"We are a Swedish company building products that help people get online, used by millions of people worldwide."
So I look for them. They have a "Free wifi connection" / "Wifi passwords map" app. It surprises me because it has a good score on Google Play but then I begin to check the reviews, and a bunch of them go like: "Five stars because if you do a good review you can use it for free".
I install it and on starting it and in the first minute: Asks you to create an account but you can't click on the terms of service or privacy policy, the links don't work. I skip it. It tries to change your default launcher. It tries to change your default browser. It asks you to share your home wifi password with them. Pops up adds everywhere. Tries to get a good review from you.
giving anything to the user in return for a good review should be grounds for disqualification from app stores. (and it should be legally required for app stores to enforce it)
There almost needs to be an community overlay for app Stores to highlight when applications change ownership. A shadow store might be good too. Those active daily on HN will most likely be informed while the general populous will never be.
I don't see Google or Apple stepping in to share the information directly or improving their stores with the dark patterns they keep deploying to gain profits through disingenuous actions.
Does Amazon still maintain the flaw where old reviews apply to new products when the new product uses the same part / ID number so reviews are not even for the products people are purchasing?
What an undeserving fate. A beloved app now being passed from vulture to vulture who rip off every possible morsel they can.
When Branch bought Nova, I moved on to use Lawnchair [1], which is open source. Although it has been in beta like forever, with occasional glitches, it works well enough and has enough features to satisfy my customization cravings.
My biggest issue with lawnchair (and most launchers really) is that they all are horribly glitchy on my Pixel 6, and also break the app drawer / switching feature.
I literally just want a vanilla pixel experience, but be allowed to change the search engine on the home screen searchbar... This got me into the weeds on the widget and launcher ecosystem and they're all very bad.
The write-up on the link seems promising, at least. I'm sure ads will come to the free version, but they appear to be respecting Nova's legacy and longtime Prime purchasers. Anything is better than the slow decay it has been enduring the last year or two. Can't do much but be cautiously optimistic.
It’s becoming evident that open-source is the only thing that can cure Enshittification. Every proprietary application will become enshittified, it’s just a matter of when.
Was a Nova user, moved to Lawnchair yesterday. It's not the same experience I got from Nova (for example, the Clock widget don't work), but the adaptation is not unbearable.
I purchased Nova Launcher Prime years ago thinking it was the best investment I put on Google Play, well, maybe I should've spent the money on something else.
Haven't heard of Nova in a very long time, this was one of the original customizable launchers for Android wasn't it? If it's gone this long without being open-sourced, it might be time to let go. Been using https://kisslauncher.com/ for many years and have no complaints.
KISS is a complete paradigm shift from other phone launchers. It takes some getting used to. It has made me rethink how I use my phone from time to time because I have it set to sort by recently used: I only have a few apps I use regularly it seems.
Not for everyone, but it's my preferred way to use a phone now.
Yeah, I was rocking Nova on my Samsung Galaxy Nexus back in 2012. It was the first time I ever paid for an app. Back then Nova was a huge upgrade to usability, but stock launchers eventually caught up, and by the late 2010s I was really just using it to make my phone look cool. I've heard it's borderline abandonware at this point, which is a shame.
Nova has been my favorite launcher for years, but after this, I may have to look elsewhere. Even as a paid user, I don't have much confidence that I'm not being sold off for ad exploitation.
I read another post this morning that there was already an update last night with a bunch of tracking code added, and additional permissions required (that didn't trigger anything for the user to know of those additional permissions).
I am a paid Nova user from a decade ago, but haven't used it in ages fwiw.
What a throwback. Nova launcher sounded familiar, but I wasn't sure where to place it in my head. When I saw the logo I was immediately transported to memories of using lineage OS and bricking my new Samsung Note 4. I was trying to customize every button combination to do something smart back then. The good old days when I had the time to fix the phone after every update. I've since moved to the apple ecosystem... Set and forget.
> I've since moved to the apple ecosystem... Set and forget.
Careful, you'll get blasted for that in these parts. Until about 7 years ago, I had been an Android absolutist. Custom ROMs, launchers, you name it. I sneered at those Apple-loving simpletons. Then, after missing several important phone calls in a day due to the phone 'app' not working properly, I got fed up and got a Nexus 6, the official Google phone and the reference implementation for Android. The phone was big and ugly, but at least I was still using a "real" operating system.
Then, as I went through the app store looking for some needed apps, I realized that I couldn't find what I wanted. What I downloaded and installed turned out to be scams and hijacked the phone as ad-riddled malware. It slowly dawned on me: The Play Store is anarchistic, lawless hellscape.
I was too old for this shit. I went and got an iPhone and never looked back. I turn it on, it does things. I don't have to worry about it. Yes, the software quality isn't near perfect, and they seem to be gradually enshittifying their app store. But at least they make a token effort to keep things in a somewhat curated state.
It's night and day, far as I'm concerned. I've gotten to the point where I just want my things to work. I don't want to spend hours tweaking and troubleshooting. I realize I'm in a cult compound, but it's better than the Mad Max world outside.
I was having issues recently with my Pixel phone hanging/freezing/going stupid, it was Nova. I changed to Lawnchair yesterday after learning this and works much better and my battery is no longer draining for no apparent reason
> Are you going to add ads?
> Nova needs a sustainable business model to support ongoing development and maintenance. We are exploring different options, including paid tiers and other approaches. As many of you have already anticipated, we are also evaluating ad based options for the free version.
> If ads are introduced, Nova Prime will remain ad free. Our guiding principles are clear: keep the experience clean and fast, avoid disruptive formats, and provide a straightforward way to keep the experience ad free.
I've used Nova Launcher for years (don't know if I'm paid), but I'll be happy to pay for an ad free version.
I know there is a long history of companies buying another company for a product and then killing it after a period of time. I'm willing to give Instabridge the benefit of doubt... for a while. If they do decide that Nova Launcher is not a fit, I hope they open source it so that current users are not left on the lurch.
I recently switched to a OnePlus 15 and Nova Launcher had a really annoying 0.5-1 second delay every time you went back home.
I've been a paid Nova user and used it on every android device for the past 10 years or so.
I ended up migrating to the stock OnePlus launcher and it's actually surprisingly good, other than you have to disable the stupid google recommended page every time you reboot the phone, so I'm still open to alternatives.
Trebuchet (a "launcher", heh) is the stock Lineage one, and it is genuinely fine. App screen, home screen, nested folders. Nothing more you really want.
Unfortunately it's built/bundled with Lineage, and you can't find a standalone APK for it anywhere
That's an OxygenOS 16.0 bug; worked fine on 15.0, and broken on all (~five?) launchers I tested on 16.0. (currently on Octopi Launcher, and just live with that annoying delay until it Hopefully™ gets fixed)
Ugh, quite annoying. My next phone might be an Android (instead of the current iPhone), and I was looking forward to returning to Nova Launcher, after having used it many years ago as my favorite launcher. This feels like a big no-go now.
What are other good customizable launchers on Android nowadays?
Much less popular but I switched to Kvaesitso from Nova about a month ago and it's been amazing and it's open source. Much more opinionated than Nova but it matched how I used Nova so I really enjoy it.
I've been using lawnchair as a launcher that is open source (apache) since the first news broke months when the previous dev/owner warned people what was coming, and it works just fine. Not quite as versatile as Nova Launcher, but with 100% less adware now that the new adware company is running up in people with a bait and switch.
I used Nova for years and went through this research before, having tested many alternatives. Octopi is what you're looking for. It can do pretty much everything Nova did for me and more besides. They also update often with improvements and fixes!
Lawnchair newest beta, though they still didnt fix years old bug with dark/black font on dark/black background in folders/drawer
also resizing/padding widgets ain't as good as Nova, but for sure much better than Octopi which is completely weird, tried yesterday, chaotic settings, can't even disable background picture for dock
switched yesterday to Lawnchair from Nova after 10+ years, seems OK besides those few quirks, but still keeping Nova as backup, will see after 2 weeks testing how is the stability, if I can remove even nova backup
I paid for "Square Home" a couple years ago and I'm very happy with it. It's highly customizable. The Windows Phone style layout probably isn't for everyone but it works well for me.
I got fed up with Nova and all the others to the point that I've built my own launcher in two evenings. Its just a black screen (no wallpaper or widgets) with a list of alphabetical scrollable apps (almost like how Windows Phone / Lumia looked), no icons/colours. Just black with white text & accents. You can tag an app as a favourite and it will show at the top. Thats it. No internet connection, no real customizations. It works amazingly well and fast and looks awesome on OLED. Once you are used to it, everything else (incl iOS) looks like a circus.
If you are an app developer, remember to add a black/oled theme to your apps. A good chunk of my apps have them and they fit so well with my launcher.
Niagara is amazing. It's quite different from other launchers, so either it works for you or doesn't. It perfectly matches what I was doing before, which was searching for apps by name to launch them.
> Open sourcing a product responsibly involves licensing, security, build tooling, contribution workflow, and trademark stewardship.
You can scratch at the very least contribution workflow from that list; anyhow, the original author had already spent months preparing the open source release, ironing out legal and dependency issues, so everything should already be there or pretty close, at least on the technical side of things (arguably one of the biggest sides)
I use Niagara Launcher because of the simplicity and quick access to every app. I highly recommend to everyone who wants a fast launcher and clean look.
Sad news. I've been using Nova for years now, across multiple devices.
Thankfully my build is super minimalistic and another launcher was able to replicate it pretty quickly. Black wallpaper, white icon pack, list app drawer with a few folders, 4 scrollable home screens with large white icons for the most frequent apps (browser, Gemini, personal lifestyle logging app, Signal conversation with wife).
The idea that there might be ads (albeit on the free tier) is ridiculous, but then again that is the final frontier for adtech companies. I've often thought the Google stock launcher will likely soon have ads, just like Microsoft started trying to slip them in with Windows 10.
Can someone explain why launchers matter so much to them? All the apps I use are on a single page and it's just one button press; what more would I need than that?
OEM launchers often include annoying anti-features, like a screen you can't remove and that has the brand's voice assistant. They also tend to be slow, bad at search, and have all kinds of unnecessary phone-home functionality like sharing your location with their owners (austensibly to show the weather forecast).
Besides, I have a work phone and a private phone - different brands, same launcher.
I have lawnchair now (from Nova), I use it to remove the search bar, add more buttons to the dock, and a custom icon pack (though I think that'll work on stock launcher).
I assume I switched to using it since Google changed something I found annoying?
Haven't used Nova for a while and at first was curious if this was good for bringing it back from unmaintenance. The heavy focus on sustainability and marketing in this blog makes it seem unlikely though.
Switched to Pear when Nova got unstable after a Pixel upgrade and I noticed it hadn't been updated in years. Been working well though will keep any eye on any other recommendations that show up in this thread.
I tried a few alternatives last night but ended up going with Lawnchair. I miss some of the deeper customisation of Nova, but its otherwise nice and stable and, most importantly, not spyware.
I'm not sure if this would actually affect me in the short term as a Nova Prime user (unsure if the extra trackers were added there too), but in the long term it certainly would
A few years I started working on a launcher, built from scratch with jetpack compose. It has all the basic functionality, and some very nice details like multi touch support, similar to iOS. Though I never released it since I got burnt out and I stopped using Android. This is making me want to go back to it and finish it.
I used Nova paid for years, but moved back to the stock Samsung launcher when Nova started having issues with widgets not refreshing (Outlook calendar view was the worst, it would work for a day or two and then just get stuck). I guess I should try something else now.
I see Nova has been very popular. Why did the original developer sell it? There must be some business model for these sorts of popular apps that don't involve selling it? Crowdfunding?
Using Lawnchair for more than a year now. No major issues on my device with Android 13 and Lineage OS 22.2. Will not look at other alternatives for a long time.
It depends on what you're looking for. I have a Pixel 9a with Graphene on it and wanted to customize my icons which I don't think the stock launcher allows. Went with Lawnchair and set it up mostly the same as the stock Pixel launcher otherwise.
I am a paying Nova Prime user and I really love that I can press on an app to open it. OR swipe up on a app to open a directory where I put similar apps
Companies usually treat "anonymized" data as non personal. So in their eyes they aren't selling your personal data but their "non-personal" data. The fact it isn't does not matter because profit.
The fact they added Facebook and google trackers and not listed a why is obvious enough. Fortunately for me it did not update yet and is now gone.
We know this matters to many of you. It is something we are actively evaluating. Open sourcing a product responsibly involves licensing, security, build tooling, contribution workflow, and trademark stewardship. We do not have a decision to share yet, but we will be transparent once we do.
Why? To avoid using Google search. It's been an inferior search product for years. Last time I used the default launcher on a pixel, I couldn't change it to a better search product, so I changed launcher.
I appreciate that I can choose to decorate my house as I see fit. At least on my Pixel 10 there's way too much google this and google that. I guess if you're deep into the ecosystem it's a value add but for me a custom launcher lets me remove all that code.
My phones almost a decade old (OnePlus 5T, so I guess 8 years now), back from the time that launchers were a bit more necessary. If I had a modern android phone I probably wouldnt use a launcher, but then again I probably wouldnt use a modern android phone either
It blows my mind how many stories hit the front page, every day, that bottom out on whining about proprietary software. I've literally been talking about the Win10/11 whining for 3+ years, and yet EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK THERE ARE MORE.
Lawnchair is *EXCELLENT*. I say that as a former Nova Launcher user. And Lawnchair is fully OSS and actively developed.
I just cannot fathom people who enjoy this non-stop BS rollercoaster and are happy to be passed from OG dev, to scummy publisher, to ??? publisher. And all just be happy about that instead of ... why am I even typing this shit. The people that care, care and use OSS or migrate when the writing is on the wall. The people that allow themselves to get jerked around and just take it are going to keep just taking it. And whining about it, while changing none of their behavior.
(Totally not related; see HN and the constant cycle of people shitting on decentralization and then being pikachu-shocked when proprietary centralized services do what they always do).
(Though, it's nice to finally, finally see a predominance of anecdotes of Linux experiences that aren't based on 3 year old distro ISOs. EDIT: 3 is generous, I saw people talking about a 20.04 LTS spin less than a year ago and acting like that was indicative of Linux on Desktop).
To be fair, I'm probably just way off base here. A company whose focus is absolutely not an Android Launcher surely won't enshittify or sell it in due course. Surely. Surely, surely, surely. Right? Like last time?
It's fine, and it works. I have a Pixel, though, and there's no way to disable the google search box on the homescreen. I will never use the search box, yet it dominates a good portion of my screen.
It does the job, but it's important to remember that there isn't a "stock Android launcher". Google, Samsung, OnePlus, Motorola, Xiaomi, etc, develop their own launcher and have different features.
I used Nova mainly because I use 2 phones and it is easier to keep things similar. For example, the app list on my Samsung scrolls horizontally. On my other phone running LineageOS, it's vertically. With Nova, it's the same on both devices.
It was also useful when moving phones, as I could just restore a backup to restore my layout.
It's "fine". In fact, a lot of the features that Nova pioneered has made its way into the stock launcher.
But it does what it does and that's all. It's been a long, long time since Google believed in the concept of options or customizability. If you want to do something outside the default, well you can go straight to hell. Which is fine, I guess, since we still have great options for launchers out there.
rdmuser|1 month ago
August 2024 everyone working on it was laid off except the original dev https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/9/24217077/nova-launcher-lay...
September 2025 the original dev left after being told to stop work on open sourcing it https://www.theverge.com/news/773937/nova-launcher-founder-l...
raybb|1 month ago
philjackson|1 month ago
esafak|1 month ago
tecleandor|1 month ago
So I look for them. They have a "Free wifi connection" / "Wifi passwords map" app. It surprises me because it has a good score on Google Play but then I begin to check the reviews, and a bunch of them go like: "Five stars because if you do a good review you can use it for free".
I install it and on starting it and in the first minute: Asks you to create an account but you can't click on the terms of service or privacy policy, the links don't work. I skip it. It tries to change your default launcher. It tries to change your default browser. It asks you to share your home wifi password with them. Pops up adds everywhere. Tries to get a good review from you.
No thanks, not even near.
ajkjk|1 month ago
poly2it|1 month ago
https://www.allabolag.se/foretag/instabridge-sweden-ab/stock...
yndoendo|1 month ago
I don't see Google or Apple stepping in to share the information directly or improving their stores with the dark patterns they keep deploying to gain profits through disingenuous actions.
Does Amazon still maintain the flaw where old reviews apply to new products when the new product uses the same part / ID number so reviews are not even for the products people are purchasing?
billynomates|1 month ago
What?? That is absolutely shameful. They should be removed from the Play Store
microflash|1 month ago
When Branch bought Nova, I moved on to use Lawnchair [1], which is open source. Although it has been in beta like forever, with occasional glitches, it works well enough and has enough features to satisfy my customization cravings.
[1]: https://github.com/LawnchairLauncher/lawnchair
0x1ch|1 month ago
I literally just want a vanilla pixel experience, but be allowed to change the search engine on the home screen searchbar... This got me into the weeds on the widget and launcher ecosystem and they're all very bad.
jjordan|1 month ago
theturtletalks|1 month ago
nirui|1 month ago
I purchased Nova Launcher Prime years ago thinking it was the best investment I put on Google Play, well, maybe I should've spent the money on something else.
unknown|1 month ago
[deleted]
branon|1 month ago
el_duderino|1 month ago
Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cREpIdgmWSk
bisby|1 month ago
Not for everyone, but it's my preferred way to use a phone now.
reddalo|1 month ago
ryukoposting|1 month ago
Izkata|1 month ago
realaaa|1 month ago
cheald|1 month ago
Tostino|1 month ago
I am a paid Nova user from a decade ago, but haven't used it in ages fwiw.
post_break|1 month ago
iqandjoke|1 month ago
mastermedo|1 month ago
baggachipz|1 month ago
Careful, you'll get blasted for that in these parts. Until about 7 years ago, I had been an Android absolutist. Custom ROMs, launchers, you name it. I sneered at those Apple-loving simpletons. Then, after missing several important phone calls in a day due to the phone 'app' not working properly, I got fed up and got a Nexus 6, the official Google phone and the reference implementation for Android. The phone was big and ugly, but at least I was still using a "real" operating system.
Then, as I went through the app store looking for some needed apps, I realized that I couldn't find what I wanted. What I downloaded and installed turned out to be scams and hijacked the phone as ad-riddled malware. It slowly dawned on me: The Play Store is anarchistic, lawless hellscape.
I was too old for this shit. I went and got an iPhone and never looked back. I turn it on, it does things. I don't have to worry about it. Yes, the software quality isn't near perfect, and they seem to be gradually enshittifying their app store. But at least they make a token effort to keep things in a somewhat curated state.
It's night and day, far as I'm concerned. I've gotten to the point where I just want my things to work. I don't want to spend hours tweaking and troubleshooting. I realize I'm in a cult compound, but it's better than the Mad Max world outside.
aspbee555|1 month ago
algo_trader|1 month ago
Oh man. I just replaced the battery on my 5 year phone - for the sole reason of not having to reconfigure Nova on a new phone :\
thefz|1 month ago
> If ads are introduced, Nova Prime will remain ad free. Our guiding principles are clear: keep the experience clean and fast, avoid disruptive formats, and provide a straightforward way to keep the experience ad free.
Seems pretty clear.
vgivanovic|1 month ago
I know there is a long history of companies buying another company for a product and then killing it after a period of time. I'm willing to give Instabridge the benefit of doubt... for a while. If they do decide that Nova Launcher is not a fit, I hope they open source it so that current users are not left on the lurch.
fenwick67|1 month ago
mfkp|1 month ago
I've been a paid Nova user and used it on every android device for the past 10 years or so.
I ended up migrating to the stock OnePlus launcher and it's actually surprisingly good, other than you have to disable the stupid google recommended page every time you reboot the phone, so I'm still open to alternatives.
eikaramba|1 month ago
I couldn't believe it myself but by basically force closing the settings menu the drawer animation will be gone until you reboot :)
tetris11|1 month ago
Unfortunately it's built/bundled with Lineage, and you can't find a standalone APK for it anywhere
dzaima|1 month ago
driverdan|1 month ago
herrherrmann|1 month ago
What are other good customizable launchers on Android nowadays?
turbocon|1 month ago
[1] https://kvaesitso.mm20.de/
bastard_op|1 month ago
Enshittification is real!
pteraspidomorph|1 month ago
Markoff|1 month ago
also resizing/padding widgets ain't as good as Nova, but for sure much better than Octopi which is completely weird, tried yesterday, chaotic settings, can't even disable background picture for dock
switched yesterday to Lawnchair from Nova after 10+ years, seems OK besides those few quirks, but still keeping Nova as backup, will see after 2 weeks testing how is the stability, if I can remove even nova backup
fooqux|1 month ago
I recently moved to AIO Launcher and I've been really enjoying it. I'm sure it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea though.
chroma_zone|1 month ago
cfiggers|1 month ago
I'm really happy with Microsoft Launcher.
BatteryMountain|1 month ago
If you are an app developer, remember to add a black/oled theme to your apps. A good chunk of my apps have them and they fit so well with my launcher.
sjw987|1 month ago
This sounds like my exact setup with Octopi. Just I have 4 scrollable home screens with the 4 most used apps as large white icons.
mbix77|1 month ago
NelsonMinar|1 month ago
j1elo|1 month ago
You can scratch at the very least contribution workflow from that list; anyhow, the original author had already spent months preparing the open source release, ironing out legal and dependency issues, so everything should already be there or pretty close, at least on the technical side of things (arguably one of the biggest sides)
batrat|1 month ago
globular-toast|1 month ago
martsa1|1 month ago
fullstop|1 month ago
Nova carried me for almost a decade, and I'll miss it.
JohnFen|1 month ago
I agree, it's fine. It's missing a couple of niceties that I enjoyed with Nova, but nothing I can't live without.
mancerayder|1 month ago
What should I do that's hassle-free? Is there an open source equivalent that's likely to stay alive in a year or three?
baby_souffle|1 month ago
Pricing is pretty reasonable and the team is responsive.
naikrovek|1 month ago
gruez|1 month ago
sjw987|1 month ago
Thankfully my build is super minimalistic and another launcher was able to replicate it pretty quickly. Black wallpaper, white icon pack, list app drawer with a few folders, 4 scrollable home screens with large white icons for the most frequent apps (browser, Gemini, personal lifestyle logging app, Signal conversation with wife).
The idea that there might be ads (albeit on the free tier) is ridiculous, but then again that is the final frontier for adtech companies. I've often thought the Google stock launcher will likely soon have ads, just like Microsoft started trying to slip them in with Windows 10.
astrolx|1 month ago
llmthrow0827|1 month ago
bux93|1 month ago
Besides, I have a work phone and a private phone - different brands, same launcher.
ChoGGi|1 month ago
I assume I switched to using it since Google changed something I found annoying?
pjjpo|1 month ago
Switched to Pear when Nova got unstable after a Pixel upgrade and I noticed it hadn't been updated in years. Been working well though will keep any eye on any other recommendations that show up in this thread.
bodge5000|1 month ago
I'm not sure if this would actually affect me in the short term as a Nova Prime user (unsure if the extra trackers were added there too), but in the long term it certainly would
paprikanotfound|1 month ago
julianz|1 month ago
andrewaylett|1 month ago
LelouBil|1 month ago
Now I use Kvaesitso, which is search-focused exactly how I used to configure Nova.
https://kvaesitso.mm20.de/
ChrisArchitect|1 month ago
Related:
Nova Launcher added Facebook and Google Ads tracking
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46686655
(lots of good discussion about alternatives in this thread by the way)
alexp2021|1 month ago
ilvez|1 month ago
hexagonwin|1 month ago
LoganDark|1 month ago
> Nova is not shutting down. Our immediate focus is simple: [...]
So it will be shutting down or gutted into a privacy nightmare. That's all I needed to see.
RandyOrion|1 month ago
drnick1|1 month ago
scblock|1 month ago
gytdev|1 month ago
JohnFen|1 month ago
I don't believe this at all. If they aren't lying, then why did they add new trackers?
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46686655
consp|1 month ago
Companies usually treat "anonymized" data as non personal. So in their eyes they aren't selling your personal data but their "non-personal" data. The fact it isn't does not matter because profit.
The fact they added Facebook and google trackers and not listed a why is obvious enough. Fortunately for me it did not update yet and is now gone.
londons_explore|1 month ago
jerrygoyal|1 month ago
mwkaufma|1 month ago
voidey|1 month ago
cicko|1 month ago
realaaa|1 month ago
Will Nova become open source?
We know this matters to many of you. It is something we are actively evaluating. Open sourcing a product responsibly involves licensing, security, build tooling, contribution workflow, and trademark stewardship. We do not have a decision to share yet, but we will be transparent once we do.
_DeadFred_|1 month ago
unknown|1 month ago
[deleted]
throwa356262|1 month ago
Serious question from a former Nova Prime user.
saxonww|1 month ago
XiS|1 month ago
Nova Prime almost gone, before that Apex Launcher...
And every other launcher seems to just love to just present a search bar to find your apps and use some magic sorting algorithm to sort your apps...
I want predictable, user ordered apps in tabs so I can open one by heart with my eyes closed.
manfre|1 month ago
bentcorner|1 month ago
bodge5000|1 month ago
sjw987|1 month ago
I want a black background, with a simple A-Z list of the apps I have on my phone, with some hidden. No icons, no transparency effects and animations.
gytdev|1 month ago
nixosbestos|1 month ago
Lawnchair is *EXCELLENT*. I say that as a former Nova Launcher user. And Lawnchair is fully OSS and actively developed.
I just cannot fathom people who enjoy this non-stop BS rollercoaster and are happy to be passed from OG dev, to scummy publisher, to ??? publisher. And all just be happy about that instead of ... why am I even typing this shit. The people that care, care and use OSS or migrate when the writing is on the wall. The people that allow themselves to get jerked around and just take it are going to keep just taking it. And whining about it, while changing none of their behavior.
(Totally not related; see HN and the constant cycle of people shitting on decentralization and then being pikachu-shocked when proprietary centralized services do what they always do).
(Though, it's nice to finally, finally see a predominance of anecdotes of Linux experiences that aren't based on 3 year old distro ISOs. EDIT: 3 is generous, I saw people talking about a 20.04 LTS spin less than a year ago and acting like that was indicative of Linux on Desktop).
To be fair, I'm probably just way off base here. A company whose focus is absolutely not an Android Launcher surely won't enshittify or sell it in due course. Surely. Surely, surely, surely. Right? Like last time?
warkdarrior|1 month ago
NamlchakKhandro|1 month ago
vladstudio|1 month ago
whalesalad|1 month ago
fullstop|1 month ago
celsoazevedo|1 month ago
I used Nova mainly because I use 2 phones and it is easier to keep things similar. For example, the app list on my Samsung scrolls horizontally. On my other phone running LineageOS, it's vertically. With Nova, it's the same on both devices.
It was also useful when moving phones, as I could just restore a backup to restore my layout.
fooqux|1 month ago
But it does what it does and that's all. It's been a long, long time since Google believed in the concept of options or customizability. If you want to do something outside the default, well you can go straight to hell. Which is fine, I guess, since we still have great options for launchers out there.
greatgib|1 month ago
To me looks sounds like the motto of a company made to defraud people of their money.
Otherwise, very sad the demise and enshittification of this Launcher that was really one of the very good one around the good old time of the nexus 5.
etyhhgfff|1 month ago