still, not found on a default launcher. Otherwise would definitely switch to Lawnchair.
That's a known issue with all third party launchers. I assume Google purposefully doesn't fix it.
yeah, they just kinda do that sometimes -_-
Lawnchair is open source and basically identical in my experience, though i think i'm using some new version of it that's technically not stable or something?
you can't change the main home screen. there are threads going back 6 years asking for that feature and they've just been ignored so I think I'll avoid it
change how?
if you have multiple home screens, you can't change which one is the default one. you can't add empty home screens, either.
Lawnchair is what I switched to after Nova Launcher was purchased. Honestly, I have few complaints, it's been plenty good enough for me.
I switched and didn't notice much difference
Does this mean it's going to become unusable or something? I've been using it for years. I've got icons, and an app drawer, and that's it.
I guess i'm not using 90% of it, given the reaction, and my.lack of noticing anything's changed.
id imagine it would work till google force deprecates it due to not being updated in a recent time window, which them it would be delisted on the play store
Oh. Well shit...
Just because a lot of people might be looking for alternatives, here is some:
Minimal Launchers:
- Olauncher - Play Store & F-Droid.
- Kiss Launcher - Play Store & F-Droid.
- Unlauncher - F-Droid.
- Pie Launcher - Play Store & F-Droid.
- YAM Launcher - F-Droid(Izzysoft).
Work in progress:
Proprietary Launchers:
Anyone know if any alternative supports app-drawer paging? Ive tried around six in the last few days, and none so far have. I'm open to trying other workflows but the "catch all" dock isn't it.
I like to keep my home screen with a few widgets and the dock - stuff I want to see often, but not open an app for like weather and calandar.
When I open the app drawer I see a page full of everything I use daily, then I can swipe to the other pages organized for work apps, games, and other crap.
Folders don't work as well because they usually sorted at the top of the screen and not quickly reached.
I've tried some of the minimislt scrolling launchers, but 1) I dont remember the exact name of every app and 2) for me, having to scroll through a list 100+ apps to get to "outlook"(for work) is not faster than having a page of my 20 most used apps.
Lightning Launcher if it still exists
From what I found, the short answer is no.
Long answer, summarized from a form post: the original dev got sick and launcher was left in limbo. Someone eventually contacted dev, the dev got better but "left android" and gave the person permission to open source it.
It is now avalible on GitHub, but does not seem to have an apk for download.
Love this list and I use Pear launcher currently on my Android 15 beta device. It has some quirks but overall I am happy with it over stock. Especially since I can add folders to the bottom bar.
Bought Nova just to nearly kill it. Fuck you Branch
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