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
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I’m one of those people who hate change. I like things just working like the have. The closest I got was Smart Launcher after importing my nova config, though the drawer wasn’t right, the Google search bar I’ve used forever didn’t work anymore, I couldnt get double click of the home button to open Gemini voice anymore, also didn’t like the search ui as much, and didn’t like being able to swipe sideways to get to search (I’ve used a single home screen for a long time).
I’m sure I could be less stubborn and learn but I’m stubborn and happy with what I have.
For now I’ve blocked updates to nova and am still using it.
Makes me wonder how well an AI would do at decompiling an old nova, removing tracking, etc.
I’d only use an AI for a job like that if it were either too simple to learn or advanced enough to consent. That grey area in between where LLMs lie, it’s like a child. I don’t agree with child labour.
I got Lawnchair set up close enough to approximate My old config, and then I went and installed the TREK theme for Total. Now My phone is a PADD, it’s great. Terrible terrible UX, but as I learn and configure it and get better at using it, I start feeling like a Starfleet Officer.
Use Lawnchair
A shout-out to Niagara Launcher 👍
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.
I switched from Nova to Smart Launcher.
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
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 alphaAlso there is an old post with good comments https://lemmy.zip/post/48283807
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.
+1 for Kvaesisto. With Cuscon icon pack.
Bit of a learning curve but i won’t use anything else now
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
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.
Yes. Make sure you’re installing the beta, they never really release stable anymore from what I can tall.
This is the way.
i use lawnchair legacy (as well as
EblanEinstein 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
I switched to Lawnchair
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sorry I used the improper pronouns while assuaging your concerns and answering your query. I promise it won’t happen again.
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.
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?
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.
Thanks for taking the time to write that up! That looks like it might work really well for me.
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.
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.
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.
I’m terms of pure customization, Octopi Launcher so far has let me recreate my old Nova setup 95% fully. I’ve tried all the other launchers in this thread and they were always missing some key customization feature. The menus and ways to get things done are slightly different from Nova, but I got there in the end. It’s fairly new and the dev seems to be actively releasing fixes.
Niagara, I can find any app in less than 1 second. But you need to remember the name or just use favorite.
