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New launcher to replace Nova? (multiverse.soulism.net)

submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by Grail@multiverse.soulism.net to c/android@lemdro.id

39 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hello folks. Four minutes ago, I got a notification that Nova now has ads, despite Me disabling updates. Three minutes ago, I uninstalled Nova. Any recommendations for a new launcher?

My ideal launcher would be completely free, have plenty of customisation options, and the only updates would be bugfixes and op-in features that I am not notified about. I first installed Nova years ago, to make My new phone's home screen look like the last one's. And I'm not about to change My ways now, so hopefully the new launcher lets Me recreate the look and feel of the very first smartphone I ever owned over a decade ago.

All the best,
A cranky old wizard

top 39 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] vonander@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

A shout-out to Niagara Launcher 👍

[–] AndrewZabar@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

I also got that notification on several of my devices. But I have not seen any ads. Maybe because I use DNSNET.

I kinda like Lawnchair also.

[–] DeLuc72@piefed.social 1 points 6 hours ago

I switched from Nova to Smart Launcher.

[–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 4 points 1 day ago

FYI of you install an app from the APK ("sideload"), it will never update via any app store and you'll stay on that version

[–] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 19 points 2 days ago (3 children)

My top customizable FOSS launchers:

Kvaesisto
Search-based with native-themed widgets and app drawer. Lots of integrations, reliable, and my personal daily driver.

Lawnchair
Drop-in replacement for Pixel launcher with some friendly features. Very active development.

Ion Launcher
Automatic app folders by category and decent customization options.

Einstein Launcher
Highly customizable and built from scratch. It's under 3MB and already pretty capable, although it's a young project and still in alpha

[–] pkjqpg1h@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago

Also there is an old post with good comments https://lemmy.zip/post/48283807

[–] Monkyhands@feddit.dk 2 points 1 day ago

I also switched to Kvaesisto from Nova. Its quite different, and I had to get used to it, but I really love it now. I don't think I'll ever want to switch.

[–] MaddestMax@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

+1 for Kvaesisto. With Cuscon icon pack.

[–] jagermo@feddit.org 3 points 1 day ago

Bit of a learning curve but i won't use anything else now

[–] IDew@feddit.nl 19 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Lawnchair would be my best bet. I've had issues with icon packs not applying only to the home screen which makes me stop using it, but it's a pretty solid experience if you'd ask me

[–] Grail@multiverse.soulism.net 2 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Does Lawnchair let you use app icons with different shapes? I hate it when the icons are all the same shape, it makes it impossible to find anything. I like it when the email looks like a letter so then I just look for the letter and I've got it. I don't want to look for a circle with a letter in it, that's too hard.

[–] jcarax@beehaw.org 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yes. Make sure you're installing the beta, they never really release stable anymore from what I can tall.

[–] GlenRambo@jlai.lu 1 points 2 days ago

This is the way.

[–] merde@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 days ago

i use lawnchair legacy (as well as ~~Eblan~~ Einstein and dragOn) and it let's you customize any icon with whatever png you would like (or you can choose any icon from a pack

[–] N0MAD@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I was in a similar situation a few weeks back and even though Nova was set to not auto update and blocked internet access, I want to try something new. Someone suggested Octopi and I'm glad I made the switch. Has all the features from Nova that I loved and used. A little finicky but overall I'm happy with it. It has 2 in app purchases that are more support the Dev than unlock special features.

I can barely tell the difference between Nova and Octopi so easy to transition to and set up. Good luck in the search.

[–] mirisgaiss@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

does octopi let you have icons with no titles? first I've heard of it, and it's one of the reasons I keep the old version of Nova that I have. for some reason very few launchers support this, but it's how I've use my home screen for 10+ years. the search method of opening things drives me batshit.

[–] N0MAD@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago

You can turn off titles on the home screen but I don't see anything in the settings for the app drawer. However, I did just try while writing this, to rename an app and leave a space for the name and it accepted that. While it would be a pain to do for every app, it is possible.

[–] CouncilOfFriends@slrpnk.net 10 points 2 days ago

I switched to Lawnchair

[–] artyom@piefed.social 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Brother, you are in the club of cranky old wizards. We are all in the same boat. We reject these things not because we are old but because we are cursed with knowledge.

That aside, Lawnchair seems to be the go-to replacement, although not nearly as good.

[–] Grail@multiverse.soulism.net -2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

I'm nobody's brother. I would begrudgingly agree to be called sister, but most prefer to be called sibling, and to be addressed with capitalised They/Them pronouns.

[–] artyom@piefed.social 7 points 2 days ago

Sorry I used the improper pronouns while assuaging your concerns and answering your query. I promise it won't happen again.

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I was on Nova for several years happily. I'm now on the free version of Total Launcher, and it's pretty fun. It's extremely customizable, more so than Nova was.

I tried Lawnchair but it was far too basic for me.

[–] definitemaybe@lemmy.ca 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I'm in a similar boat. I've searched the available FOSS launchers, and none seem to allow overloading app icons/folders with swipe actions. App folders and swipe actions are the only launcher features I really care about. (Well, a functional app drawer/list of some kind, too.)

I want 1 home screen with all my frequently used apps accessible in a single action, less frequently used apps sorted into logical (custom) folders, and rarely used apps visible in a drawer/list.

idgaf about widgets or search bars; I don't want to type anything in my home screen, and I only use my home screen to open other apps, so widgets are pretty useless to me.

Do people just, like, keep their home screen open? Why?

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Here's what I've got so far, but I've only been playing for a week. Everything below the calendar widget and above the podcast widget is an app "drawer". It scrolls vertically if I have more apps than for on the visible part, and I get to set the number of displayed rows and columns, labels, icon shape, etc as you'd expect.

You can put stuff in folders of course, and in the paid version, SUB folders, and there's also that odd search and tag button group on the right. You can tag apps with one (or more?) labels like "work" and filter the visible app drawer by that. I don't use that so far.

I get to choose how many apps are pinned at the bottom (Or get rid of the bar altogether!). I have swipe actions on some of them. Every single element of the screen can be resized, overlap (there's a button to move an item forward/backward through the layers), be moved, or gotten rid of. At minimum, you could have an absolutely blank screen top to bottom, and a swipe from (any) edge action to open one of the app drawer variants. The whole screen could just be the app drawer.

It's not QUITE perfect for me, because I'm annoying and picky, but it's working well enough. I'm feeling like I'll be fiddling with this forever. There's even a Star Trek LCARS theme that I want to try. ($5 I think)

I think this is common to all launchers, but you can try this one or and NOT set it as your default launcher. You'll only see your Total Launcher home screen when you click on the Total Launcher app from the stock launcher, then, until you are happy with it.

[–] definitemaybe@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Thanks for taking the time to write that up! That looks like it might work really well for me.

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 hours ago

You betcha. For people who care to use something other than the stock launcher, the way we set up our home pages is a bunch of personal preferences that you may not even be able to fully list.

[–] Grail@multiverse.soulism.net 1 points 1 day ago

[–] Kirk@startrek.website 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

I'm the same way and finally had to accept I'm going to need to change because Nova isn't coming back 😭 and to my knowledge nobody is recreating foss.

Kvaesitso is what I went with. It's a different style of launcher but very well put together. So far I've been quite happy.

[–] petrescatraian@libranet.de 1 points 2 days ago

I went with Kvaesitso as well, but if you, @Grail, cannot get used to it do give Lawnchair a try. It currently seems like the most developed AOSP based FOSS launcher.

[–] ThePantser@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 days ago

Niagara, I can find any app in less than 1 second. But you need to remember the name or just use favorite.

[–] vodkasolution@feddit.it 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I tried Niagara but no luck, I'm on Smart now but it's not foss, there's a free version but lacks fundamental options to me.

Lawnchair wasn't bad either

[–] aln@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Lawnchair was too buggy for me. Smart Launcher lets you import a Nova backup so you get your Nova layout back immediately. Instant purchase.

The only thing it doesn't have is infinite scroll on the home screen. Which took like 45 seconds to adjust to.

So yeah, my vote is for Smart Launcher.

[–] Grail@multiverse.soulism.net 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Do they have a free option?

[–] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Free as in beer? Yes. Free as in open source? No. I used it for a long time and really liked it.

I also used the paid version at a certain point to support the devs. It unlocks a few cool features.

[–] Grail@multiverse.soulism.net 3 points 2 days ago

You bought a Fairphone because you care about the environment and don't like slavery.

I bought a Fairphone because I want to keep using it for the next decade.

We are exactly the same.

[–] deifyed@lemmy.wtf 2 points 2 days ago

I went from a decade with nova to Dragon Launcher recently. It was weird at the start, but I'm starting to like it more and more

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Nice to see some here I haven't heard of before. Looking forward to checking some of these out.

I've been trying Olauncher since another thread like this maybe a week ago. It's alright so far, though very much the opposite of what OP wants. (100% text based, no icons, no sorting)

It's fine on my phone, but ideally I'd like the same interface on all my devices, and I don't know if I'd enjoy Olauncher on my tablet.

[–] Cassa@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 days ago

Probably not your preferred style, but I use μLauncher https://github.com/jrpie/Launcher

[–] pryre@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Ive been using Lynx Launcher. I wanted something quick, simple, effective, and this was it.