Nova Launcher could soon introduce Nova AI, a built-in AI assistant complete with a chatbot, and a new Nova Plus subscription tier
You know some people beat this drum that more people should pay for good software and that it guarantees it’s longevity and independence, and so I did buy the pro version of Nova years ago and now we are here, I think when it comes to software unless it’s open source and you can have full control over it then it’s not worth anything, as it’s only matter of time before it either gets deleted or enshitified, that’s why I started shifting to open source alternatives for most things
there have been enough reasons to ditch nova in the past years, in case someone is still using it
Well shit, that’s me.
I was still using it because I was too lazy to migrate things over to another.
And then I saw this post, so I guess it was time. Only took half an hour to figure out how to get Lawnchair doing basically what I wanted it to.
lawnchair is what I swapped to a few years back. I do want to warn… be careful updating it. Always make a backup of lawnchair prior to allowing it to update because ive had it fail to update twice now and have had to restore the backup on the new version.
Yeah I switched to lawn chair a few months ago because I kept seeing these stories about Nova’s parent company. I like it just fine—i haven’t had the issues you have (thankfully)—but there are a few features I miss from nova. Oh well, I’d rather have the peace of mind than the minor feature.
Octopi Launcher is damn near a replacement. Learn nothing new, muscle memory for swiping up or down on dock icons to open other apps.
Those were my requirements and it nails it.
That was why I settled on Octopi
Its a shame its not FOSS. Just checked it for trackers, and according to this site, there are none.
https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/com.otp.octopilauncher/latest/
Switched to Octopi as well and had to configure it a little to get it setup but now I almost forget that I even switched
Never heard of it but this thing looks fully featured and very polished. I’m surprised I haven’t heard of it before since I’ve gone looking for decent launchers!
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.otp.octopilauncher
Wow! This one wasn’t on my radar. I had been using Action Launcher as it seemed to be the only other one that could do the swipe folders, but it seems to have been abandoned. I’ll give this a go.
The one feature I use most of all on Nova is swipe down on the screen to search. I has that all the time and would be tough to give up. I also really like the ability to swipe up on a folder and have it launch the first app in the folder.
I’ll give Octopi a try on an older phone and hopefully it has some of these same features.
Octopi two finger swipe from above is search apps.
In settings you can enable swipe to open a folder, tap to launch one app from it.
I’m trying out Octopi right now, seems nice so far. But, is there any way to make folders open the first app with a tap, and open the folder by swiping? That’s how I used Nova for years and years, very hard to break away from that
Just curious, would you then view the folder with a swipe down?
Not seeing a way to change folder tap but you could pbly request that. It’s a single developer and I’ve been very happy to support them to get away from Nova. I’ve been using Octopi since last year and it’s been great!
You can set up individual apps with swipe up and swipe down as well though, so if there’s a main app in your folder you could break it out and at least get 2 other apps to open via swipes. Not the same I know.
It has it. It’s in launcher settings “swipe up/down on folders to open them”
Whahahaha motherfucker you just made my day!
Lawnchair is darn close, and FOSS. Recommending another closed source option usually leads down the same road.
How can you tell whether or not something is FOSS in Google Play?
Unfortunately not easily. Most mention it in descriptions or have links to GitHub/etc. For me, I used to search FDroid to check but I’m pretty selective about the apps I use. Now I do most things through Obtainium, but as a Graphene user I’m certainly not the norm.
I couldn’t find Lawnchair in F-Droid.
Sigh… Lawnchair is the absolute worst of the worst for install/discovery. Because it got taken over by another developer, it’s been all “beta” releases on GitHub forever, even though a truckload of people daily drive it.
Yeah the only words they needed in the headline were “Nova Launcher sucks”
Or it just keeps breaking and not reading my files.
Oh I am confusing this for Nova Video player.
Damn I was excited to switch to this Lawnchair everyone is so indifferent about.
Sadly my custom home screen depends on features I haven’t found in any other launcher, so right now I just have internet disabled for it with trackercontrol :/
What features out of curiosity? I haven’t used Nova since like Android 7
If crazy levels of customisation is the reason you use it, Total Launcher did the trick for me.
Thanks for the reccomendation, I’ll take a look :)
Yeah its the customization features. A couple replies down I listed some of the features I use that I haven’t seen in other launchers. I’ll check out total launcher and see if it could work for me
No worries friend :)
You can place things anywhere down to the pixel, not just snapped to a grid like with Nova (though, there is option for a grid of apps, also).
It’s a bit of fiddly process if it’s complicated, but you can layer and place things however you want.
There is no dock, you can however pin items to show on every screen, which is basically the same thing, so that would also fit that criterion.
Also 4 swipe directions on icons for extra shortcuts beyond tap (last I used nova, it was just up and down? It’s been many years).
Basically, can highly recommend Total Launcher, though in fairness, I have not tried some of the other launchers listed by others here.
The one time fee for pro is pretty affordable, iirc. The Dev is also pretty responsive via email
Excellent. Lawnchair it is then.
Niagara is good as well.
It’s not FOSS though I think? Free and paid tier. Website doesn’t say much about privacy etc. I actually have Lawnchair running silently and almost configured to mirror my Nova home screen but there doesn’t seem to be folders in the app drawer which is a pain, unless I have totally missed it.
Edit: Indeed, I totally missed it, in the settings. FFS.
Also spyware.
Thanks!
Just turn off network sharing if you have something like Graphene OS
Well yeah that’s the only way but then you lose the meteorology API which is a shame.
It sucks because Niagara is easily my favourite launcher, but I can’t afford to have a proprietary app with insane privileges across my device.
It’s likely the only reason for the privilege is to collect coords to send to the weather API. At least it’s optional, and there are alternative ways to see weather reports, just not on the home screen.
I tried accessing Google Photos via my phone to handle a couple of things I had active on that account from before. Little fuck refused to let me open the app unless it had unconditional access to all my media.
It didn’t need to request the coordinates, it should allow me to just pick a city in the world from a list and give me the local weather based on that.
It is a design choice to force you to always stay connected and, in my opinion, is very shady. It’s okay if you wish you assume innocence here, I personally cannot.
Yeah nah that makes sense. I’ve got a weather integration in Home Assistant and chose to add relatively accurate coordinates for the API calls. That at least was entirely under my control, whereas their implementation was “use it this way or not at all”, demanding location access or no weather.
How so?
Requires network connection and is closed source.
Well it’s a good thing those two URIs can be easily blocked. Besides you can get the app from their Github page (sadly no F-droid repo as closed-source), and pay for Pro (if wanted) via Stripe instead of Google Play. I also had issues migrating Niagara off of Google once I’d connected the two, but an email correspondence with the lead dev Max Rumpf got the issue pleasantly and quickly resolved.
I don’t hate Lawnchair. I just hate Nova making the switch necessary.
Just disable it’s network permission.
Or better yet, just uninstall it
So basically any advantage over the native launcher is void?
https://github.com/JackEblan/YagniLauncher this should be fine for most of you
Lawnchair for graphene
Kvaesitso is really nice as well
+1 for lawn chair
yawnnnnnn don’t care
I switched from Nova to Total Launcher a while back and it’s been great. It has all the customization features I liked from Nova, plus additional useful features like folder swipe actions that Nova never had
Not just folders, every icon has 4-way configurable swipe. I’ve gone a little swipe crazy now. Who needs folders when you can launch 5 different things by swiping a single icon…
Why possible use could AI be in a launcher?
I don’t think anybody is pretending it’s a legitimate reason. We all know the reason. The developer knows the reason. It’s exactly what you think it is
Lawnchair is a pretty good FOSS launcher.
Can confirm. I switched from Nova Launcher a year+ ago. I haven’t noticed any downgrade. Lawnchair feels cleaner, better.
I guess proprietary software has no option but enshittification once an open source alternative exists. The proprietary product becomes strictly for chumps, so they make it a full on scam.
Do you know if Lawnchair can do a splitscreen with two apps? I got a new phone with lawnchair and I couldn’t figure out how to do it the other day. I know it used to be a part of Android. I don’t know if it’s part of the OS, the launcher, or Google just decided to remove the feature.
Moved to action launcher after the sale. Enshittification was inevitable.
Other people are still rocking Action Launcher? I thought I was the only one left. Covers are my favourite feature.
whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy I hate corporations so much WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
anyways here’s my new homescreen
I still need to make groups and change images…
Omg omg kityyyyy
I give up. I’m moving to iphone. I’ve been using Android for 16 years and I’m finally tired Boss. There is just too much bad android news stories to count. See you later space cowboys.
And the solution is iOS…?
The solution is moving to a cabin in the woods with a Nokia 8210. I’m not read for that (yet).
I mean iphone definitely has ai tracking everything you do, even when you keep the phone in your pocket, so i don’t think that would help you in anyway
You are right. The lack of true completely functional alternatives is part of the sad state of mobile OS decay we are suffering. I had already abandoned Nova launcher for Lawnchair last year. This entire android ecosystem is just less functional everyday and it’s Google’s design. I don’t have a good solution and it’s quite frankly embarrassing to be defending this OS as a solution anymore. The team over at GrapheneOS seems to be the one of the only teams who haven’t lost the plot. The team over at FUTO has a good thing going (I use the FUTO keyboard). I will continue to support them and their endeavors, I just can’t buy yet another pixel.
I give up. I’m moving to iphone
Apple still a lot worse and has a far more closed environment, sadly android is headed in that direction too
Not a solution. Apple is just as evil and their design and interface is horrible.
Graphene
Looking forward to seeing what comes next for them. Nice platform.
Oh yay creepware. Anyone know a good launcher with support for tablets?
I switched from Nova to Smart Launcher.
Missing a few things I liked but still super capable
Kvaesitso
Neo Launcher is a near 1-1 clone of Nova Launcher imo, and it’s open source
Lawnchair?
