I use the Niagara Launcher, it serves favorite apps up in a vertical list, and other apps in an alphabetical list. It's very quick and easy to navigate and quite customizable with some widget support. It works with music apps, has a dark mode, makes changing icon packs easy. You can swipe up to search, or add a search button. I just love how minimal, clean and functional it is.

Here is my home screen. Note there is no left or right screen to swipe to .

Here is the app list, under N.

Some settings

And the app store link:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=bitpit.launcher

Just in case people aren't aware Nova was acquired by Branch. Putting it out there so people can decide whether that matters or not.

https://www.androidpolice.com/nova-launcher-acquired-by-branch/

Nova, Nova Nova.

The level of customization is well thought out, and the gesture controls were out of this world when it came out. I've been using Nova for about 5 or 6 years if I'm not mistaken. Don't care to go back to anything else.

Pixel 6 pro. I use Nova launcher. It works great and is very customizable, especially with icon placement. I recommend it.

Niagara. Beautiful and efficient. Truly a step above other launchers.

I migrated from windows phone to android and loved the windowsphone interface.

I use squarehome. It is infinitely customizable and with a little work the cleanest ui imaginable.

If it's not on F-Droid, it's probably out to get you.

Nova Launcher. It's AOSP-like but upgraded and that works best for me.

Nova, but the devs sold out and are VERY aggressive towards the community if they question the motives of the new owner, so if I wasnt so ingrained in it, I probably wouldnt recommend it.

I refuse to use Pixel Launcher until I can remove the Google search bar

I’d also like to be able to change my icons. I use Nova atm

LawnChair, it's open source, customizable and has drawer folders

Nova Launcher. I tried other launchers recently but they either have some unacceptable jank or are currently awaiting a major update. Nova Launcher remains the most stable with great customization.

I use Niagara Launcher, because it's minimal and quite comfy.

EDIT: The latest update (that I just applied) has put a lot of the features I use (custom font, battery percentage) behind a paywall. I will be looking for alternatives.

I use Kvæsitso. I like that it's more search focused and has a clean homescreen with just the clock and a search bar. You can scroll up to see widgets arranged vertically or scroll up to show the app drawer. It also looks nice because it supports the new Android design (Material v3) and dynamic colors. It also supports dynamically colored app icons like lawnicons and has an option to color all other icons as well.

Nova launcher. It is the only one I manage to configure so the app drawer is opened via macrodroid (almost) only.

I'm loving my paid version of Nova. there's a great free version if you wanna try it out too and there's a crazy amount of customization. I'm on a Pixel 5a right now and with the Pix Material You Light/Dark icons it's quite nice. I do think the default Pixel Launcher is more polished, but Nova just has so many options that I've gotten used to enjoying.

Another +1 for KISS, it's such an amazing launcher. I'm actually surprised to see it mentionned so much in this thread.

I have my 5 most used app on top of the search bar and my most used apps (that get automatically sorted by usage) readily accessible. The search feature + tags is so powerful, there's no need to scroll through the apps anymore when looking for something.

Nova.

Works well and really clean.

Niagara for my phone, just a simple short list of most used apps, the time and climate as front. I like the minimalism on the small screen.

For my tablet, I use Action Launcher. It have some nice features like a easily accessable (by gesture) alphabetically ordered list of apps.

Nova. I keep trying new launchers but I don't like the text-only minimalist or the others that look more like Samsung's default. I've been a user for a long time and I still love it.

Nova. Clean customizable UI that stays out of the way while looking good.

I use KISS. it's super minimalistic, allows fro hiding all the unremovable crap all phones come with today, and is basically a search bar with 5 icons on top. I have my Proton Calendar as the sole widget and that's it. Single screen, no fuss.

Niagara

A couple people here mentioned Kvaesitso so U had a quick look at that, it seems really neat and customizable too.

Niagara. With Whicons and a black background. All monochrome black and white. To keep me from distractions 😅

I can no longer even imagine my phone without Niagara.

IMO the developer managed to capture exactly how a phone should work while mostly staying out of the way.

I use KISS launcher

its named on a philosophy

keep it short and simple

it is a small launcher under 1MB launcher while others are about 20-50 MB so it keeps the code simple

another thing it has is that it is focused around using keyboard to search for apps and using history to launch activities, if you call someone or open and application, you get that activity first at the bottom (one hand reachability) and then other activities with chronological order going above (away from your thumbs) you can change the mode from this to frequently used apps, recently frequently and others

KISS launcher, it's simple and quick. It is a search based launcher. It is also open source and on fdroid

Another vote for KISS (https://kisslauncher.com/) and Kvaesitso (https://github.com/MM2-0/Kvaesitso/).

Both FOSS, both search based. Depending on your taste you might find KISS perfectly simple and Kvaesitso a bit bloated; or KISS too basic and Kvaesitso more feature packed and complete.

I'd recommend trying both and deciding for yourself.

I use nova launcher. Idk if it's the best one tbh because I've never needed to try another. It's allowed me to easily replicate my favourite menu I had back on my HTC onem8 for the past several years and move it to new phones whenever I need to without any issues, so I guess I like the high customizability in that sense, and how easy it is to set up and use. You mentioned that the company that acquired it it's a turnoff for you so I guess it's not a very helpful suggestion, but the app itself has very few permissions on my phone and I don't think that any permissions are actually necessary, though don't quote me on that. But it just has files and media allowed and hasn't ever asked me for more. As far as I'm aware the same team and original creator are still the ones working on Nova, and they've said they won't let the launcher start tracking people without permission. They've said users will be able to opt out of any new features, and any data collection involved will be optional. So unless things change drastically in the future I have no reason to stop using the launcher. I know when people hear it was acquired by an analytics company they automatically turn away, but imo analytics are only an issue if they're forced. If I'm allowed to opt out then I'm fine with it. But some people aren't willing to tolerate even that, so I guess it depends on where you stand regarding that.

I use Niagara with a live wallpaper called Wallow. It just creates a beautiful and simplified experience for me that has all the features I need and gets out of my way when I don't.

Niagara

I'm a pixel user. I switched to Niagara. I didn't like it at first, but now I love it. It's just very different from what you think a launcher should be. It's not my forever launcher but I enjoy it for now. It's been a year or so

(I used to love Cyanogen. RIP)

I've been using Nova forever. Any new phone doesn't feel right until I install it. I like the customization options and the scroll for all apps.

Lawn Chair

I use KISS nowadays, simple, if I need to open an app, I search it; no need to look for it on the home screen. More than enough for what I do on my phone.

That said, I need to give a shout-out to TUI Launcher. I love the amount of customization it gives you plus the terminal-esque functionality. I'd have probably stuck with it if only it had the search menu that KISS has since I want to see my icons again.

mlauncher- a minimal text based open source fork of Olauncher

any foss launchers?

Kiss launcher for me

KISS Launcher, it's dead simple and just what I need.

It clears all the clutter from my screen, I can search for any app I want without trying to remember where I put it on my homepage, and it has a history for quick access that's really handy.

KISS. At first I didn't like the lack of multiple home screens, in a way these are replaced by swipe gestures in KISS, but after getting used to them they're much quicker to trigger actions than pressing buttons. It turns out I don't miss multiple home screens that much either.

I tried using Lawnchair, but I missed the "search-first" property of KISS that makes opening apps really quick.