3 ms·
Years ago I used to use the MS Launcher, however I noticed strange behaviour when in low 2g signal areas...Apps would take longer starting up. I'd tap on an ico
by nullify88 6y ago
Years ago I used to use the MS Launcher, however I noticed strange behaviour when in low 2g signal areas...Apps would take longer starting up. I'd tap on an icon, nothing would happen and the launcher would appear frozen, few seconds later the app would open.
I noticed the launcher was sending traffic whenever I started an app and it was affecting app start times when in low and slow signal areas.
I didn't dig in to it, but I suspected it was sending app usage analytics and the launcher was blocking until its usage data was transferred.
Another MS app "Your phone companion" is also sus. Preinstalled on my S10, it uses 20mb of data a month and I don't use it at all. Receives very frequent updates, its changelog is "Not provided by developer", and it has many permissions.
- mhitza 6y agoRecently I wanted to try out a new launcher on my phone. I've installed 3-4 different launchers and they all had a huge privacy policy page about the large amount of data they would exfiltrate from the phone. So your experience definitely doesn't come as a surprise.
- alexvoda 6y agoAll of you complaining about trafic caused by launcers and privacy concern should just try an open source launcher from fDroid. I settled for Lawnchair2. It does it job well enough.
- nullify88 6y agoLawnchair does a great job but at the time of use development slowed and when I switched phones I stuck to using the stock launcher. But its great to see an alpha for Android 11 was out a week ago. So I'll be jumping back on that bandwagon.
- mhitza 6y agoThanks for the suggestion. I usually roll with the default LineageOS Trebuchet launcher. However the last time I upgraded there wasn't a large enough warning that installing the micro gapps would overwrite the Trebuchet launcher, and also make it unavailable for switching. I'll give your suggestion a try, takes less time than reinstalling LineageOS :)
- oftenwrong 6y agoIf you want a lightweight launcher with few features and an atypical UI, try https://kisslauncher.com/ https://kisslauncher.com/ (available in the Play Store and in F-Droid). It shows your apps in a "frecency"-ordered, scrollable and searchable list.