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Hard disagree!
The only damage the whole Nova Launcher thing does is mostly sentimental. Nowadays, there are plenty of launchers to choose from, all with some great degrees of customizability. Here are my top picks:
Really, there's no point in worrying about this. I'm also sad to see Nova go, especially since it was that popular. But there's that. The launcher landscape is the one I worry the less in Android.
I second Kvaesitso. Great list though.
I'd rather communicate using smoke signals than willingly installing Microsoft software into a portable device
None of these are a good replacement for nova.
I've been using android since 2007. Nova allowed me to stick with the old school UI paradigm of dock and app drawer... nova was so good, that i set up my homescreen in 2013 and basically never touched the settings again until i migrated a new phone....
All these new launchers break my 20 yr old workflow... i dont like the "everything is a search bar" thing
Same here. Been using Android since 2010. Currently running KISS for the last few months, but it doesn't quite work with my muscle memory. I don't want to type things to find them when I can just open the app drawer, or drop a shortcut on the desktop.
Action Launcher is what you seek then. I liked it better than Nova back when Nova was everybody's darling, and finally stopped trying other launchers because they lacked something or other.
Huh lawn chair can remove all the search bars.
Lawnchair is great in many aspects, but it doesn't play nice with PWAs.
I feel the same. I like having my desktop with easy to reach commonly used apps, and a few widgets, such at a Google calendar widget and my keep notes. And I want all the things in the exact spot I put them, so I can build muscle memory to go where I want. The dock is not so necessary as long as I can have enough icons on the desktop. And then I want an app drawer, where I can divide it into tabs, one for regular apps and one for games.
The closest I could find are either:
Lawnchair launcher, but it's missing the drawer tabs (it has folders though)
Pear Launcher, it has everything, but unfortunately it doesn't remove the games from the main apps tab when I add them to a games tab...
Drawer tabs is really what i want
Cant find any modern launcher with tabs
Same here - I heavily rely on drawer tabs, and it's a very under-implemented feature across all of the competition.
Pear Launcher has them but calls them "App Groups". But as I said, the missing piece is to hide them from the main tab when they have been added to another tab
Kvaesitso has tags. Each app can have multiple tags, and selected tags can be pinned (somewhat like a tab) to favorites, possibly resulting in something a bit like drawer tabs? You can also use the search bar to search for a tag and list the tagged apps.
I use tags like #stream #media #video #audio #download #p2p #torrent #tools #navigation #maps #transport #social #chat #messenger #sms #appstore #files etc. and often I add multiple relevant tags for better brainless searchability, though only a few general useful tags are pinned to the favorites section (e.g. #stream #files #chat and #tools).
Octopi and Smart Launcher also have tabs.
I wasn't able to figure out how to do drawer tabs in Octopi. Can you help me figure that out?
Sure. Open the app drawer, long press an app and there's a weird icon towards the bottom of the list with a plus symbol that'll let you add a new tag.
After you've done that you can long press on the tags at the top to add/remove apps in bulk.
Thanks! I'll try it out!
@9488fcea02a9 hmm, didn't lawnchair also have an app drawer and a dock? Or other similar launchers like Microsoft, action, hyperion etc.? There are plenty more AOSP based launchers in the Play Store.
No tabs in the app drawer... just all your apps on one page and have to scroll all the way down to find wikipedia, for example
@9488fcea02a9 bummer. I was hoping one had an implementation like this.
I use Smart Launcher! I picked it up a few years ago, after Nova was sold. Nowadays I'd probably focus on a FOSS launcher, but at the time I didn't care about such things. That said, the app sorting into categories within the app drawer is super nice, and I love it a lot. Everything else about the app is pretty fine, though I am disappointed at how it can lag when I'm trying to switch between apps or the home screen. I'm pretty cozy with it so I'm reluctant to change but I probably will on my next phone.
I personally recommend Multi Launcher, which is KISS with just a few more features that stay out of your way if you don't want them
Hey thanks for the list!