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submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hey all, newbie to the Lemmy, signed up recently.

Also a relative android newbie, I've had a pixel 6 for about a year and a half.

I've played around with tasker, KWGT, KLWP, and all kinds of other power-user techie apps, so I'm reasonably confident in my ability to tinker with my phone.

I've been experimenting with my launcher, having gone with stock pixel launcher for my first half, and then using Lawnchair 12 for the second half, I wanted to try something new.

So, I open the floor up to you guys! What launcher are you using, what do you enjoy, and most importantly, why do you enjoy it? What sets your launcher apart?

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[–] Cris_Color 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If you really like customization, I haven't found any options that have as many useful settings as nova launcher. Frustratingly no option to change fonts though.

I'd love to switch to an open source option, but need options for overlapping widgets/app shortcuts, padding options for the home screen, widgets, dock, subgrid positioning, and the ability to use a custom widget for the search bar I keep at the bottom of my home screen, and probably some other settings I'm not remembering. I haven't found any open source launchers that would allow my current setup- maybe I'll switch to an FOSS option when I eventually blow it all away and make something new for my home screen

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wow, Nova can do all that?? I had no idea, that's super cool! I've been avoiding Nova since I learned that it'd been bought by some data company, classic internet rumour, but I might have to give that a shot!

[–] Cris_Color 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It is true that nova and sesame search were acquired by a company whose businesses is related to android app analytics. If you're concerned about it, it might be worth going and reading the devs post about privacy and what the acquisition means. I think you can find it on the nova launcher twitter

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have been using Neo launcher since that acquisition, though it does have some problems it's at least FOSS, and sounds like an update is coming "soon".

Formerly known as Omega Launcher, and I think used to be lawn chair based but is not anymore.

[–] Cris_Color 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Neo launcher looks pretty cool, I just wish they had more options for customization. Someone opened a feature request for custom fonts and the devs seemed pretty disinterested and said folks should look for font options through their ROM instead of wanting it in their launcher, so I'm expecting customization isn't really a priority for them unfortunately :(

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

While that's understandable, I just checked and on a stock Samsung flip 4 I can change my font in the system settings - though admittedly it looks like it requires an APK from the Galaxy app store, which I have disabled, but still, it is an option for changing fonts.

Though I am not really one to worry about fonts, so I could be wrong about how important they are.

Other than that, I can customize pretty much anything I have wanted to a similar degree to Nova launcher, though there are a few bugs related to saving widget layouts.

[–] Cris_Color 2 points 1 year ago

Samsung in particular I think does have font settings but many others don't. I'm on a pixel 3, and will probably get a zenphone 10 or fariphone next, and I don't believe any of them have a ROM that supports custom fonts. But certain launchers support them, like lawnchair. I mostly just meant that in regard to their likeliness to add the other niche customization features I need. It seems like a genuinely fantastic launcher, I just really like making stuff and wouldn't be able to recreate my current setup, which would such given how much time and energy I've put into it

This is page 1 of my current home screen

Technically there isn't a launcher that has all of what I want, even ignoring my desire for it to be open source, since nova doesn't have font options. But it's definitely a bit of a bummer I just wouldn't be able to make the same kinds of stuff if I switched to a FOSS launcher. Which is why I say maybe I'll switch when I decide to make a totally new setup, but I think I'll be on this one for a long time, it has a massive number of helpful functional elements that make it easier to manage things like my sleep disorder, and building up all the same functionality again in a totally new design would take ages

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

Yea, it's really hard to beat Nova launcher. While I don't use Nova's features like you do, there's always one or two things missing from the other launchers that make me stay on Nova.