Branch Metrics sucks. They fired almost of all people working for Nova.

  • @[email protected]
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    181 year ago

    I’m still looking for a launcher similar to nova. The two big things I want are the swipe action on homescreen icons. For example I set the swipe up on my phone app to directly call someone. And I have the swipe up on other apps open a separate app instead. Other thing is being able to create folders of apps in the app drawer.

    • @[email protected]
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      61 year ago

      Same! Except I use swipe up to go to Google voice and swipe down to go to contacts.

      Folders are also clutch. I don’t want to search for my apps.

    • @[email protected]
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      301 year ago

      It’s pretty much already very usable. I have been on version 12 alpha for a long time and now on 14 beta 2, all in all since nearly a year.

      • @[email protected]
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        111 year ago

        I’ve had it freeze up on me several times, where I had to reset the app to get it working again. It works most of the time, but I wouldn’t recommend it yet for general use.

      • @[email protected]
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        201 year ago

        Seems like it is missing a lot of the conveniences that I was once used to with Nova, though. No ability to reposition the search bar or keep it in place on other pages, no docked apps, no button to open the app drawer, the home screen grid has fixed padding and so on.

        I’ve since switched to Niagara which has been okay, but I’ve never found anything else like Nova since.

    • fmstrat
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      21 year ago

      Neo Launcher is the way. FOSS with all the same features as Nova.

    • @[email protected]
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      41 year ago

      I’ve been using the 14 nightlies for months now, 0 issues. It’s very nice and responsive.

    • LiveLM
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      71 year ago

      Lol development on it halts and resumes almost randomly, I’ve given up hope long ago.
      Which really sucks as it’s the only launcher to have QuickSwitch support AFAIK.

      • redfellow
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        11 year ago

        Development has been steady. 8 beta has been available with about monthly updates for a few years or some such, in official Nova Discord.

        They launched the beta in play store recently as well. Been using the beta since they shared the first apk.

  • @[email protected]
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    101 year ago

    I looked for a new launcher when the sale was anounced a year ago and was sad to find no launvhers I can customize that much.

    I went for Kvaesitso (https://github.com/MM2-0/Kvaesitso also on F-Droid) and stuck with it since. I really like the concept althought it might not be for everyone.

    • @[email protected]
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      41 year ago

      All I want is to remove the mandatory google search bar and calendar/weather widget at the top of the home screen on my pixel.

      While alot of the third party launchers I’ve seen look cool and functional, in this case I would love just more simple one.

      • @[email protected]
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        81 year ago

        You might be interested in lawnchair. It’s open source and based off the Google launcher (AFAIK) but you can remove the search bar and other things.

        The one on f-droid is two versions out of date. Latest one is from their website:

        https://lawnchair.app/

        • BritishJ
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          41 year ago

          It’s almost perfect. I all miss, is the ability to stack the icons on a folder, and set the folder background transparency when expanded.

  • BlackEco
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    41 year ago

    Crap, I recently migrated to Nova because I was fed up with Action Launcher bugs and lack of development… If I knew I would not have bought a paid license

  • AItoothbrush
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    121 year ago

    Btw i recommend kvaesitso. Idk what nova is like but kvaesitso is open source, has updates and is a very nice launcher in general. Its a bit hard to set-up at first because it uses widgets but after you figure it out its really nice.

    • @[email protected]
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      21 year ago

      Did a recent update really break it for you? I’ve had to move over to square home at the moment.

    • @[email protected]
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      41 year ago

      I’m currently on it because Neo Launcher stopped working one day, but is there a way to have app icons on the home screen without them being in the dock? It fills up quickly if you use PWA’s

      • @[email protected]
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        31 year ago

        No. You don’t manually place apps on homescreen. I have it configured to only show one row of favorites, which are categorized as “pinned - manually sorted”. Than the rest of my favorites are seen when i swipe to app drawer.

  • Curious Canid
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    111 year ago

    I’ve been using Nova for a very long time. It has saved me all kinds of annoyance as I’ve switched phone brands and OS versions, since my basic UI has remained consistent.

    Unless it actually takes a dive in quality, I will continue to use it, but this is disappointing news.

  • @[email protected]
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    181 year ago

    Aw man! I’ve used nova launcher for probably about a decade at this point :(

    There’s no way in hell I’m going back to SMASNUG’s crusty launcher. What’s the next best thing that isn’t a beta test?

  • @[email protected]
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    31 year ago

    Now that is a name I haven’t heard in a long time, last time I tried different launcher was maybe in 2015… I didn’t know custom launcher were still popular. I try to use vanilla android

  • fmstrat
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    111 year ago

    Neo Launcher is the way. FOSS with all the same features as Nova.

    • @[email protected]
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      141 year ago

      You’re posting this brief message a lot, so I googled it, and, no releases since October 2022? Only on f droid and is there really no way to pay other than PayPal donations? Am I looking at the right neo launcher?

      Development isn’t dead, but the lack of releases and fees (one time purchase, please) don’t give me confidence.

      • fmstrat
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        11 year ago

        And looks like alpha 1 hit the release page.

      • @[email protected]
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        31 year ago

        I moved to lawnchair 2 beta (or whatever it is.) I liked neo but the promised release just never came. I kept having it crash and it always took a few seconds to restart.

        Lawnchair has been reliable though even for a beta.

      • fmstrat
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        11 year ago

        Dev seems close to next release, I put in a bug on searching with SearXNG and it was fixed the next day.

  • z3r0
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    51 year ago

    I switched to KISS launcher after I knew the company had bought the project. Never came back.

  • @[email protected]
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    111 year ago

    I just reset my phone (because reasons) and while I was happy to use Nova for so many years, I decided to switch - trying ADW Launcher now.

    Looks like it was a smart move.

      • @[email protected]
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        61 year ago

        😲 13 years?? I had no idea! Wild. Okay maybe I need to find a modern alternative - but haven’t found anything yet that’s so nice as Nova was.

        • @[email protected]
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          11 year ago

          The play store Version is only 6 years old. Still not great.

          You could try lawnchair 14 which is currently in beta on github. The version you can load in the play store is very old.

    • @[email protected]
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      121 year ago

      Wow, there’s a name I haven’t heard for years, not since my Bionic!

      I have a copy hanging around. I need a software indexing tool to keep track!

      • @[email protected]
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        31 year ago

        Nova just worked so well for me. Have looked into other launchers and they just aren’t the bee’s knees. ADW might not be the best either.

        • @[email protected]
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          11 year ago

          To me the whole home screen paradigm just doesn’t work, at all. I don’t keep anything on the home screen, I find it clumsy and disorganized, with things hard to find - just like with the desktop paradigm on Windows.

          It seems like a good idea, it just doesn’t work for me. I can’t find anything on my computer desktop - the inability to organize it other than giant icons of stuff just makes it overwhelming, and it’s the same problem on a phone.

          I use a combination of folders (Folder Organizer) and Notification Shortcuts (Notification Toggle), because that makes so much more sense to me. Notification Panel

          It seems a different paradigm for phones would be more effective than reproducing a desktop.

  • @[email protected]
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    61 year ago

    Article mentions 3rd party launcher gesture issues, but I’ve never seen this problem. I used to use Nova but switched to Smart launcher for the blur, but at no time have gestures been an issue. Any ideas what they mean?

    • Clay_pidgin
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      121 year ago

      There’s a known (assumed intentional) issue with Android where a gesture to go home will show the home screen, but nothing responds to touch for a half second. I’ve been using Nova for years and I experience it daily. I feel like the delay has gotten better, though.

      • @[email protected]
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        11 year ago

        Ooooh that. Yeah I get that with android auto.

        I’ve recently turned off all apps (including google) permission to draw over other apps and that seems to have stopped it for me, on Pixel 8.

  • Dave.
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    1 year ago

    Immediately switches to google play to turn off auto update for Nova Launcher