6 ms·
I have left Branch and am no longer involved with Nova Launcher
- ktosobcy 1y agohttps://infosec.exchange/@cliffwade/115168015274422682 https://infosec.exchange/@cliffwade/115168015274422682
- igor47 1y agoI signed the linked petition at https://www.change.org/p/make-nova-launcher-open-source-let-the-community-continue-its-development https://www.change.org/p/make-nova-launcher-open-source-let-...
- suprjami 1y agoGuess it's time to find a new launcher then. Suggestions?
- jayknight 1y agoI've been using lawnchair, and I like it's simplicity. They're latest "real" released version is from 2018, but not long ago they jumped from Version 14-beta3 to 15-beta1. I can't say I understand their development philosophy, but the product is pretty decent with an occasional issue. I have had some intermittent problems with widgets on this latest beta. https://github.com/LawnchairLauncher/lawnchair https://github.com/LawnchairLauncher/lawnchair
- spiffytech 1y agoI've been using Lawnchair 14 for a while now and it works well. I'm looking forward to some of the features in v15, but no complaints.
- _DeadFred_ 1y agoI like Niagra. I'm bummed Sesame got bought by these guys and stopped updating for no ultimate reason.
- flax 1y agoI looked at several yesterday. I landed on Action Launcher because it has a scrollable dock and infinite scrolling homepages. It lacks tabs in the app drawer, but it does let you create folders there. Hyperion seemed to have all necessary features, but the UI was unintuitive and the documentation non-existent. I also liked Lynx, but that would be a major change for me.
- rpdillon 1y agoLong time KISS user. Highly recommend, as it makes my app use far more intentional.
- branon 1y agoSeconded, KISS is great, haven't found anything better
- arcanemachiner 1y agoSame, I think I've been using it for like a decade now. I like that I have to consciously type in who j app I want to open. Prevents me from spacing out and opening reddit out of pure habit.
- rpdillon 1y agoA million times this. Getting rid of the grid of icons changes everything! I can also find specific apps really fast.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- Scene_Cast2 1y agoI like Lynx launcher, and would switch to Kvaesito if Lynx wasn't available.
- grepex 1y agoI had not heard of Lynx, but I am a big fan of Kvaesitso. Looks like I'll need to give Lynx a try! https://www.lynxlauncher.de/ https://www.lynxlauncher.de/
- saltcured 1y agoEveryone has different needs, so all these recommendations without any explanation are frustrating. My reason to use Nova before was: - REMOVE search bar from home screen, unlike the Pixel launcher - Have the usual, customizable row of quick launchers across the bottom - Have basic app drawer and background apps gestures pull up from bottom - Add a couple basic widgets like Calendar and clock to home screen, or other app shortcuts - Minimal permissions, no ads, no network-based features Based on this, I just started trying out Fossify Launcher Beta, installed from F-Droid. It seems OK so far. My only complaint is that there seem to be multiple gestures that open up a Launcher menu, and I wish this was limited to just long press on the home screen background.
- toast0 1y agoFossify Launcher looks to fit my needs, maybe. I can't see how to make the app list a button instead of having to drag up (I am anti-gesture. The only gesture I want to make in connection with a computer is obscene) Also having some issues getting widgets on there... But Android is Android, so I'm sure it's not Fossify Launcher's fault, I had the widget I wanted and then I removed it cause I wanted a different size, and it won't add again. A restart will probably help. (Spoiler: it didn't) Would also be nice if I could make widgets 2.5 columns wide. I like a 5 wide screen, but I want two widgets to share the screen width.
- saltcured 1y agoYeah I resisted gestures but gave up when I found that enabling legacy nav buttons seemed to make things unreliable for me. Maybe when I first switched to Nova? I also noticed that the widget editing is a bit clumsy with resizing on Fossify Launcher. It seems like there is some hidden state where long-press doesn't quite work the same way after some interaction. But I was able make progress after going through several other interactions like opening the menu via back gesture from home screen, locking and unlocking the screen, etc. I don't know if it is Android or the launcher itself that makes the widget sizing so annoying. It seems to have a different bounding box for the resizing tool than what is actually rendered, so I end up with way more dead space around the widgets than I wanted.
- 1y ago
- wonger_ 1y agoI've been using the ultra-minimal pie menu launcher for ~1 year: https://f-droid.org/packages/de.markusfisch.android.pielauncher/ https://f-droid.org/packages/de.markusfisch.android.pielaunc... Makes opening go-to apps faster, but opening anything else slower. Worth it imo
- onli 1y agoI use that one as well and really like it. Exactly what pie menus are good at.
- lillesvin 1y agoI've been using the super minimalistic 0launcher (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.olauncher&hl=en-US https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.olauncher&...) for about a year now. Besides being a good, very simple, minimalistic launcher, it's also Open Source (https://github.com/tanujnotes/Olauncher https://github.com/tanujnotes/Olauncher), ad-free, and collects and shares no data.
- ignoramous 1y ago> collects and shares no data If the developer is building the code that's on GitHub, it is curious why AppGoblin flags the Play Store version for using Firebase: https://appgoblin.info/apps/app.olauncher/data-flows https://appgoblin.info/apps/app.olauncher/data-flows
- tanujnotes 1y ago[Olauncher dev here] There's no Firebase integration in the Olauncher and never was. It literally collects no data. The releases on the Play Store, F-Droid and Github releases [APK] are all built from the same codebase, which is available on Github. Not sure why it's flagged.
- lillesvin 1y agoHey, man! Thanks for the awesome launcher. It's made my phone so much more useful to me. It finally feels like the tool it is. Is there any way to support the development — financially or otherwise?
- tanujnotes 1y agoThank you! You can get the pro version or by me a coffee. Pro Launcher: https://play.google.com/store/apps/dev?id=7198807840081074933 https://play.google.com/store/apps/dev?id=719880784008107493... BMAC: https://buymeacoffee.com/tanujnotes https://buymeacoffee.com/tanujnotes
- wltr 1y ago
- grepex 1y agoKvaesitso! I've been using it for about two years. It takes a little bit getting used to a search based launcher but once you've gotten used to it, everything is so quick. Speed up animation speeds to 0.5x in dev settings and man it's like doing kung fu with your finger tips. https://kvaesitso.mm20.de/ https://kvaesitso.mm20.de/
- lawn 1y agoI was initially dismissing Kvaesitso because it was so different but I've since come to appreciate and really enjoy it. I'd recommend you to at least try it for a while before you slam down the opinionated hammer.
- jdmichal 1y agoI use Square Home. Because I still miss my Lumia 920, and this makes me feel a little better about it.
- calgoo 1y agoSame here, Square Home. I really liked the tiled interface for mobile (was crap for Windows). Tiles just feel natural for touch input.
- t0bia_s 1y agohttps://kisslauncher.com/ https://kisslauncher.com/ Once you get used to it, you'll never get back to classic launchers.
- qustrolabe 1y agoProbably good for people who use like 3-5 apps at most on their phone, but I prefer grids of icons with folders
- calgoo 1y agoI use Square Home which looks like the old Microsoft tiles in windows 8 phone. I always found the the MS tiles worked really well on a phone and actually had it installed on a old android phone.
- fcpk 1y agoAny recommendations for a launcher close to the original android one, but that supports grouping? I find it so much more useful to group my apps by category. I use search most of the time, but sometimes I can't remember a name but I do remember the category and it comes useful. Also means recently apps are unclassified and can easily be separated.
- ajot 1y agoI use NeoLauncher for this same reason: sometimes I don't remember the name of whatever app I use once in a while (eg WLANScanner or Ning). It's available on IzzyOnDroid, though I installed the GitHub release. It does have some bugs, every now and then it freezes and you need to go to the Apps submenu in Configuration to restart it. https://github.com/NeoApplications/Neo-Launcher https://github.com/NeoApplications/Neo-Launcher
- ChrisArchitect 1y agoA year ago there were some posts about Nova being on shaky ground because Barry was the only one left working on it. This seems to just be continuing the negative narrative. Unfortunate. Seems like he was really close to open sourcing it, which would probably be a boon. It's a longstanding and still pretty popular launcher in the Android world isn't it? I've used it for years on multiple phones.
- jfoerste 1y agoI've given up on custom launchers altogether because their proper support for gesture navigation breaks regularly. Nova support blamed this on missing apis, caused by manufacturer error (or intention?). Either way, custom launchers don't seem compatible with mainstream usage anymore.
- ashirviskas 1y agoI assume you use Xiaomi or other chinese device. Those are the only ones that break navigation on purpose. They tie essentials with the spyware so it would be nearly impossible to get rid of it without gimping the device. I already forgot most of the details, but afaik even xiaomi apk installer has meta and bytedance trackers, in addition to like 20 more. Their mostly useless "Security" app has like 60 trackers (Includes even yandex ;) ). And you can't even really get rid of it.
- Scene_Cast2 1y agoOh interesting. I was considering getting a Chinese phone soon (a vivo x200 Ultra), this really changes things. Is there somewhere I can read more about this?
- nottorp 1y agoThey just replace sending everything to Google and/or Samsung with sending everything to Google and/or Xiaomi. Not much of a difference.
- eloisant 1y agoThat's in addition to send everything to Google. You're still using Play services and Google apps.
- thevillagechief 1y agoSeveral years ago I got my Mum an Infinix phone. The default UI was painful, just really full on adware. I would change the launcher, but they kept changing it back every couple of days. One day I tried changing the default messaging app, a message popped up saying "Play Fair!" and changed the app back to the spyware-ridden default. I couldn't believe the gall! Stopped using cheap Chinese brands after that, though I doubt Oneplus would be as bad.
- selcuka 1y agoI don't fully understand the situation. This statement [1] seems to indicate that Nova doesn't have to open-source it: > Cliff: Branch owns Nova completely and Kevin has no access to it in any way at all. So no, he can't re-brand, keep coding and go forward. That's a breach of contract on his behalf. ...but this post says they are obligated to: > Cliff: Much more to it than word of mouth. There's a contract as well. [1] https://infosec.exchange/@cliffwade/115168015274422682 https://infosec.exchange/@cliffwade/115168015274422682
- croes 1y agoBranch being obliged to open source it, doesn’t mean Kevin could simply took matters into his own hands Two breaches of contract don‘t make a right
- selcuka 1y agoI'm not saying he should. Just trying to understand the issue. Apparently there are two conflicting contracts (or two sections within one contract), and Branch is counting on the fact that Branch can go after Kevin but Kevin can't/won't. Or maybe the contract is clear, but Kevin just doesn't want to burn the ships.
- croes 1y agoThey aren’t conflicting. Branch is obliged to open source the Launcher. That’s it. An employee of a company just isn’t allowed to do it on his own. If a company refuses to pay a bill that it should pay, then one of its accountants cannot simply transfer money.
- selcuka 1y agoThat makes sense, thanks.
- wejick 1y agoI've been using it for couple years now, it gives me feeling of stability even when moving across devices. Now what to do? Android apps is rarely a thing that you download once and use for multiple years.
- ignoramous 1y ago> Android apps is rarely a thing that you download once and use for multiple years. I've been using FOSS apps, Amaze File Manager, Muzei (wallpaper manager), and Lawnchair (Launcher), for well over 8 years across multiple Android devices and versions, with nary an issue. The situation with Nova (and SimpleMobileTools before it) is that developers are selling their popular projects. This isn't an "Android" thing, but more of an indictment of sustainability of indie FOSS projects. This isn't limited to consumer apps, though (see: Redis).
- netsharc 1y agoI have an old launcher, and even an old version of it. Version 2 was great, version 3 came with small cosmetic changes I didn't like, plus fucking ads. So I restored v2 from backups and stopped allowing auto-updates, to stay on v2. One day the makers disappeared from the Play Store, voila, no more auto-enshittification, I win!
- slightwinder 1y ago> The situation with Nova (and SimpleMobileTools before it) is that developers are selling their popular projects. This isn't an "Android" thing, but more of an indictment of sustainability of indie FOSS projects. Exactly this. I bought Nova 10 years ago (December 2015), and I even paid only 10 cent (Google had some absurd sales on apps back then). Till today, I'm using it, receiving updates, and never paid another cent to the dev AFAIK. I don't know how they even financed their business, but even as popular as it was (is?), I doubt they are swimming in money. I can understand why so many apps end up in subscription-traps, or are selling the whole business to someone else. But at the same time it's insane that as a customer it's really hard to find a useful app, and have a way to continue support on a low level. For example, I probably wouldn't have a problem with paying Nova some dollar every time I switched to a new device, to get a new compatible version. But I can't even do that. There is barely any mobile app iterating this way through the android-versions. So they all are either dying at some point, or end in a trap.
- tracker1 1y agoI'm looking forward to the stream of 1 star reviews on Google's App Store explaining this app is no longer under curation from the original developer and that they violated their contractual arrangements for open-sourcing the app.
- josephcsible 1y agoWho has standing to sue them for breach of contract?
- jrochkind1 1y agopretty sure only a party to this purported contract. Someone else who they signed it with, presumably Kevin Barry?
- cssinate 1y agoOne of my favourite features of Nova is swiping up or down on an icon for alternative actions. Anyone know of another launcher that can do that?
- blackoil 1y agoMicrosoft launcher supports it, though also not OSS.
- maxglute 1y agoMaybe action launcher. I seem to remember they had the OG functionality for years and I was finally able to migrate to Nova after they implemented it. I not sure though but I remember my setup was swipe up to open folder and swipe down to open widget.
- severine 1y agoKISS: https://help.kisslauncher.com/advanced/gestures/ https://help.kisslauncher.com/advanced/gestures/
- niles 1y agoHyperion is the only other one that I know of that creates covers for folders. You can swipe up on the icon to reveal a folder with related apps (but still show the primary app icon instead of 4 little ones). https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=projekt.launcher https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=projekt.launch... Has a bug with 120hz VRR or OneUI and also kinda abandoned.
- cosmic_cheese 1y agoSemi-relevant, not too long ago I started tinkering around with launcher ideas and almost immediately ran into headwinds when it turned out that the only way to draw the wallpaper the user has set in Settings is to use a magic method that doesn’t let the launcher actually do anything with the image and forces you to let the system handle compositing. This is limiting and completely rules out implementing effects like blurs or a Liquid Glass lookalike unless you want to make the user set the wallpaper in the launcher separately. Totally killed my motivation to build further.
- jimmySixDOF 1y agoAndroid has gone through epochs of customization option the best of which for me was 'Theamer' phase, a long gone one-click to customize the whole UI app and lot of creative people making things. Much much better than todays root needing hacks I used to enjoy opening the phone more then. Enshitification.
- maxglute 1y agoAny other launcher that lets you use a PNG / image file as your icon? Apart from action launcher. Getting png icons from icons8 god send in having reasonably consistent home screen.
- punitvthakkar 1y agoThe first app I ever paid for, even when I didn't have any money to pay for apps. Miss you, Nova Launcher.
- andai 1y agoSo the author gave away the rights for the thing he invented, for some reason, and the new owner killed it?
- pavel_lishin 1y ago> "If Kevin were to ever leave, it's contracted that the code will be open sourced and put in the hands of the community." Forget the public statements, those are worth their weight in gold; but what about the alleged contract here? Does it not actually exist, or is it not worth the legal battle?
- elvircrn 1y agoBeen using this since my Galaxy S3 days and is currently installed on my Nothing 2A. The switch will be painful.
- alwahi 1y agoNova is really good and I used it for a long time. I think it was the first launcher I purchased. It sucks and there is nothing anyone can do really, but maybe you'd consider making a brand new launcher?
- Semaphor 1y agoI keep thinking my requirements are simple, but then it turns out they are apparently not. Tried switching back when Nova got bought, tried it again just now. Requirements that aren’t universal: 1. Homescreen with (fully custom) widgets, app icons, folders. 2. App drawer with search and auto pop-up keyboard that shows new apps by default. * Microsoft Launcher got close, but it’s essentially an ad for microsoft products. In addition, I can’t choose to have folder labels without app labels. * Smart Launcher 6 as the only one ticked all boxes, but the UX of home screen adjustments is abysmal. I long press whatsapp, there I click the settings button, there I click the X, then I have to confirm I really want to remove the icon. Long press + 3 clicks for removing an icon from the homescreen. What? I guess it’s not a super frequent action, but when I’m expected to pay $22 for the premium version, I really would prefer not having such an annoyance. I tried some others, both free and freemium, including Lawnchair, but for now I’m back at Nova.
- glonq 1y agoI've been buying/using/loving Nova for years. Gonna be tough to ditch it.
- tetris11 1y agoIve been rocking Trebuchet for several years, no complaints Edit: Oh I just got the name, it's a "launcher"
- mdrzn 1y agoStarted using this on a Samsung S2, now still using it on a Samsung S24. I'll miss this launcher.