Hey all, newbie to the Lemmy, signed up recently.
Also a relative android newbie, I’ve had a pixel 6 for about a year and a half.
I’ve played around with tasker, KWGT, KLWP, and all kinds of other power-user techie apps, so I’m reasonably confident in my ability to tinker with my phone.
I’ve been experimenting with my launcher, having gone with stock pixel launcher for my first half, and then using Lawnchair 12 for the second half, I wanted to try something new.
So, I open the floor up to you guys! What launcher are you using, what do you enjoy, and most importantly, why do you enjoy it? What sets your launcher apart?
KISS operates on a totally different paradigm than most launchers. Instead of having a grid of rearrangeable app icons, your home screen is simply a list of your most recently used applications (icon, name, and keywords). You also have a search bar where you can type to search for your application. This keyboard-focused launcher is very similar to how I open programs on desktop, so it is very welcome on mobile as well.
I can’t live without KISS launcher anymore. It has just the right number of options and allows me to find and launch the app I want very quickly. Also, it resemble the way I am used to launch program on my desktop.
Same. Do you use the tag feature? I have put it to good use after some tweaking. I won’t be able to live without KISS either going forward.
Yes I do use tags to group some less used apps which maybe I don’t remember the exact name. For example I have some utilities apps (water, electricity, heating) which I use sometime to check my bills and they share the same tag, so I don’t need to remember the exact name of the app.
even though you set tags you basically access everything through typing?
I have thee tags come up in a windows screen in the lower right corner. I guess since Windows 3.11 for Workgroups was my first OS I can’t turn my back on the windows environment completely. 🙂
Niagara Launcher is also similar. I really like it so far, including the notification rollups. But I’m not sure it’s worth $30 to me. Maybe…
I can’t imagine using my phone without Niagara’s pop-up menus anymore, it’s become my favorite launcher for sure.
Thanks for the tip! I think I’ll give KISS launcher a second try, because the first time I set it up, I found it annoying. Probably because I only used it for 5 minutes and then dropped it. :)
I was a Nova evangelist until their being sold to a data analytics company.
But I absolutely love KISS launcher especially when pairing it with the Panels App
Nova Launcher may have more overall customization but KISS has enough. I toggle minimalistic on, change search engine to Brave/DuckDuckGo, set six favorites to show as icons at home screen bottom, assign tags to shortcuts such as favorite websites or tools such as compass, barometer, speed meter, distance calculator, etc.
You can have a tag category show up as a window from the bottom right settings menu.
Kiss also has a very impressive search component. Literally the only scrolling needed will be doom scrolling on ones favorite social media app.
Widget functionality not the greatest but the Panels App allows me to tuck them away under a sidebar.It takes a good amount of customization but the KISS/Panels combo delivers a sublime experience for my use case.
NeoLauncher needs a top level comment here! It’s a lifesaver after Nova was sold off to a marketing company!
So many FOSS launchers are trying this search based or text oriented thing and sorry, I can’t stand it. I just need to be able to unlock my phone and hit an app icon from a grid of selected apps and web shortcuts on my home screen.
I got so sick of the generic grids and app drawers, but then I found Niagara Launcher and it’s just the single coolest thing I’ve ever used.
I love the completely unique home screen, and I insanely love that each app icon can be swiped on and opened as a folder/access in-app shortcuts.
I really can’t recommend it enough for anyone looking for something super far from the average cookie-cutter launcher templates.
Lawnchair. It’s FOSS and like the old Nova launcher, before they were acquired.
I have been using Smart Launcher 6 for quite a while. Some of its features that I really like are:
*categorized app drawer
*Smart widgets developed by the Smart Launcher team, such as the widget stack, music widget, notes, calendar events, icon group widgets…
*Smart Launcher has a fine positioning tool that allows you to move the widgets with very precise positioning so that you can put them exactly where you want them, it also allows you to resize them
*The news page, which you can either use Microsoft News or Google Feed
*Great search function, it will search for apps, web, contacts, calendar, settings, shortcuts, and Play storeYou forget one. Dynamic theme. The launcher changes theme colors based on wallpaper color.
Yes, you’re right! The launcher has so many great features, it’s hard to name them all.
Thanks for the nice rundown. I shall try it on my tablet.
I use the default launcher on my Sony because it’s actually quite good.
But if I had to use a 3rd party launcher like I did on my V30, I’d use Nova Launcher Prime. It’s the best one out there
Nova. I actually really like the One UI launcher anyway, but I’m just used to Nova. Mostly just the extra gestures and the bigger home grid. Not interested much in the cosmetic tweaks it’s able to make.
But yeah, One UI is quite good too. I got used to it back when Android gesture nav didn’t play nice with 3p launchers.
Thanks for posting this! It’s super timely as I’m a long-time Nova Launcher Pro user but been experimenting with the Niagara Pro unlock. I think I like it, but I’m not sure I like it enough to spend $30 on it.
shade launcher
Interestingly, it’s telling me this:
Did you ever find a resolution for this? I’m encountering this same issue with KWGT packs
No resolution, but it seems to just be too out of date.
Kvaesitso is gorgeous
Found it a couple of days ago, it’s gorgeous indeed.
But I switched back to Niagara because the animations felt a bit luggy, especially when the keyboard was showing up. Can’t wait to try it again in the future.
@Kevin11 I have been using https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/index/apk/app.lawnchair and it is small amd clean launcher.
I initially tried the Play Store version and it almost replaced Nova but not quite. I think my autism and OCD makes these things harder for me.
I then tried the alpha build which was closer still but not quite. I want the dock icons to sit on the bottom of the screen, not one row up.
But thanks for the link, I’ll keep an eye on any further developments.
If you really like customization, I haven’t found any options that have as many useful settings as nova launcher. Frustratingly no option to change fonts though.
I’d love to switch to an open source option, but need options for overlapping widgets/app shortcuts, padding options for the home screen, widgets, dock, subgrid positioning, and the ability to use a custom widget for the search bar I keep at the bottom of my home screen, and probably some other settings I’m not remembering. I haven’t found any open source launchers that would allow my current setup- maybe I’ll switch to an FOSS option when I eventually blow it all away and make something new for my home screen
Wow, Nova can do all that?? I had no idea, that’s super cool! I’ve been avoiding Nova since I learned that it’d been bought by some data company, classic internet rumour, but I might have to give that a shot!
It is true that nova and sesame search were acquired by a company whose businesses is related to android app analytics. If you’re concerned about it, it might be worth going and reading the devs post about privacy and what the acquisition means. I think you can find it on the nova launcher twitter
