this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2024

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Is there any proprietary Android app for which you wish there would be an open-source alternative? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Basically, what the title says. Do you use any app, that is proprietary, but either has no OSS alternatives or they're all not good enough? If there is an alternative, what keeps you from switching?

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[–] helpImTrappedOnline 10 points 2 months ago (5 children)

Nova launcher.

I Haven't found one that works so well with KLWP or has good app drawer organization. I like having folders and tabs to split everything up. Having one big list of apps (70% I dont use often and another 10% bloat) isn't useful.

[–] Arality 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I recently switched launchers. Have you tried Kvaesitso? It's the best I've tried. It allows you to create categories in your app drawer, and organize that way. I've really been liking it.

https://github.com/MM2-0/Kvaesitso

[–] helpImTrappedOnline 1 points 2 months ago

Thank you for your suggestion.

Having just tried it, it is not for me. The categories is there, but having the search/app drawrr on the top won't work me, especially with these stupid large phone everyone makes. (I'm guessing theres a way to change it, but I didnt get that far)

The ultimate reason its not for me is how widgets are a scrolling thing. It's a different idea, but I like the widgets on my home screen where I can passively see them.

If there's a way to change that, I didnt see it. I didn't even find a way to get rid of the big clock at the bottom.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I've used several launchers but there seems to be a halt developing them. For the most time, I used to use recently Neo Launcher, but it feels dated now, they are working on a rewrite and it's still beta (if not still alpha). Kvaesitso is a good launcher, but I'm too accustomed to the swipe up gesture to show apps and Kvaesitso just decided to make it upside down for me, and it feels odd even if you can change this to your preference. Finally, KISS launcher, which had halted development a bit but I find light and customizable enough. Not gonna lie here, as soon as Neo launcher gets to a stable state, I'm coming back.

Edit:

I wanted to mention a couple of killer features of KISS that you might probably like:

Its dock can pin a couple of apps and have some spaces changing depending on the frequency of use.
You can have a list of frequently used apps associated to a gesture (I use swipe-up and single-touch).
If you are gonna use a not too frequently used app, you can have a gesture for this too (I use long-touch).
Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is searchable. Well, not everything, but they surely allow you to search a lot of things.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

fwiw lawnchair beta works absolutely fine for me, i guess it can't do anything fancy with the app drawer but like, that's why you have a home screen..

[–] helpImTrappedOnline 1 points 1 month ago

I tried, and tried to like it. We all work differently. I like widgets on the home screen, swipe up for apps. I guess it's the "start menu" mentality.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

We need a NOVA replacement with how they've recently restructured the company. It looks like NOVA is getting squeezed for the last few cents they've got to offer by whom ever bought the company 1-2 years ago.

I've tried every other launcher I could find. In my opinion they all seemed to be minimalistic by design or they just lacked features.

[–] FuryMaker 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Same. I've been attempting to de-Google and stick with FOSS where possible, but only Lawnchair has come close to Nova Launcher, but it's not without its limitations like setting a primary home screen, and better widget padding and removing round corners.

I'm still experimenting with others, but many are no longer under active development either.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

@FuryMaker @helpImTrappedOnline

nova launcher has been the last app without foss replacement for me until I found neolauncher.

Using the option 'categorize apps as tabs' I have the great drawer behavior as with Nova.

Though development is slow, you can get in contact with them on the matrix channel.

(Oh, just remembered that I still have one non foss app for my Yamaha receiver)

#neolauncher

[–] helpImTrappedOnline 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Cool, first impressions are pretty good.

It took a minute to find, the play store has some not free thing. But I found the github page.

https://github.com/NeoApplications/Neo-Launcher

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

@helpImTrappedOnline

More recent versions (beta) are distributed via Matrix (and Telegram?) channel.