8 ms·

Niagara Launcher

132 points by unstuck3958 3y ago

tnecniv 3y ago
I used Android for a long time before switching back to an iPhone. While mostly I’m happy with my iPhone, I do miss some of the UI customization features like being able to switch graphical shells like this
maxammann 3y ago
Just sent this threat to Peter :)
- thanksgiving 3y ago
  For the confused reader, they probably meant thread, not threat.
lcnmrn 3y ago
I use Zenit Launcher. It sorts all apps alphabetically. Makes Android easier to use than iOS.
DocChi77 3y ago
Niagara has been my go-to Android launcher for several years now. I would certainly recommend at least giving it a shot!
- qmarchi 3y ago
  Same! Black background, with only a few pinned apps, and replacing the clock with the "At a Glance" widget. Simple simplicity. Apps: - Kiwi Browser (Ad Blocking) - Messages - Signal (Might get replaced by Beeper) - Discord - YouTube - Phone YouTube Music is set as my music app, so that appears whenever I've got headphones connected.
  - petodo 3y ago
    [dead]
qrush 3y ago
As a Buffalo/Niagara Falls native, I really thought this was going to be some new tourist attraction that surely will save the city this time.
- mcphage 3y ago
  BassProShop.app is the future!
mcritz 3y ago
Why does their website have a photo of the iOS App Library feature?
- tnetenbaa 3y ago
  Where are you seeing that at?
  - CharlesW 3y ago
    My guess is that there's an implied "/s", since it may remind iPhone users of what App Library looks like when they tap the search bar. https://imgur.com/a/nC2R0hG https://imgur.com/a/nC2R0hG The App Library is nice because it relieves iOS users from micromanaging app grouping/arrangement. I now have just one Home Screen of widgets (including contextual Siri app suggestions), then swipe left to use App Library when needed.
- Throaway1086 3y ago
  Because the iOS App Library is a ripoff of Niagara. Niagara was like this years before Apple introduced the App Library.
karmakaze 3y ago
I've been using the Microsoft Launcher for years. I have all my apps on one 6x5 grid (with the top row showing time/date/weather) in addition to the 5 bottom tray apps. The infrequently used apps are in group folders, so every app is at most two taps away. The frequently used apps are on the bottom 60% of the screen.
- anilakar 3y ago
  I tried the Microsoft Launcher and loved its functionality but hated the way they pushed Bing and other MS services and Android apps. Just like Outlook for Android is one of the best mail clients but the only way to get rid of ads is to subscribe to Office 365. I long for the days when apps were one-off purchases. Edit: I'm a happy Niagara user, bought the forever license two years ago.
  - karmakaze 3y ago
    That's weird, I don't recall getting those Bing/services ads and certainly haven't been getting them for a long time.
account-5 3y ago
KISS launcher for the win. Never use android without it.
quaintdev 3y ago
If you want to go further on minimal design check out Olauncher https://github.com/tanujnotes/Olauncher https://github.com/tanujnotes/Olauncher Available on both fdroid and play store
- paulrouget 3y ago
  And it's so simple. Very easy to fork and tweak the hell out of. I added a better fonts, a 3rd swipe gesture (from top) and some random little tweaks.
- radlad 3y ago
  I've been using Olauncher for a few years now - it's rock solid!
- conaclos 3y ago
  One thing I love is the automatic app launch when there is a single match in the search panel.
- surmoi 3y ago
  Running it for a few years. Very good! Helps you focus on what matters, easy to tweak and fork. Replacing the default OnePlus launcher make me gain a bit more performance as well, especially switching accounts on the phone! Plus I suspect some battery as well.
senkora 3y ago
I really appreciate how Android made the “graphical shell” a user-replaceable component of the OS. Back in the day, I used Nova Launcher and an icon pack to completely re-theme my home screen. I felt so cool. I encourage anyone curious to take a look at the following subreddit for some neat themes that users have created for themselves over the years using custom launchers: https://www.reddit.com/r/androidthemes/top/?t=all https://www.reddit.com/r/androidthemes/top/?t=all
- whycome 3y ago
  On iOS, the thing I miss most is Nova. Replacing icons with images of your choice. Changing the swipe transition. Icon organization. Removing text.
  - satvikpendem 3y ago
    You can still replace icons with custom images on iOS, it is much more of a hassle however: https://www.theverge.com/22529978/apple-iphone-ios-apps-icon-change https://www.theverge.com/22529978/apple-iphone-ios-apps-icon...
  - zmk5 3y ago
    Honestly it's the one thing I don't miss about Android. I always felt compelled to tinker with things a lot more than I should've.
    - sjwhevvvvvsj 3y ago
      Yeah, and equal time spent futzing with your launcher is better spent tinkering with a raspberry pi or similar. At least then you may develop a skill. Android customization is sort of like junk food - enjoyable in the moment, but not meaningfully improving your life.
      - Iulioh 3y ago
        I really disagree. I use my phone more than any other device and having it be "beautiful" is an important part of my user experience At this point any decoration in real life is useless because not productive
danboarder 3y ago
I've been using this for a year and I love it. My favorite feature is how it organizes notifications under each app so I don't miss important things. Also I can dismiss all notifications from a category of apps (all social notifications for example) in one swipe on my home screen. I've set up folders for my major app categories and I see notifications grouped at a top level there by category, so no massive list of combined morning notifications in Android to deal with.
- oniony 3y ago
  Same. I kinda regret not paying the one-off lifetime fee now.
chasil 3y ago
Unfortunately, this is not on F-Droid, and it does not appear to be open source.
- Sytten 3y ago
  Not everything needs to be OSS, it is OK for people to charge for software and make a living...
  - aloisdg 3y ago
    You can pay for free and open source software. I do it to support FOSS developers and maintainers. software example: Krita https://store.steampowered.com/app/280680/Krita/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/280680/Krita/ source code under GPLv3 https://invent.kde.org/graphics/krita https://invent.kde.org/graphics/krita game example: Shapez https://store.steampowered.com/app/1318690/shapez/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/1318690/shapez/ source code under GPLv3 https://github.com/tobspr-games/shapez.io https://github.com/tobspr-games/shapez.io
    - BadHumans 3y ago
      If people paying for FOSS was the norm, we wouldn't have a post on the FOSS developers not making money on the front page every 2 months. I don't blame people for not going this route.
      - wiseowise 3y ago
        You assume them being commercial would imply their success.
        BadHumans 3y ago
        No I don't.
      - anacrolix 3y ago
        I wish people would pay for FOSS :'(
niederman 3y ago
As a long time Niagara user, it is probably the biggest thing that keeps me on Android over iOS.
eganist 3y ago
Niagara on the Fold is a wonderful pairing honestly.
- ambichook 3y ago
  i never even thought about niagra on a folding phone, that actually sounds like it'd be great! i've been using it on a "regular" phone for the past year or 2 and honestly now i'm curious how it feels on a fold, and what kind of extra features the extra real estate could give. temptin me to go buy a folding phone next upgrade around :D
  - eganist 3y ago
    Niagara splits into two columns for all of its lists. Otherwise the experience is the same, and it's really clean.
imperialdrive 3y ago
I gave it a quick test drive but almost immediately uninstalled it because it wouldn't let me dismiss the cluttering messages on top of the app list :/ Looks promising though. Thanks for sharing.
r0ckarong 3y ago
That's a bit too streamlined for me. I don't group apps by their first letter, I group them by purpose of convenience. I need a lot more than maybe ten favorites on screen and having to scroll or go into a menu to find anything beyond that is just a waste of time. Yes, there are folders but other than with Nova Launcher you can't see which apps are in there unless you open one. I like being able to see a notification bubble on an app within a folder. The concept is slick but it doesn't match my usage pattern at all.
- jskherman 3y ago
  I guess the design of the launcher is meant to make you more intentional about using your phone by adding friction. Reduced notifications, smaller selection of favorite apps to choose from, and search for everything else. And it's not on the extreme end of inconvenience for search-oriented launchers.
buster 3y ago
I really like the minimalistic and focused launchers. I use https://beforelabs.com https://beforelabs.com Let's you silence notifications for unimportant apps and such.
Sytten 3y ago
I have used this launcher for several year and I love it, I would never go back to the stock one. But it is not for everybody
Scene_Cast2 3y ago
I love Lynx Launcher - best one I found after Evie was discontinued. Like many others in the thread, I really like how I have freedom of choice w.r.t. launchers (I personally dislike the iOS home screen and the stock Google launcher, fwiw).
ApolloFortyNine 3y ago
This launcher has solved launchers imo, organization barely matters when if you simply remember the name of the app, you can get there in under a second easily. Sometimes I forget something was in my favorites and just use the scroll by habit, its just that big a non issue.
- peheje 3y ago
  Your thoughts about the Niagara Launcher and how it solves your problems, is quite interesting to me. You mention you simply remember the name, I find that difficult for me. I don't remember whether it's "Google Maps" or "Maps", if it's "Headphones" or "Sony Headphones". I have tried a few times to get into the Niagara launcher, but without luck. It's too mm. "sterile" for me?. I really like being able to group apps in the 2D-"space" of the grid system. Main screen tries to be uncluttered but music control to the right, light-bulbs control to the left, car in middle. Payment? That's a bottom row on page 2. Communication - right side of lower row. Etc. etc. It does sometimes get a bit wonky . not very "pleasent" to the eye, but it's so pleasent for my brain at least. I sometimes try to clean up, but the apps often ends up grouping together again in almost the same configuration. Here's to difference preferences for launchers! Cheers.
  - seraphine 3y ago
    You can rename apps in Niagara btw. Spotify -> Music for example
  - rubslopes 3y ago
    I've been using Niagara for years and I like it very much, but the scrollable list is my least favorite feature for the same reasons you mentioned. To access an app I always swipe up, tap the first two letters and Enter.
janice1999 3y ago
https://help.niagaralauncher.app/article/27-privacy-policy https://help.niagaralauncher.app/article/27-privacy-policy > Personal Data collected: Cookies, unique device identifiers, Usage Data and IDs (package names) from installed apps. It sends a unique device identifier, your IP address and your app usage to Firebase. I understand why the developer would want crash reports but he gathers a lot of data on users.
- mrsaint 3y ago
  Fortunately it can be disabled: Share error and usage reports - off; Digital Wellbeing Initiative - off; App Categorization - off
- jurgenkesker 3y ago
  Seeing there is no business model (or did I miss that?), how likely is it that this app is sending installed app lists to 3rd party for appstore analytics like Data.ai and similar services? Something needs to pay the bills?
  - Mxrtxn 3y ago
    There is a business model: niagara premium.
  - bastawhiz 3y ago
    You pay $30 with in app purchases to unlock much of the feature set
  - bitpit 3y ago
    Rest assured, we don't sell your data. We're a small indie team solely financed by Niagara Pro, our in-app upgrade. I'm forever thankful to our community that it is enough to pay the bills and to develop the app further.
- bitpit 3y ago
  Niagara Launcher dev here - that's a valid concern, especially since launcher apps have access to a lot of personal data. We have created a document that outlines why we collect the data we do: https://help.niagaralauncher.app/article/109-privacy-policy-summary https://help.niagaralauncher.app/article/109-privacy-policy-.... In short, we only collect data to power our features, verify if the user owns our premium version, improve our app, and for public research and statistics. If you have questions about specific pieces of data or anything else, please feel free to ask.
NwpierratorR 3y ago
I've been using Niagara since its first days. Absolutely loving it and it keeps getting better year over year. The only thing I miss still is not being able to open drawer by swiping up (though fastscroll on letters is good enough, but kinda sucks that it only handles latin letters there, cuz like 3rd of my apps are in Cyrillic and thus stuck at the first category). UX on foldable device is unmatched, especially after it added support for side-to-side widgets and widget stacking. Another slight annoyance is that in modern android quickstep is no longer standard part of AOSP, and depends on how OEM implemented it, which means that on many devices (including mine mix fold 2) you either lose access to gesture navigation in order to use Niagara(I get around it by using Infinite Gestures + OMS overlay to hide the navbar) or get broken animations when swapping between apps and going home. UPD: it also recently got client-side implementation of monet and built-in contextual variable icons, which works even on devices that don't have it as a part of AOSP. It works marvels and I can't get enough of how good it looks. And in general, I wish more launchers had fastscroller as overlay option, so that you can get to any app via tapping/flicking onto a letter in a single tap/swipe. Once you experienced it, it's hard to go back to the app grid.
FireInsight 3y ago
This a good place to plug my favorite launcher? Search-based launchers in general are something I just cannot live without nowadays, there's way less friction there with openint apps and such. Kvæsitso is the one I use currently: https://kvaesitso.mm20.de/ https://kvaesitso.mm20.de/. The design is really good, and the widget support is nice. Search is not as perfect ass the classic KISS, though: http://kisslauncher.com/ http://kisslauncher.com/.
- arcanemachiner 3y ago
  > as perfect ass the classic KISS KISS is the be-all-end-all launcher for me. I guess that makes me a KISS ass.
- oohffyvfg 3y ago
  kiss is pure shit when you first install it. but if you take the time to set it up, it's like vim/emacs. things start to make sense
  - osmsucks 3y ago
    I think it worked fine for me with basically no setup, so I'm curious: what kind of setup did it require for you?
    - oohffyvfg 3y ago
      not hiding status bar (it's the freaking home screen!) showing keyboard right away. sortin etc. different icons for contacts. still missing fuzzy match
- georgebcrawford 3y ago
  Wow, thank you for this. I'd not heard of Kvæsitso until now. I'm enjoying it!
- alisonatwork 3y ago
  I keep downloading this hoping I can switch from Microsoft Launcher to an open source solution, and every single time I get stuck because I can't find out how to add apps on the home screen. I've looked through all the docs and they all say stuff like "scroll to the bottom of the widget list and add favorites", and yet... there is no widget list. Long press doesn't do anything. Hamburger button only gives me launcher settings (where there is no widget list). Searching for "widget" shows no results, so even if I embrace the search concept it doesn't do what I expect. The clock is pretty, though.
NelsonMinar 3y ago
I'm a fan of this launcher; I switched to it when I realized I only ever launched things via typing the app name into search. Why not just have a list of apps by name then? Works great. It's a real testament to Android's flexibility too. It's terrific to be able to radically change the UI for the phone.
abhayhegde 3y ago
I am on Pixel 8. Stock launcher seems so much better than anything else.
smallerfish 3y ago
I'm a fan of smart launcher. It has 8 gestures that you can map to frequently used apps (or various phone activities), and supports both searching by app name and browsing by app category. It's weird that Google haven't innovated much in their default launcher, but I really like that I have the choice to customize.
prashp 3y ago
Niagara Launcher is broken on my S10+. The apps don't align to the left correctly, sometimes I get two columns of apps instead of one, sometimes the text and icons are incredibly small and difficult to read. I had to cancel my subscription
hodanli 3y ago
no search for contacts is deal breaker for me. i am checking time to time to learn if the feature is implemented. kiss launcher is perfect right now.
PMunch 3y ago
I still wish someone would take up the torch from ZLauncher. I still use it on my phone as it's just such a great launcher. I tried Niagara, but I found myself looking for the letters too much. With ZLauncher I can type the letter without even looking at my phone. You might think it would be annoying to have to write multiple letters (like you see people doing in many of the videos about the launcher) but the launcher remembers you most searched for apps for a certain letter. So after a couple searches your frequently used apps will be on top after only one letter. I do wish it had better support for widgets though, especially something like the pop-up widgets from the Blackberry Priv. But all in all it's a great launcher and it's a shame it was discontinued..
jeremieb 3y ago
I'm using and enjoying Niagara on my Android phone. If I were to switch to iOS, is there any setting or app provides a comparable minimalistic experience?
foobarbecue 3y ago
Aw. I was really hoping this would be a game where you try to go over the falls in a barrel.
dartharva 3y ago
Not FOSS = massive privacy and security threat when it comes to crucial things like the app launcher. Nobody should be using this. Who knows what it's recording and to whom it's sending that data?
bitpit 3y ago
Seeing us on Hacker News made my day; thank you so much for the shoutout :D
- unstuck3958 3y ago
  As a happy paying member of two years, thank you for making Niagara!
qustrolabe 3y ago
Tried using it on tablet some time ago. Felt handicapped comparing to Nova Launcher, some useful stuff was locked behind premium. Instead of nice easy to use app grid you have unbearable list where all apps grouped by letters and you have to manually choose certain letter to see what apps available there. The only positive thing about that launcher is that it helped me localize issue with lagging wallpapers but after that I happily deleted it.

132 points by unstuck3958 3y ago

I used Android for a long time before switching back to an iPhone. While mostly I’m happy with my iPhone, I do miss some of the UI customization features like being able to switch graphical shells like this

maxammann 3y ago

Just sent this threat to Peter :)

thanksgiving 3y ago
For the confused reader, they probably meant thread, not threat.

lcnmrn 3y ago

I use Zenit Launcher. It sorts all apps alphabetically. Makes Android easier to use than iOS.

DocChi77 3y ago

Niagara has been my go-to Android launcher for several years now. I would certainly recommend at least giving it a shot!

qmarchi 3y ago
Same! Black background, with only a few pinned apps, and replacing the clock with the "At a Glance" widget. Simple simplicity. Apps: - Kiwi Browser (Ad Blocking) - Messages - Signal (Might get replaced by Beeper) - Discord - YouTube - Phone YouTube Music is set as my music app, so that appears whenever I've got headphones connected.
- petodo 3y ago
  [dead]

qrush 3y ago

As a Buffalo/Niagara Falls native, I really thought this was going to be some new tourist attraction that surely will save the city this time.

mcphage 3y ago
BassProShop.app is the future!

mcritz 3y ago

Why does their website have a photo of the iOS App Library feature?

tnetenbaa 3y ago
Where are you seeing that at?
- CharlesW 3y ago
  My guess is that there's an implied "/s", since it may remind iPhone users of what App Library looks like when they tap the search bar. https://imgur.com/a/nC2R0hG https://imgur.com/a/nC2R0hG The App Library is nice because it relieves iOS users from micromanaging app grouping/arrangement. I now have just one Home Screen of widgets (including contextual Siri app suggestions), then swipe left to use App Library when needed.
Throaway1086 3y ago
Because the iOS App Library is a ripoff of Niagara. Niagara was like this years before Apple introduced the App Library.

karmakaze 3y ago

I've been using the Microsoft Launcher for years. I have all my apps on one 6x5 grid (with the top row showing time/date/weather) in addition to the 5 bottom tray apps. The infrequently used apps are in group folders, so every app is at most two taps away. The frequently used apps are on the bottom 60% of the screen.

anilakar 3y ago
I tried the Microsoft Launcher and loved its functionality but hated the way they pushed Bing and other MS services and Android apps. Just like Outlook for Android is one of the best mail clients but the only way to get rid of ads is to subscribe to Office 365. I long for the days when apps were one-off purchases. Edit: I'm a happy Niagara user, bought the forever license two years ago.
- karmakaze 3y ago
  That's weird, I don't recall getting those Bing/services ads and certainly haven't been getting them for a long time.

account-5 3y ago

KISS launcher for the win. Never use android without it.

quaintdev 3y ago

If you want to go further on minimal design check out Olauncher https://github.com/tanujnotes/Olauncher https://github.com/tanujnotes/Olauncher Available on both fdroid and play store

paulrouget 3y ago
And it's so simple. Very easy to fork and tweak the hell out of. I added a better fonts, a 3rd swipe gesture (from top) and some random little tweaks.
radlad 3y ago
I've been using Olauncher for a few years now - it's rock solid!
conaclos 3y ago
One thing I love is the automatic app launch when there is a single match in the search panel.
surmoi 3y ago
Running it for a few years. Very good! Helps you focus on what matters, easy to tweak and fork. Replacing the default OnePlus launcher make me gain a bit more performance as well, especially switching accounts on the phone! Plus I suspect some battery as well.

senkora 3y ago

I really appreciate how Android made the “graphical shell” a user-replaceable component of the OS. Back in the day, I used Nova Launcher and an icon pack to completely re-theme my home screen. I felt so cool. I encourage anyone curious to take a look at the following subreddit for some neat themes that users have created for themselves over the years using custom launchers: https://www.reddit.com/r/androidthemes/top/?t=all https://www.reddit.com/r/androidthemes/top/?t=all

whycome 3y ago
On iOS, the thing I miss most is Nova. Replacing icons with images of your choice. Changing the swipe transition. Icon organization. Removing text.
- satvikpendem 3y ago
  You can still replace icons with custom images on iOS, it is much more of a hassle however: https://www.theverge.com/22529978/apple-iphone-ios-apps-icon-change https://www.theverge.com/22529978/apple-iphone-ios-apps-icon...
- zmk5 3y ago
  Honestly it's the one thing I don't miss about Android. I always felt compelled to tinker with things a lot more than I should've.
  - sjwhevvvvvsj 3y ago
    Yeah, and equal time spent futzing with your launcher is better spent tinkering with a raspberry pi or similar. At least then you may develop a skill. Android customization is sort of like junk food - enjoyable in the moment, but not meaningfully improving your life.
    - Iulioh 3y ago
      I really disagree. I use my phone more than any other device and having it be "beautiful" is an important part of my user experience At this point any decoration in real life is useless because not productive

danboarder 3y ago

I've been using this for a year and I love it. My favorite feature is how it organizes notifications under each app so I don't miss important things. Also I can dismiss all notifications from a category of apps (all social notifications for example) in one swipe on my home screen. I've set up folders for my major app categories and I see notifications grouped at a top level there by category, so no massive list of combined morning notifications in Android to deal with.

oniony 3y ago
Same. I kinda regret not paying the one-off lifetime fee now.

chasil 3y ago

Unfortunately, this is not on F-Droid, and it does not appear to be open source.

Sytten 3y ago
Not everything needs to be OSS, it is OK for people to charge for software and make a living...
- aloisdg 3y ago
  You can pay for free and open source software. I do it to support FOSS developers and maintainers. software example: Krita https://store.steampowered.com/app/280680/Krita/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/280680/Krita/ source code under GPLv3 https://invent.kde.org/graphics/krita https://invent.kde.org/graphics/krita game example: Shapez https://store.steampowered.com/app/1318690/shapez/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/1318690/shapez/ source code under GPLv3 https://github.com/tobspr-games/shapez.io https://github.com/tobspr-games/shapez.io
  - BadHumans 3y ago
    If people paying for FOSS was the norm, we wouldn't have a post on the FOSS developers not making money on the front page every 2 months. I don't blame people for not going this route.
    - wiseowise 3y ago
      You assume them being commercial would imply their success.
      - BadHumans 3y ago
        No I don't.
    - anacrolix 3y ago
      I wish people would pay for FOSS :'(

niederman 3y ago

As a long time Niagara user, it is probably the biggest thing that keeps me on Android over iOS.

eganist 3y ago

Niagara on the Fold is a wonderful pairing honestly.

ambichook 3y ago
i never even thought about niagra on a folding phone, that actually sounds like it'd be great! i've been using it on a "regular" phone for the past year or 2 and honestly now i'm curious how it feels on a fold, and what kind of extra features the extra real estate could give. temptin me to go buy a folding phone next upgrade around :D
- eganist 3y ago
  Niagara splits into two columns for all of its lists. Otherwise the experience is the same, and it's really clean.

imperialdrive 3y ago

I gave it a quick test drive but almost immediately uninstalled it because it wouldn't let me dismiss the cluttering messages on top of the app list :/ Looks promising though. Thanks for sharing.

r0ckarong 3y ago

That's a bit too streamlined for me. I don't group apps by their first letter, I group them by purpose of convenience. I need a lot more than maybe ten favorites on screen and having to scroll or go into a menu to find anything beyond that is just a waste of time. Yes, there are folders but other than with Nova Launcher you can't see which apps are in there unless you open one. I like being able to see a notification bubble on an app within a folder. The concept is slick but it doesn't match my usage pattern at all.

jskherman 3y ago
I guess the design of the launcher is meant to make you more intentional about using your phone by adding friction. Reduced notifications, smaller selection of favorite apps to choose from, and search for everything else. And it's not on the extreme end of inconvenience for search-oriented launchers.

buster 3y ago

I really like the minimalistic and focused launchers. I use https://beforelabs.com https://beforelabs.com Let's you silence notifications for unimportant apps and such.

Sytten 3y ago

I have used this launcher for several year and I love it, I would never go back to the stock one. But it is not for everybody

Scene_Cast2 3y ago

I love Lynx Launcher - best one I found after Evie was discontinued. Like many others in the thread, I really like how I have freedom of choice w.r.t. launchers (I personally dislike the iOS home screen and the stock Google launcher, fwiw).

ApolloFortyNine 3y ago

This launcher has solved launchers imo, organization barely matters when if you simply remember the name of the app, you can get there in under a second easily. Sometimes I forget something was in my favorites and just use the scroll by habit, its just that big a non issue.

peheje 3y ago
Your thoughts about the Niagara Launcher and how it solves your problems, is quite interesting to me. You mention you simply remember the name, I find that difficult for me. I don't remember whether it's "Google Maps" or "Maps", if it's "Headphones" or "Sony Headphones". I have tried a few times to get into the Niagara launcher, but without luck. It's too mm. "sterile" for me?. I really like being able to group apps in the 2D-"space" of the grid system. Main screen tries to be uncluttered but music control to the right, light-bulbs control to the left, car in middle. Payment? That's a bottom row on page 2. Communication - right side of lower row. Etc. etc. It does sometimes get a bit wonky . not very "pleasent" to the eye, but it's so pleasent for my brain at least. I sometimes try to clean up, but the apps often ends up grouping together again in almost the same configuration. Here's to difference preferences for launchers! Cheers.
- seraphine 3y ago
  You can rename apps in Niagara btw. Spotify -> Music for example
- rubslopes 3y ago
  I've been using Niagara for years and I like it very much, but the scrollable list is my least favorite feature for the same reasons you mentioned. To access an app I always swipe up, tap the first two letters and Enter.

janice1999 3y ago

https://help.niagaralauncher.app/article/27-privacy-policy https://help.niagaralauncher.app/article/27-privacy-policy > Personal Data collected: Cookies, unique device identifiers, Usage Data and IDs (package names) from installed apps. It sends a unique device identifier, your IP address and your app usage to Firebase. I understand why the developer would want crash reports but he gathers a lot of data on users.

mrsaint 3y ago
Fortunately it can be disabled: Share error and usage reports - off; Digital Wellbeing Initiative - off; App Categorization - off
jurgenkesker 3y ago
Seeing there is no business model (or did I miss that?), how likely is it that this app is sending installed app lists to 3rd party for appstore analytics like Data.ai and similar services? Something needs to pay the bills?
- Mxrtxn 3y ago
  There is a business model: niagara premium.
- bastawhiz 3y ago
  You pay $30 with in app purchases to unlock much of the feature set
- bitpit 3y ago
  Rest assured, we don't sell your data. We're a small indie team solely financed by Niagara Pro, our in-app upgrade. I'm forever thankful to our community that it is enough to pay the bills and to develop the app further.
bitpit 3y ago
Niagara Launcher dev here - that's a valid concern, especially since launcher apps have access to a lot of personal data. We have created a document that outlines why we collect the data we do: https://help.niagaralauncher.app/article/109-privacy-policy-summary https://help.niagaralauncher.app/article/109-privacy-policy-.... In short, we only collect data to power our features, verify if the user owns our premium version, improve our app, and for public research and statistics. If you have questions about specific pieces of data or anything else, please feel free to ask.

NwpierratorR 3y ago

I've been using Niagara since its first days. Absolutely loving it and it keeps getting better year over year. The only thing I miss still is not being able to open drawer by swiping up (though fastscroll on letters is good enough, but kinda sucks that it only handles latin letters there, cuz like 3rd of my apps are in Cyrillic and thus stuck at the first category). UX on foldable device is unmatched, especially after it added support for side-to-side widgets and widget stacking. Another slight annoyance is that in modern android quickstep is no longer standard part of AOSP, and depends on how OEM implemented it, which means that on many devices (including mine mix fold 2) you either lose access to gesture navigation in order to use Niagara(I get around it by using Infinite Gestures + OMS overlay to hide the navbar) or get broken animations when swapping between apps and going home. UPD: it also recently got client-side implementation of monet and built-in contextual variable icons, which works even on devices that don't have it as a part of AOSP. It works marvels and I can't get enough of how good it looks. And in general, I wish more launchers had fastscroller as overlay option, so that you can get to any app via tapping/flicking onto a letter in a single tap/swipe. Once you experienced it, it's hard to go back to the app grid.

FireInsight 3y ago

This a good place to plug my favorite launcher? Search-based launchers in general are something I just cannot live without nowadays, there's way less friction there with openint apps and such. Kvæsitso is the one I use currently: https://kvaesitso.mm20.de/ https://kvaesitso.mm20.de/. The design is really good, and the widget support is nice. Search is not as perfect ass the classic KISS, though: http://kisslauncher.com/ http://kisslauncher.com/.

arcanemachiner 3y ago
> as perfect ass the classic KISS KISS is the be-all-end-all launcher for me. I guess that makes me a KISS ass.
oohffyvfg 3y ago
kiss is pure shit when you first install it. but if you take the time to set it up, it's like vim/emacs. things start to make sense
- osmsucks 3y ago
  I think it worked fine for me with basically no setup, so I'm curious: what kind of setup did it require for you?
  - oohffyvfg 3y ago
    not hiding status bar (it's the freaking home screen!) showing keyboard right away. sortin etc. different icons for contacts. still missing fuzzy match
georgebcrawford 3y ago
Wow, thank you for this. I'd not heard of Kvæsitso until now. I'm enjoying it!
alisonatwork 3y ago
I keep downloading this hoping I can switch from Microsoft Launcher to an open source solution, and every single time I get stuck because I can't find out how to add apps on the home screen. I've looked through all the docs and they all say stuff like "scroll to the bottom of the widget list and add favorites", and yet... there is no widget list. Long press doesn't do anything. Hamburger button only gives me launcher settings (where there is no widget list). Searching for "widget" shows no results, so even if I embrace the search concept it doesn't do what I expect. The clock is pretty, though.

NelsonMinar 3y ago

I'm a fan of this launcher; I switched to it when I realized I only ever launched things via typing the app name into search. Why not just have a list of apps by name then? Works great. It's a real testament to Android's flexibility too. It's terrific to be able to radically change the UI for the phone.

abhayhegde 3y ago

I am on Pixel 8. Stock launcher seems so much better than anything else.

smallerfish 3y ago

I'm a fan of smart launcher. It has 8 gestures that you can map to frequently used apps (or various phone activities), and supports both searching by app name and browsing by app category. It's weird that Google haven't innovated much in their default launcher, but I really like that I have the choice to customize.

prashp 3y ago

Niagara Launcher is broken on my S10+. The apps don't align to the left correctly, sometimes I get two columns of apps instead of one, sometimes the text and icons are incredibly small and difficult to read. I had to cancel my subscription

hodanli 3y ago

no search for contacts is deal breaker for me. i am checking time to time to learn if the feature is implemented. kiss launcher is perfect right now.

PMunch 3y ago

I still wish someone would take up the torch from ZLauncher. I still use it on my phone as it's just such a great launcher. I tried Niagara, but I found myself looking for the letters too much. With ZLauncher I can type the letter without even looking at my phone. You might think it would be annoying to have to write multiple letters (like you see people doing in many of the videos about the launcher) but the launcher remembers you most searched for apps for a certain letter. So after a couple searches your frequently used apps will be on top after only one letter. I do wish it had better support for widgets though, especially something like the pop-up widgets from the Blackberry Priv. But all in all it's a great launcher and it's a shame it was discontinued..

jeremieb 3y ago

I'm using and enjoying Niagara on my Android phone. If I were to switch to iOS, is there any setting or app provides a comparable minimalistic experience?

foobarbecue 3y ago

Aw. I was really hoping this would be a game where you try to go over the falls in a barrel.

dartharva 3y ago

Not FOSS = massive privacy and security threat when it comes to crucial things like the app launcher. Nobody should be using this. Who knows what it's recording and to whom it's sending that data?

bitpit 3y ago

Seeing us on Hacker News made my day; thank you so much for the shoutout :D

unstuck3958 3y ago
As a happy paying member of two years, thank you for making Niagara!

qustrolabe 3y ago

Tried using it on tablet some time ago. Felt handicapped comparing to Nova Launcher, some useful stuff was locked behind premium. Instead of nice easy to use app grid you have unbearable list where all apps grouped by letters and you have to manually choose certain letter to see what apps available there. The only positive thing about that launcher is that it helped me localize issue with lagging wallpapers but after that I happily deleted it.