Yep. I recently bought a used Pixel 8 and wanted to install a new launcher - my googling turned up Nova launcher, but the app said it had ads, so I looked a bit further and installed Lawnchair instead. Does the job!
I recommend dragon launcher or lawnchair
dragon is now my favorite, the ring design is awesome and the dev is active, but lawnchair is the most like nova but open source.
Where do I find this dragon launcher? I searched for it in the Play store and didn’t see it.
Its on Github.
Is it not possible to have a launcher that modifies the menu that appears when you slide down from the top of the screen (brightness and notifications menu…)?
I would really like a separate menu for quickly changing brightness and volume
I believe that is all part of the OS and not anything a launcher can do. Unless you disable it at a system level and then have a launcher that was setup to display a custom similar menu when you did the swipe gesture. But I still think it would only work on the home screen and not inside any apps.
Don’t forget to leave a bad review before uninstalling it.
Maybe after the big changes with the Linux desktop in the last year we might start to see renewed focus on a truly open source phone OS
There already is one.
Not much focus yet 😭
Finally removed it from my phone, octopi launcher does most of what I need even on the free version I do intend to pay for the extra functions when I can.
But yeah just remember you can sort the app drawer by tags and it’s almost there.
Dang… I saw this a while ago, but thanks to this post I looked again and it turned out that mine had automatically updated to the new version on Play Store. Went ahead and uninstalled it and then installed the latest Beta from before, and I was lucky that my email license still worked - don’t know for how long though (not sure if the check is hardcoded in some way or if it makes an API call).
It’s had a great run, but it’s just sad that it has to end like this. Would’ve been spectacular if it was open-sourced as promised.
I started looking into alternatives and it seems like no other launcher is quite there yet, but Lawnchair looks promising for my use. The whole situation started looking like the appropriate time to learn some Android development; a while ago I was thinking of forking the AOSP launcher and trying to implement some stuff by myself, but now it seems like contributing to Lawnchair would be a better idea.
I JUST STARTED USING IT TWO WEEKS AGO CMON
They were already acquired by a shit head like 3 years ago. This is just a new shit head.
Bit late to the party…
Octopi Launcher is the best replacement. The developer is very active and listens to suggestions. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.otp.octopilauncher
On 3, 2, 1,… Everybody Juuuuuuump to any other good launchers
I am NOT a power user of my phone. That said, I’ve liked YAM Launcher for a while. It is minimalist and does everything I want in a launcher.
Can’t recommend KISS Launcher enough.
I like this one https://kvaesitso.mm20.de/
This is what I’m using too. Was a little different, but simple enough, out of the way enough and easy too. Goldilocks zone launcher
This one is the best!
Yep. Kvaesitso is the goat!
Hyperion seems like a good drop-in replacement.
Nova launcher works great for me, I haven’t let it update in years. Looks like that isn’t going to change.
I’ve been burned so many times that I’ve finally learned my lesson. When I find that I like an app, that it does everything I want, the first thing I do is turn auto updates off. It can stay frozen in time forever, just working normally.
Understand where the thought comes from, but do you know what zero days are
Yeah sure, the os gets regular updates, banking apps get updates.
But when it comes to digital devices, convenience and security are in a constant tug of war, ultimately we have to make a choice. And when I make that choice I remember that this isn’t a company phone, there’s no customer data at risk, no important info to be breached. And still the number of times I’ve been hacked: 0
No one is going to waste a zero day on a random guy using Nova launcher. Zero days are used against governments & other militaries.
But if you’re not installing updates to patch out a zero day, the vulnerability is still there.
when are you nerds going to learn that software is religion , developers are prophets, and users are following the words of God?
They’re talking about app updates not firmware and system updates
Apps can have vulnerabilities too. What happens when something you install can make changes to your launcher because one of it’s libraries has a known hole? Launchers get a decent level of unchecked power.
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Lawnchair is pretty good.
Yup. I’ve carried it over several phones, have the paid version.
Lawnchair doesn’t have a paid version, it’s open source
Might be a different launcher I had before then.
Nova Launcher was acquired by analytics firm Branch Metrics in 2022 . Barry initially stayed on to continue development, but the situation deteriorated. After being the sole developer for the past year, Barry announced he had left Branch and was no longer involved with Nova Launcher . The Broken Promises: Branch’s then-CEO and founder Alex Austin made public commitments to the community about open-sourcing the code if Barry ever left . However, Barry was ultimately asked to stop working on Nova Launcher and the open sourcing effort he had been preparing . The Irony: Nova Launcher is now owned by Swedish company Instabridge and already contains code for Facebook Ads and Google AdMob trackers, with ads being integrated into the app . This is exactly the kind of enshitification that the community feared when an analytics company acquired it in the first place. In Barry’s actual statement, he was more restrained—just expressing that he was grateful for the community’s support while confirming he’d left. But the community response on Reddit and elsewhere absolutely used the word “enshitification” to describe what happened to their beloved launcher.
Pure fucking bullshit.
Once again the “Everything that’s not FOSS will turn to shit at one point or another” theorem proves true.
And if a FOSS project turns into shit a fork will come up.
One perfect example was simple apps acquisition. New owners turned it a ad ridden mess, fossify apps fork came to the rescue.
nextcloud! mariadb! libreoffice!
Mariadb got bought by a private equity strip miner company late 2024, so it will probably be mined for every enshittification possible before thrown on the garbage heap like every company private equity has acquired before it.
(It always takes a few years of inefficient planning before private equity starts rolling out enshittification)
Fuck MariaDB, all my homies use Postgres.
Yeah but foss has its own problems. Mainly financing. People are expected to work for free on most open source projects, and some do because they enjoy it. I do that myself too. Its fun.
But foss doesnt create products that require a lot of funding to get off the ground.
There is something to be said about continuous community effort. Projects tend to continue even with original developers absent, sometimes for a very long time.
One of my favourite games is STALKER, and boy does it hold a story and history behind the community. The eurojank game that was modded into an AAA looking survival game that was even published to GOG (STALKER GAMMA). Such project could’ve probably costed millions for a studio. Coincidentally, watched this video today, which briefly tells the history too: https://youtu.be/5C80TWlTC1o
They got a new owner years ago. No one should still be using it. Lawnchair has been great for me.
Holy shit the screenshots on Play store are depressing
You want to use one of the much more recent nightly or beta builds.
Can you remove the search bar at the bottom of the home screen?
Yeah, that’s what I do. It’s fully customizable.
Hm maybe I’ll try it out.
I used to use lawnchair. Good reason to switch back.
I ducked off the Nova train with their fishy new owners a few months ago. My one complaint about Lawnchair is that the search function is slower and less effective, otherwise it’s great!
If anyone is looking to try something new - I really enjoyed
WaterfallNiagra after dropping Nova.+1 for Niagra. It takes a few days to get used to but it’s the launcher every power user didn’t know they wanted. Lifetime purchase options and a very responsive/passionate dev
Seconded. Looks good and I’ve found browsing by letter is way faster than the traditional folders (although you can still use folders with premium). I bought the upgrade after a few months.
I picked up Lawnchair when I de-googled my phone a bit more than a year ago. There were a couple launchers I considered, but honestly the name is what sold me. And I haven’t missed Nova since.
Made the switch last year. Have had no issues,especially now that you can do folders.
