this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2023
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Android

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[–] [email protected] 58 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Why do you need to trust a launcher with your data at all? Why does it ever leave your device? This made me very skeptical about them.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A launcher needs a lot of privileges to do its work. I have to trust it that it does not collect/send anything to anywhere.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

My AOSP launcher has zero permissions, except one that I optionally enabled to see notifications so it can do the little notification dots on my app icons.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I was referencing usual launchers with a rich set of features. As fas as I remember, one can also disable most of the permissions for no a as well, but this will kill all cool features.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I can understand the flak they're having, but honestly Nova is the first thing I install on all my Android devices. Its so convenient and versatile

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Didn't believe them then, don't believe them now.

RIP Nova.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Can't blame the dev for selling out. I would for a windfall and retire.

But it's time to move on. Wouldn't touch Nova with a 1000 ft pole.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Been using lawnchair since forever, I try to avoid closed source apps as much as possible, so Nova was never an option for me.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Just wish it would get more development.
The last Alpha is from August 8 and even then the current iteration is a shell of what Lawnchair was during the V2 Alpha days

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Consider using Neo Launcher. It's open source and actively developed and is basically what lawnchair aimed to be.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The play store says lawnchair isn't available because it was made for an older version of Android... The versions on F-Droid are 2 years old too ...

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

the FLOSS alternative https://github.com/NeoApplications/Neo-Launcher/

I don't have a play store link if you do please post it for those in need

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Thanks for sharing! They don't seem to have a Play Store listing, but they do have an F-Droid link on the IzzyOnDroid repo. Can also add their GitHub releases to Obtainium for easy updating.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

And now I just learned about Obtainium. Thank you!

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It hasn't been updated since October 2022. Is it still in active development?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I beleive there is another release planned. They are slow tho. I think very much a volunteer project.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Anyway, I just wish KISS offered a better widget customization.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I love KISS. Anyone picking up my phone would just see a blank screen with seemingly no function unless you know to swipe.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Mine just looks like a terminal with a pipboy scan lines background I love it so much I forget phones are supposed to have icons and can't figure out how anyone can find apps without a search bar

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I made the jump to Niagara and have enjoyed it so far. I really enjoyed Nova, but there's no going back at this point.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

~~I've been on nova for like...a decade. What am I missing out on?~~

Nevermind, it's free so I tried it. Definitely not my cup of tea...does anyone have any suggestions more similar to how Nova works? I like my icon gestures

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Not updated since Dec 2021.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Yeah, this is what makes the announcement weird.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

There are apks of the beta 8.x version on their site

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

I was like "Wait, aren't I using nova?"

And sure enough I was.

The fact that I don't care is a good thing. It means it doesn't piss me off and make me want to use something else.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And still no sign of the long-promised version 8 going out of beta yet ffs...

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

I'm still on Nova because it just works so right for me, many others I tried didn't.

My needs are very basic

  • A home screen I can place icons in specific positions (eg not forced auto sort)
  • folders (drag multiple icons on top of each other to create a group/folder)
  • Message count on icons, e.g my Whatsapp icon should show a little number indicating amount of new messages
  • and finally, an app drawer showing all apps in a single list (without any fancy grouping)

Maybe this is normal now but years ago Nova seemed to be the only one that offered all these basic features together

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Smart Launcher 6 has matured and is very fast and stable.

I personally use Neo Launcher because it has a unique feature.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I wanted a consistent launcher across different devices over time. I eventually settled on Nova Launcher, paid for it, and really liked it. I have been using it for about a decade. I just abandoned it a few hours ago because I finally determined why my tablet was grinding and halting. Nova Launcher was using over 600 MB of memory as well as leaking memory. My tablet is running like it's brand new again. I am unhappy about not being able to use it, but I'm a lot happier that I'm able to use my tablet again.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (9 children)

I stopped using third party launchers since they began to suck because the full screen gestures, I think since A11.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Short unresponsiveness to other inputs when you return home while having gesture navigation turned on. It's very annoying.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I am so glad that Nova sold to that data mining owner of a company. If they hadn't I would have still been using Nova and would not have come across KISS launcher.

So fast, so efficient, with a real nice search feature. KISS has brought me great pleasure. Nova I hardly used any of the myriads of features and I was just there for the hype.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I have decided to stick with the stock GrapheneOS launcher.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Im not even sure what this all means? Ive been using Nova Launcher since my Galaxy Note 2, though... maybe I should stop using it?

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (7 children)

This means that around a year ago nova was sold to a data collection company. But nova team declared that this had no impact on the launcher.

this is declared for mostly every company takeover, and very rarely happens in practice.

What to do, is up to you. Many stopped using nova .

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I immediately stopped using Nova after 8-plus years following that announcement.

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