PSA: Nova Launcher is owned by an analytics company
Since a few folks seem unaware of this, I'm posting anew for visibility.
https://www.androidpolice.com/nova-launcher-acquired-by-branch/Open linkView original on lemmy.ca1105
Comments318https://www.androidpolice.com/nova-launcher-acquired-by-branch/Open linkView original on lemmy.ca
Are there comparable alternatives? I never found another launcher that I like as much.
I switched to Lawnchair 2. It's free, open source and quite versatile. Probably not as much as Nova, though it's been a few years since I last used it.
It is significantly less than Nova. People keep suggesting it but it's not a true replacement for those that were actually using Nova to its full potential. They're frankly isn't a replacement right now that goes all out on providing users customization options. That's not in vogue anymore, apparently.
Lawnchair 2 isn't available for my phone since the app is too old, and I'm only on Android 12.
Edit: this only applies to the Play Store version
That's odd, I'm on Android 14 and it works just fine here.
Very strange. I get a big notification and everything.
I see, I installed it through Aurora on my device. But you can just download the apk from their Github or https://lawnchair.app/ instead. Only Google PlayStore seems to have disabled the download even though the app still works perfectly fine.
That would explain it. Thanks!
Lawnchair 2 is no longer under development. The development team always starts to develop a new launcher based on the latest stock launcher every time a new Android version is released (so basically every year). This way the app usually never gets past the alpha or beta builds till they already move on to start from scratch. I don't understand their strategy.
Free - Lawnchair | Kvaesisto
Paid - Niagara Launcher
Shoutout for Niagara. High quality reliable launcher. Only switched away after 2+ years cuz I got a little bored of the interface
I got bored but then I noticed almost immediately how I spend so much extra time just navigating my phone on other launchers. So I switched back and then they released a wallpaper that has a fun cat in it and now he's my home screen homey and I'm good
Show us the wallpaper!!!
I'm also waiting for lemonparty to show us their wallpaper.
OKAY OKAY HERE YOU GO.
Geez
Is it the one called "waiting"?
I came back to this several days later and was not disappointed 😍
I tried to upload a screenshot but it keeps throwing an error. Here's a link to it from their web Site.
Funny enough i actually switched from niagara to kvaesisto
Well now I have to go look into this kvaesisto!
Edit: how do you find the interface? I looked at the photos and it looks very interesting, kind of has some Sesame type system wide search functionality?
For those interested: https://kvaesitso.mm20.de/
I used Niagara free for quite a while. It does have a fair few features locked behind the paywall, but it's certainly usable.
Niagara's free version is still pretty great too. I usually pay for apps but don't want a subscription for my launcher, so I use it in free mode. Despite the limitations it's methodology of getting you to the app you're looking for as quickly as possible is a game changer. I don't know if I'll be able to go back to icons and folders + app drawer launchers haha
For me Hyperion ended up giving me the closest out of the box experience to what I wanted.
+1 for Hyperion, nice customization features.
Neo Launcher is really close, and FOSS.
Edit: Closer than Lawnchair IMO
Maybe also check out Total Launcher.
This seems awesome, testing it out.
Seconding Total, that's where I ended up after leaving Nova and trying a few. Very, very customisable, but a bit of a learning curve.
Agreed re how customisable it is. Can also back up to a file for easy transfer to your next phone etc.
Here's a link to my current setup with Total. (My actual home home screen is the sixth image, I can't seem to alter image order on Pixeldroid...)
Kvaesisto has treated me wonderfully
This will be down voted, but I also tried a bunch of launchers and never found one I liked better than Nova. I ended up installing TrackerControl and Nova has its internet connection fully disabled. It doesn't need Internet for any features I use, so I felt like this was a good compromise, personally. I ended up starting to block trackers in all my apps now because of it, so I see it as a net win.
You can download the APK of Nova 7, which was the last version before the buyout. It's perfectly clean.
Just don't update it.
Plan to just keep using it myself until it's no longer viable, at which point I'll look for a launcher that hopefully reached feature parity.
i'm just using the stock launcher
since niagara can be buggy
neo launcher is the closest FOSS alternative
Maybe not a popular reply, but if you're already in Windows ecosystem, the Microsoft launcher is pretty impressive features-wise.
TotalLauncher
I haven't found anything yet, Nova has always been the best. I've been using Nova since the early years like version 2 or something like that. When I heard they were going to be bought and uninstall went to vanilla Google launcher, and searched high and low for another launcher. I tried dozens over a few months and literally nothing was close to Nova. So here I am, typing this to you in an app that was launched through Nova....
Please, please, please someone make a good launcher.
I'll probably try lawnchair again, but it isn't nearly as good.
Nope. And since so far they're doing nothing, Nova it is for the time being. There just isn't anything remotely as customisable.
Anyone here not using an open source launcher after this announcement is seriously learning nothing from this. You are just trusting the next company that either already or eventually will go the same way. Like the dude mentioning Microsoft launcher as alternative, that one has branch analytics baked in as well as far as I remember.
Be aware that using open source doesn't protect you completely from this, look at what happened to Simple Mobile tools, best install your open source applications from f-droid.
Do you have any good open source alternatives for Nova Launcher?
Of course, but when something like that happens to a popular app there will be an outcry. If you are not a tech person you might miss that, but I'd argue if you care about what launcher your phone has and you care about this issue to go foss you are probably the type of person who'd hear about it.
I use KISS launcher but there are many other options mentioned here that are also good. Yes, nothing is exactly like Nova. But lots of other stuff is good too.
Then they aren't good alternatives, they're passable.
Seems crazy to me that the software that's owned by an analytics company is also the one focused on giving the user the most customization options. None of the FOSS alternatives have the same mentality as Nova. They're all focused more on minimalism, or evoking Pixel, or pushing a specific niche type of interface of their own design. None of them provide anywhere near as many tools to the user.
If I have to use a closed source app provided by an analytics company just to get a launcher that actually empowers the user, so be it. Maybe more of the FOSS alternatives could start taking note of why Nova is the most popular.
What happened to simple tools? And I downloaded them from F-Droid
They got sold (sorry for reddit link) https://www.reddit.com/r/SimpleMobileTools/comments/187w64x/simple_mobile_tools_bought_by_zipoapps/
Use the fossify forks now (also on f-droid)
https://github.com/FossifyOrg
I backed up the APK of the last "clean" version before the sale. I'm going to keep using it until some OS update breaks it.
You don't have to do it! :)
One of the original maintainers of Simple Mobile Tools forked the project and he's adding new features and fixing bugs.
The project is called Fossify and you can already download the apps from both Play store and F-Droid
I think they're talking about Nova.
Ooops, sorry, my bad!
@Scrollone @slimarev92 The "Launcher" repository/project/portion/etc has no releases and no packages on its page, so how do i actually download it and try it?
i don't see any kind of .apk or instructions on where one is.
Same. I am surprised I've been able to use it for so long without any issues.
Please dont tell me I have to leave Niagara. :(
Depends how important some features are for you, e.g. read here https://help.niagaralauncher.app/article/20-sesame-integration
Right now its probably OK, but Nova was also OK for a while. If a FOSS launcher does this and is popular, it will be forked. Niagara won't be forked.
Lawn chair is the main FOSS alternative.
Be aware that there is a play store version that is not updated (version 2) and a beta that is actively maintained (version14.2 now)
They are quite different.
Where is the beta and why isn't it the main version?
The man dev quit the project and others are picking up the pieces. They might not have access to the Play Store account, or maybe they do. Either way, the new team has not produced a new final version yet. Just a string of alphas and betas. As of now the beta is the main version. It's good enough for daily use.
https://github.com/LawnchairLauncher/lawnchair/releases
https://github.com/LawnchairLauncher/lawnchair/releases/tag/v14.0.0-beta2
It's a beta, duh.
This literally doesn't answer the question at all. It's just a snarky remark from someone who seems to think everyone else should be as privy to how all this works as they are.
The beta was the first release in a few years.
The released the nightly build a few hour ago: https://github.com/LawnchairLauncher/lawnchair/releases/tag/nightly
I guess we can expect the final version in the coming days/weeks
Why is anything in the world the way it is?
Who knows where thoughts come from? They just appear... Yeah.
Thanks for the tip man 👍
Could you please link to the right place, then?
I looked at Droidify and only found an old unmaintained version.
You need to work on how you ask for things... This isn't my product and I don't work for you.
I don't know if this is news to you, but the "then" on the end of your statement has some sharp edges on it and represents you as entitled (making you aware if that wasn't your intention)
A little more grace goes a long way when you're asking strangers for help on the internet, friend.
Fwiw, I agree with you, but written text does need some benefit of the doubt regarding inflection and intention, sometimes.
Looking forward the end of the beta!
Lawnchair is a fork of the original pixel launcher that gives some quality of life upgrades to an already good piece of software, like being able to remove the search bar, resizable / reshapable icons and fonts usw. Its also open source, so feel free to check out the github.
There is no app store release right now but they are working on it. I've used the alpha versions for two years now and it has worked fine so far.
https://lawnchair.app/downloads/
I just made the switch after seeing this article.
Is there a way to get an icon to open the app drawer? Or am i forced to live with a gesture?
The choice gesture vs. nav button is usually part of android itself. In my case (pixel with therefor nearly stock android) its in settings -> system -> navigation mode (or something similar since its in german in my case). If you can't find it, search for "navigation button your phone model".
Edit: sorry, i just realized you meant the app drawer, not the overview of currently opened apps. I don't know the answer to that.
Edit edit: ok i found something in lawnchairs settings. The last setting is called gestures. If you have navigation buttons enabled instead of nav gestures (see above) you could bind the home button to open the app drawer.
That would mean unbinding it from another feature. It feels kind of ridiculous that I have to devote my home button to something that should just be tappable on screen if three button navigation is being used.
By default the home button tap is bound to "do nothing", so you're not really losing anything
Yeah I tried it too and that's a major no go right there. The fact it's based off pixel launcher is killing my interest out of the gate, but I at least hoped that it would provide the same degree of customization options and tools as Nova. Doesn't look like it, and no ability to call the app drawer without swiping.
Frankly any app that pushes gestures as the default navigation method without respecting people that just want to use buttons and taps, I can't say I'm interested.
Guess I'm sticking with Nova 7 until it just stops working.
They released a beta about a month ago.
https://lemmy.world/post/13864258
Edit: which your download link has. Just wanted to make sure you and others don't use a 2 year old alpha instead.
But they promised that they won't use the data for it 😜
They paid millions for it just for charity
I could believe them if they were a nonprofit. 😂
Having participated in many "charities", you'd be a fool to believe an operation just because it is registered as a "not for profit".
Look at the executive-pay, and if it is over 2x the cost-of-living, you're looking at a money-funneling-to-executives scam, that is masquerading as a not-for-profit.
The amount of spine required to have real integrity, in this planet, is apparently greater than the amount of spine available in a human life?
Switched to Niagara Launcher a few years back... it's awesome... clean, fast and actually different (most other launchers are just icon packs)
I'm a little worried about Niagara, since they have a sponsored result for every time I've searched for another launcher. Is it a paid launcher? Usually the heavily advertised stuff I see on the play store has all kinds of issues.
I used Niagara back in the Cyanogen days. I guess it's time to give it another shot. Thanks for the tip. Now, to retrain my old brain.
Retraining keeps the brain young, my friend!
Unless you're retraining to go back to Windows from Linux, then the brain starts farthing incessantly 🤣🤣
I believe they have Google Analytics in their privacy policy. I made the compromise a while ago, it is so good I am willing to concede that.
I like Niagara but it's insanely expensive, especially as a subscription. I don't know how people justify it.
Edit: The above was based on me getting duped by a Play Store sponsored search result and installing some crap that charges £70 for a lifetime licence. In comparison Niagara feels like much better value, but it's still expensive compared to most apps and I still don't like subscribing to software in general.
Lol, here in India it is 100 INR (1.2 USD) yearly. Thank god for regional pricing.
Subscription? That sucks.... I bought it outright a bit back, it was pricey, maybe $15 CAD? (Can't remember)
Sorry to hear it has gone up so much... But that does seem to be the way of the app world... Pricey, subscription (even when they cannot possibly justify it) or both!
Simple—just don't pay for the premium tier. Free one is good enough for most.
I looked at the paid features and none of them look useful to me so I'm just not going to give them money.
It is 30 bucks for lifetime. I don't think it is that insane. It is well worth it IMO. Also they have a fair policy in prices across the globe.
Gotta hold my hands up and admit that in my initial haste to confirm the price I fell victim to the Play Store putting sponsored results ahead of what you actually searched for and I installed some crap called minimalist launcher, which charges £70 for a lifetime license. That's what my "insane" comment was based on.
In comparison it's nowhere near that bad for Niagara, but it is still pricey compared to most apps, and I balk at paying a subscription for software in general so that still stands.
Might give it another go after all...
Same here, I was a big fan of Nova until I discovered Niagara about a year ago. It's a totally different concept from the icon based launchers. I love the minimalist approach to widgets and the self optimizing app list. Tying it in with sesame has led me that product as well and I'm finding the whole solution to be really nice
Awesome.... Now I have to check sesame
Read the linked-to article:
Sesame was aquired with Nova Launcher.
They're both part of the analytics-tentacles company, now.
Niagara launcher is worth the time it takes to change your habit. Once you understand it you just can't conceive how people waste their time with normal home screens and organisation. It's just so damn fast to get to where you want to be with Niagara launcher.
What the fuck are you even doing with your phone that this even matters? Are you running multiple Fortune 500 companies from it? solely?
Honestly, your comment reads so much like advertising copy that I half-suspect you're a bot.
Honestly, don't care. Until it gets shitty (which it still has a good chance of doing so), I'll continue to use it.
A launcher owned by an analytics company? In my OS owned by an ad company?
It's more likely than you think!
The way I see it, unless I'm at risk of having personally identifiable information leaked, ad companies can waste all the money they want on me. I don't see anything they make anyway.
2 points for brutal honesty.
Me neither really. I don't love this, but I think a lot of people misunderstand what the analytics tools are mainly used for. It's not often that much to do with advertising, and it certainly isn't about farming your unique information in a clandestine way. It's about what's happening with the app, what features are being used as an aggregate, and most importantly for tracking the crash rate of the app, and why it's crashing.
I think this is more tied with advertising analytics, but I share the same opinion. I don't love it, but it's not a killer. The fediverse tends to attract a more idealistic and paranoid crowd, which I don't think is reflective of how most people are.
Given for months now I keep randomly experiencing UI hangs requiring me to kill Nova, that day may have finally come...
I thought it was from Samsung, never crossed my mind it could be nova that is hanging. Sad days.
Hmm, I've had it happen once, thought it was odd. Are you on a Samsung too, like the other comment? How often does it happen?
Nope, Pixel 6 running Android 14. It's highly variable but I'd say it happens... every two or three days, sometimes multiple times a day. To say it's aggravating is putting it very mildly.
Ok, that is pretty bad. As mentioned, I've had it happen once. I use the app search function a lot, which I've set to the swipe up gesture, and it just stopped working that day. Had to find a way to force reset the launcher. Having that happen every 2-3 days to multiple times a day would be a dealbreaker for me.
Reaction from a lot of people seems as if Nova now has some kind of keylogger and some random dude from Nigeria will try to access your bank account.
Like I've said elsewhere, the fediverse tends to have a lot of paranoid zealots. It's a bit offputting really.
Well damn. I've been on Nova launcher for years. Even bought prime and all that.
Damn, me too. This sucks, time to change.
You can stay on Nova 7, it's not going to stop working. Nova 8 is what you want to avoid, so you just can't let it update to a new version that will have all of the bullshit put in.
Obviously that's not a permanent solution but there's no reason to throw away Nova 7 right now if it's works for you.
The last clean version was Nova 7.0.57
Install that APK, redownload the Nova prime app from Play store, they work together fine.
Oh man, I'm on 7.0.58...
Niagara is what I moved to from Nova. Less widget focused layout, but any app is literally 2 presses and one swipe away from the home screen.
I love Niagara. For me, it really eliminated distractions and stopped me from swiping mindlessly.
Doesn't matter, as long as you restrict internet access for it.
Since there are no alternatives coming even close, I refuse to switch just because.
How are you restricting internet access for it?
Adguard can firewall it. Now I'll wait for somebody to reply to me saying how horrible adguard is for privacy haha
https://github.com/M66B/NetGuard
The only caveat is that it's setting itself up as a local VPN for the block/allow list, so you can't use it in parallel with an actual VPN. My workaround is to have my actual VPN installed directly on the router both at home and at work, which covers 98% of my use cases.
Check out TrackerControl on the F-Droid app store. It lets you block Internet access to individual apps and selectively block trackers and other analytics. It does this by acting as a VPN in the android OS so it won't work while on another VPN but that's good enough for my needs.
https://trackercontrol.org/
+1 for Tracker Control, though I will say updates are pretty slow. I've noticed a few things making it through every now and again.
this approach may leak data, don't blindly trust it
Ok so I just started digging for alternatives, thanks to your question.
I had previously simply deactivated network access for Nova (Settings -> Apps -> App Management -> Select Nova -> Data Usage -> Disable Mobile Data, Disable Wi-Fi, and flick the switch for Background Data for good measure.
Now, that will result in a toast on the main screen every time you unlock the phone "Data for Nova7 is disabled, you can activate it in the settings". This might however be a OnePlus specific error, since searching for it only gives me a result in their product forum.
Nevertheless, I dug around with LogCat Reader and found that the message is displayed by com.android.systemui. Not really surprising, but I wasn't sure which exact system resource is responsible. So then I went ahead with AppOps and set the "Display Toast" permission to "Ignore", and voila.
Caveats:
it was JULY 2022 and almost nothing seems to be changed
how would you know?
Fuck. Using nova kept me sane. Even though they say, nothing changes....it will. With an analytics company, if they spend that much on nova, they are either going to go behind a paywall, or start data mining the shit from every user.
Remember, if the product is free, then you're the product
Lol fuck me why even try anymore
You can switch off Error & Usage option in advanced setting in Nova.
can't analyze my data if I dont let you connect to the internet
mostly yes but it will depend how you block your Internet connection, with exception GrapheneOS approach all the other ways to "block" internet on Android devices may leak some data.
The chances of some data being leaked is always possible but I'll roll the dice if it means getting to keep using a launcher that's not god awful or pixel-based until some other launchers become more mature.
If we're were talking financial information or something, sure, the chance of leaks is a huge problem, but some usage analytics leaking is more annoying than anything else.
With xposed you can do everything, which is not graphene exclusive.
What about CalyxOS's firewall? What puts GrapheneOS apart?
When that first happened I switched to KISS Launcher. Fully search based. really simple and really fast.
I always assumed the stock launcher was always running under custom launchers. Is this the case?
Had an old, barely living phone. Tried very hard to die on sole fact it had to display icons. KISS actually made it usable once again. ^^
You pick them yourself. Search for an app, long press and then add to favorites
oh crap
Woah, seeing Nova launcher name with enshittification makes me trip down memory lane.
I remember using one of these launcher apps on my Jelly Bean 2013 lenovo phone, Nova Launcher app being one of them that felt good to me, though as time passes and more I delve into rooting and custom roms, I just stick to whatever launcher is included in the rom or just use stock launcher. Maybe I'm becoming old timer that need "it just functions, simple, and no bs" guy. Been using stock launcher on android since 2016.
Well this fuckin sucks! I guess I'm switching back to the lame default launcher.
Switched to Niagara launcher (Pro version) about a year ago and now I cannot imagine using a phone with an traditional app drawer.
On the Google Play page data safety section, they seem to share and collect about as much data as Nova.
I figured as much considering their heavy ad spend on the play store. They pop up as the number one result as an ad for every launcher search I make.
I found an alternative called Olauncher.minimal af launcher. Play store says it collects and shares nothing, though I don't know how easy it is to fool. It seems ok so far, though I'm not sure I really want a minimalist launcher.
If you use more than one widget it's a terrible choice. I know they have stackable widgets, but it looks awful swiping with differing size widgets.
Put them in different folders?
Also using it since almost a year back i think now. But not pro. I can't find a reason to pay that much for functionality I don't really need even if I would pay to support the dev.
IMO the theming feature in Pro is worth it. Having all icons in the same style makes the app list way less distracting. And supporting the dev is a nice bonus too.
I am a person that really don't care about icons. I wanted 2 widgets but since I switched I have learnt to live with just one of the two. I promise, if the price was halved i wouldn't have blinked but as it is now as a subscription every year. Yeah, no I don't use my phone that much.
Here's an alternative that's about 50% less expensive and not a subscription. Personally use it on KISS launcher and it's basically perfect for my uses
I gotta check this out when I get some time.
Came here to mention Niagara. Been using it almost 5 years now and it's perfect. Early on had some stuff that I missed, like folders or browser shortcuts, but the overall UI made up for it. But now? Flawless. Peerless. Just fucking, delightful.
I don't even think about it until I see someone else use their launcher, and feel the need to give them a short Niagara demo.
I don't understand why no phone company has considered making at least something similar as default. A vertical list of apps is way more intuitive than a mess of dozens of apps with too many colors. Now if switch to a new phone, I even have to check if it supports gestures for third-party launchers. Another a-hole feature of some brands (specifically Xiaomi). Using Niagara with the bottom navigation buttons makes no sense.
If you aren't paying, you're the product.
Microsoft Windows addendum: even when you pay, you're the product.
PS: I know this goes for more than M$. They're just the easy target here on Lems.
I've paid for nova :(
Paid*
"Payed" is a nautical term, hence the spell check failure.
RIP 😭
They have a paid version of the Nova launcher. I am certainly not a lawyer, but it also looks like they have a pretty clear privacy policy https://novalauncher.com/privacy/
I don't currently use it, but it is a nice alternative if they aren't doing anything fishy.
i use nova for it's name and icon customization (previously used lynx)
Nova isn't free.
What that means is Linux is spyware. So are pretty much every Foss project out there.
Yeah. It's a dumb statement because there are plenty of paid things that make you the product and plenty of free ones that don't.
Except FOSS explicitly implies the user is free (as in freedom, not 0$), and the software isn't a product or service, but a tool.
That line only applies when a non-free service or software that's supposed to be meant for profit doesn't have a clear money income. Don't compare "oh how generous is google for giving me free email and drive for no shady reasons at all" to "i host my own email and cloud using foss projects".
Also, windows is basically spyware with a bit of unoptimized OS on top and you still (should) pay for it.
it do be a dumb statement because it generalizes a lot but in propiertary software it msot often is true
Great point! Maybe I need to amend my statement to not include FOSS?
You didn't have to yet.
Nova Launcher 7.0.57 is clean. It's Nova 8 you want to avoid. Find an APK of 7.0.57 and it'll work alongside the Prime app.
I use Smart Launcher. I'm surprised there aren't more users of it.
I've been using it on all my phones and tablets for years now. Doesn't matter what type of Android phone I use, they mostly end up being the same feel with Smart Launcher
Same, been using Smart Launcher since I heard they were getting bought. No lie, I miss Nova's customizability, and some of Smart Launcher's quirks annoy me; but I vastly prefer it to being data harvested. Smart Launcher is good enough for me, and leaps and bounds better than ANYTHING else I tried.
Same here. There are quirks by I think I'm really use to them now. I tried Nova, Lawnchair and some others over the years but I think my long term Smart Launcher still fits me like a glove.
Overall, Smart Launcher is great. The things that annoy me are mainly things like: Not being able to add multiple app screens and have home in the center, lack of gestures(compared to Nova), and there was also something to do with setting the wallpaper.
My only near dealbreaker is that it's not open source.
I can't wait to see what they come up with next, feature wise, though.
While you're at it, check out their other product, Icon Pack Studio. It's the last icon pack you'll ever need.
I will. I've been using the neon colored Azure icon pack for many years now. I could probably go for an update.
Correction Outline icon pack is what I've been using. The Studio icon pack is pretty good. Thanks!
I love Outline
hey, a fellow IPS user! still the only app i bought the pro version of.
I used smart launcher right up until they pushed an update one day that made my phone basically unusable. The launcher would just error whenever I went to my home screen, making the launcher (and thus home screen completely unusable).
After that I changed my 5 star review to 1 star, uninstalled, and there is absolutely nothing they can do to ever get me to trust them again.
Failing that hard at QA on something as critical as a phone launcher is completely unacceptable to me.
If you want evidence, look at reviews from Jan 2022 on smart launcher 6.
That really sucks. It would be brutal to get that sorted. I've been lucky. I do recall once there was a botched update that reset all my custom settings on all of my devices. I was really choked but I had a old backup that restored it halfway. Reminds me to do another one now.
My huawei devices keeps reseting my launcher to theirs which is s really annoying but I think that is a Huawei thing.
Google fails that hard on QA all the time. Perhaps iOS would work for you?
They really don't though.
Thank you. I was not aware of it. Uninstalling now
They discuss the acquisition and analytics concerns here: https://novalauncher.com/branch
Oh this is almost 2 years old then ... yeah honestly, I'm not that worried at this point.
I switched from Nova Launcher to Lawnchair (GitHub) over a year ago. I think it's great. https://github.com/LawnchairLauncher/lawnchair
Latest release says it's from 2018 though...
there are recent git commits, they appear to be working on the beta
https://lawnchair.app/blog/lawnchair-14/
article is dated this month
Latest beta release was on April 3. Source from telegram.
Thanks for the info, as a long-time Nova Launcher user, I was not aware. Good thing I didn't give it any internet access.
To remove internet access from Nova, in android go to:
Settings->mobile network->data usage->network access
Go to Nova and select "disable network access"
Nova will complain after but functions just fine.
Someone correct me, but I think they can still send and receive data if using the Google services.
Correct
Unfortunately, not every android OS seems to haver his option.
Oof :(
I'm android 14 on a OnePlus device for what it's worth.
I'm stuck on android 9 unfortunately. I didn't realize how far behind it was.
Don't remember exactly when I purchased this phone, but it was a while ago. It's getting to the point where I need a new one, but everything kinda sucks at the moment.
That's a long way behind alright.
LineageOS is probably worth checking for compatibility. I got an extra few years out of my last phone with it.
I've considered it but got cold feet.
I have an LG V30. Not sure how popular it is for Lineage should I need help troubleshooting, and not sure if the DAC AMP will still work.
Also a too large amount of my digital life is in Google. Once I actually get away from it, it'll be a lot easier to make the jump.
Oh you can have all the google apps with Lineage and your phone is in the "fully supported" list. You just install the gapps package during the install process. I'm in the same boat as yourself - fully tied into the googlesphere so wasn't prepared to jump without it.
Not sure about your DAC AMP as tbh I don't know anything about them but if you're not sure you could do a backup, install Lineage with the google stuff, see if it works then revert if not. Total time I'd say would be 2 hours or so if you needed to revert (edit: plus reading time if this is your first time doing something like this).
I'll check it out soon. Just hard to commit to a change on my phone, if that makes sense? I'm kinda weird.
But that does not restrict its access to Wi-Fi networks!
Yes it does.
Unfortunately disabling network access entirely isn't a universal feature.
Indeed it isn't universal. My Android phone can't do this.
Well that sucks balls. :( Why would a manufacturer do that?! Bananas.
It is quite annoying. Samsung has trimmed up their bloat and strange customizations over the years, but some things are still incorrect as far as I see them.
NetGuard can manage network access on a per app basis but it uses the VPN function to do so, while not actually being a VPN service. Sadly this means I can't be using an on-device VPN at the same time as turning off app data.
Annoying compromise.
I just checked and Nova has never tried to call home. Granted, I just did a hardware reset yesterday, so I only have two days of data to work with.
I've been looking since this was first announced forever ago but can't find a comparable alternative. My two main requirements are being able to create folders for apps in the app drawer and being able to assign "swiping up" on my home screen icon for the to open hidden apps or actions. I would love if anyone had a suggestion that included those two features.
Same exact reasons I am using it. I tried a few alternatives, but none were close.
Lawnchair is FOSS, has tabs in app drawer and you can swipe up on home screen icons to launch hidden
You can't swipe on dock icons like in Nova
Yes, you can.
Long press on an icon (dock or homescreen) and you have option to then assign "swipe up" to a separate action.
All my dock icons have secondary actions assigned this way.
Which version are you using? Just tried with the latest beta and there is no swipe up option.
I was using play store version I believe
Same. Neither of those features seems to be there for me on version 14
Thanks I'll have to check it again. I guess I either missed it or it wasn't implemented when I originally looked.
There are a lot of comments here about which launchers are "close enough" to the Nova feature set, but very few people are talking about specific features and the alternatives that support them. I really just use two, and everything else is a cherry on top that I can do without if push comes to shove.
Action Launcher used to be my go-to, and it's still the best implementation of #1 because of the little indicators it adds to let you know if something is a "cover" (folder when you swipe) or "shutter" (widget when you swipe). Sadly it's gotten rather bloated over the years and spends more time force-closing from one glitch or another than it does actually running properly. Nova was my backup because it added "covers" a few years ago and I remembered enjoying the app about a decade ago. Now what?
I switched to Kvaesitso (https://github.com/MM2-0/Kvaesitso) and Lawnchair (https://lawnchair.app/downloads/).
Not quite the same customization, but worth it. Kvaesitso is my primary and I love it.
Neo Launcher seems to have either tabs or folders, not both (you have to choose one). Seems fairly close to what I want overall, still missing a few features
Kvaesito with its tags is really interesting but that's not how I use launchers. If it had also supported modifying the default app list with tags as alternative views then it would've been great for me. And it would also need better tools for managing tags (bulk adding apps, navigating tags)
Lawnchair doesn't let me customize folders within the app list
I second Kvaesitso, never used another launcher again
Awesome.. I just installed kvaesitso after (...about 10?) years of being a paid Nova Premium user. I uninstalled Nova and so far so good. Thanks!
To keep it updated I recommend Obtainium ( https://github.com/ImranR98/Obtainium) if you don't want to use fdroid.
Thanks! I grabbed it on fdroid, which gets updates, right? It looked like the most recent was 2 months ago, when I installed it.
I see fdroid update (1.1.4) from 4 days ago and github (1.1.6) yesterday.
We're talking about Kvaesitso, right? I see 1.29.1 from Feb 21, whether I check it on fdroid or github.
Well this sucks because I love Nova :(
Notre: the change of ownership happened 2yrs ago
Adguard seems to do a good job blocking the Nova calls to home. Thing is, it's like an AV or VPN, you can only guess that it's working over time, you really don't know for sure.
I ditched it for Lawnchair, and I have no regrets. Works just as well as Nova did.
Lol nah. I tried it recently. Lawnchair is lacking in so much customization compared to Nova it's kind of appalling to compare them imo.
That being said, if you are ok with the Pixel launcher and pretty basic / generic customizations Lawnchair is a pretty awesome app.
What are you guys doing to your launchers that needs so much configuration? I've been happy with Lawnchair for years. I set my gestures and that's about it.
I like to categorize my apps. In Nova I have them divided into Web / Media / Games / Tools / System and I can swipe between each page (horizontally) of them. I use quite a few apps to do a lot of things tho, so *shrug.
I also really like the Sesame search integration, Lawnchairs adaption of Pixel Launchers is good. But there is style and behavior customization that Nova offers that Lawnchair doesn't.
I am pretty particular about making my phone just look and behave the way I want it, of course it changes over time as phones and apps get better but yeah.... It's largely why I preferred Android from the start and have stuck with it
Agreed. Lawnchair was highly recommended, and when I tried it, I realized it's recommended by people who were never actually utilizing Nova's full potential. It's basically just pixel launcher with more bells and whistles, and that's not what I want. I use Nova because I wanted to make my own launcher that looked and worked exactly the way I wanted it to, not just be pixel launcher with some minor customizations.
I may be kinda weird. My phone has looked the same for probably 10 years or more. The home screen is a wallpaper but otherwise blank. My name is at the bottom in the dock area, six letters, like M Y N A M E. When I tap a letter it opens a certain app or folder of apps. When I swipe up it opens others. For example, tap the M and it opens the camera, swipe up and it opens a folder of photo apps. Same for all six letters. I have one other page with active widgets for info I can take in visually like weather radar, news ticker, etc but on my main page, with those 6 taps and swipes I can open anything in a couple seconds max, one handed, probably with my eyes closed for oft-used apps.
The letters of my name are 6 different images, I just typed my name in a nice looking font, took a snapshot of each letter and made the background transparent. So to set it up I drag the camera app to the dock then change it's icon to the M.gif I have saved on my sdcard, then set a swipe action to open the photo apps folder. Really simple.. as long as the launcher has those options.
Since I read this post I've been looking at other launchers. I could find no way to get rid of the search bar in the dock with one launcher, another one didn't even have a dock, it had a vertical A-Z on the side so you could open a list of apps alphabetically. Lawnchair won't let me choose my own images for the icons in the dock, I can only select system icons or an icon pack.
I'll keep looking, and maybe I can make my 6 gif into an icon pack to use with Lawnchair or something. But without those options I will have to start using my phone in a completely different way than I have been using it for over 10 years.
To the best of my knowledge, Pear Launcher can do everything you're asking for. I haven't used nova in a while, but from what I recall of it, the free version of pear launcher is far more feature rich than nova.
Thanks! I downloaded it and it can change icons to images and swipes work fine. I just need to figure out how to do folders. It only says "folders in app drawer" in the description, I need folders to open with a tap or swipe on a home screen icon. I still have a copy of Folder Organizer although it's been abandoned for years. I could get them to work with that if nothing else.
Hey, dunno if you figured it out yet, but creating folders is done in the pear launcher settings (I get to the settings by a "pear actions" widget set to pear settings). From there, it's app drawer > folders > then you can make new folders and add stuff to them.
People care about organizing their interfaces more than you, is that hard to understand?
I give up
I switched to Lawnchair a few years ago (IIRC 6 years ago) and it's been a solid experience, I'm very happy with it.
You probably have the wrong version, the one linked here is quite new
Well. Fuck.
Grapheneos and blocked internet for the launcher.
I had Nova prime and reluctantly moved to KISS when this was announced in 2022. The lack of features was quite the change, but I've been using it since and wouldn't go back. Searching and quick launching apps feels the fastest it can possibly be with KISS.
KISS is all I need.
KISS changed my perception of how I use my phone, using a bunch of icons on different pages seems crazy now
Oh man i'm suprised i had to scroll down this far to find some love for kiss by far the best launcher imao .
Not everyone love innovation! 😀
OK, if they say so, it must be true. I mean, they bought it because they had nothing better to do with the money, and that they are a data mining company means nothing. They just wanted a Launcher because "why not?".
Just keep your Nova launcher and don't opt-in to the tracking, nothing will change. 🤔
I've been seeing too much of this lately. They can't get us to get their nasty tracking malware ridden software, so they bet on us being too stupid to move away from one they purchase because we used to trust it. Same thing that happened with the Simple apps suite.
We'll be seeing more and more of this moving forward.
i paid for https://aiolauncher.app/ ... just sleek.
Yeah me too! o/ I honestly don't know why more people aren't using it, the customisability is off the charts
Thank you for this heads up
Great. Still using it until I have a good reason not to.
what i use for annoying apps i kinda need: use karma FW. It basically routes all your phones traffic through itself and you can block apps to not use internet at all. Having it set up as always on works best.
Imagine not using Lawnchair or Neo Launcher in 2024
And I BOUGHT pro! Went to Neo launcher when I started GraphineOS. May move to launchair if/when it supports work profile.
I have lawnchair and it supports work profile. At least as far as I know. I can swipe left/right to see my work apps in the app drawer. Not sure if there's something else.
I'm running 14 beta 2 https://github.com/LawnchairLauncher/lawnchair/releases
It is unfortunate and I was looking at dozens of other open source launchers, but I was not able to find one that fits my needs and is as customizable as Nova Launcher :(
Neo Launcher is close but not yet all the way there
Reading the article and justification given I do actually get the idea of it. They want to levarage the parent company's clout and connections in order to convince other app makers into implementing a way for Sesame, the universal search app/plugin, to pull results directly from those apps. For the parent company it would give them a USP in the analytics market.
In short: Think of searching for a product from the launcher and rather than it opening Google, it returns results directly from the Amazon app, or eBay, or any other app that supports the functionality. Obviously there'll be an affiliate kickback for any click-through and you've got a decent revenue source.
It's a good idea, I get it. Would I feel comfortable using it? I don't know. On the one hand it just cuts out the middle-man of searching for and clicking through to products via Google etc. On the other hand, all of the concerns already raised in this thread!
Where is my tldr bot
Dang this is my favorite. I might look into a good alternative later on. I'm not on my phone that much anymore.
Is there any launcher that works well with Pixel's transition animations when using gesture mode? I haven't tried for a few years because there would be weird animation glitches from things like switching apps or going back to the home screen.
Lawnchair seems alright.
Switched back to action launcher when this happened
Main feature I love, which to my knowledge action did first anyway, is to have a folder of app icons where one is the most frequent. You tap on it to open the frequent option or swipe it to open the folder.
Basically means you almost never need the app deserter l drawer
Is there evidence that they are collecting data from the app?
I love Nova launcher but will switch to an alternative if I have to.
It is a closes source program owned by an analytics company. I don't know if there's a good way to conclusively tell, but why else would they have bought it?
Saved for the launcher recommendations, although all of my experiences with them have been bad because of the broken animations since A12 I think... Some look slightly better, like kvaesitso.
I switched to T-UI Launcher like 7 years ago and never looked back. The F-Droid version is the best version, the one on Google Play lacks SMS and some other features.
Command line launcher is unironically by far the best and most efficient thing I've ever used. I tried T-E-L but I found it was a real battery hog. I may give it another go though. Maybe it was just a problem with the phone I was using at the time.
sigh
So what's the recommended replacement?
I will not go back to the stock launcher because they're dog water.
I didn't hear about it before but I now have Niagara launcher. It was weird at first but after a few days I love it.
I use Niagara Launcher and love it... maybe you will too
I've just tried it and it's not for me.
I quite like the hidden gestures on Nova. I hide my security related apps and use gestures on certain things to bring them up. Yes, it is a layer of security through obscurity and I know the Reddit/Lemmy echo chamber says it's a bad thing, but I respectfully disagree.
Thanks
Is the Microsoft Launcher something you'd try? I've had it for awhile and it's great, though I'm no expert on launchers.
Lanwchair is a great replacement but I am facing many problems with its widgets and don't forget the default launcher is always the best option if you consider less surface attack
Is the Nova 7 apk that everyone references actually "safe" or is that just regurgitated rumor without source?
The branch analytics got added in version 8 so 7 should be safe. I don't think it was added in version 8.0 but a slightly later patch, but I avoid it nonetheless.
Has someone capable actually opened the APK to confirm it's "safe" though. Would love to see a post where someone breaks down for lay people, if it exists
Can't say that I saw something like that, but that is the version before the acquisition. Just in case, you can download from apk mirror older versions.
Appreciate it, thank you
I've been using KISS for I don't know how many years at this point. I can't imagine using anything else at this point. I'm sure that there's plenty of other great FOSS launchers out there!
So I've been using nova for awhile, and recently it's started to work less and less. I feel like this has gotta be the nail in the coffin for me.
Any recommendations for a new launcher? I really like nova, and would like it to function similarly.
Lawnchair
Doesn't look like the current version is on the play store and it doesn't appear to be on f-droid, you can only download it from the website. How much of a pain will updating it be?
I know, still use it. It's just never allowed to call home. Simple.
And off you go!
Would it be safe if I stayed on some older version of the app?
Just use the latest and disable internet permission
Well shit, time to find an alternative
I didn't even bother to install 3rd party launcher on my current device. I had been using Nova ever since I got my first android device.
I used to be super excited about new device releases but I've lost nearly all my interest in smartphone technology. LG V10/V20 was peak smartphone in my opinion and they've been just gotting more and more boring since. My current one most resembles that of some old granny except for the lack of bloatware. I could barely be bothered to look for a new wallpaper.
Back on the old iPhones (like iPhone 4)I used to create animated lock screens for jailbroken devices. I haven't been able to do that in a long time on either Android or iPhone.
https://www.ios-repo-updates.com/repository/modmyi-com/package/com.modmyi.peterpanls/ https://www.ios-repo-updates.com/repository/modmyi-com/package/com.modmyi.snowfall/ https://www.reddit.com/r/iOSthemes/comments/1fiwn8/my_favourite_ls_gallifreyan_circles_has_been/
Everything is so sanitized and locked down now. Once they took that from me and I couldn't have all my custom themes, I stopped caring about smartphones. I just want shit that works with the minimal leaked data now.
I use Nova integrated with Sesame. Unless I can find apps that can have the functions offered by these two apps, I've got no choice but to stay.