Android @lemmy.ml nerdschleife @lemm.ee 8 mo. ago

FOSS launcher options?

I really like the simple, stock - ish layout on my home screen, which rules out a few popular suggestions like Niagara.

I liked Lawnchair, but development is dead. Even the new alpha hasn't been updated in a year or more, and is missing features.
Neo Launcher perhaps came close to being the most ideal, but it is buggy as hell and also hasn't been updated in a year
Nova is what I'm using now, but I hate that it does not remember the drawer groups for each app once they're reinstalled. I work as an app tester and having to sort work apps manually every time drives me up the wall

Does anyone here have any suggestions?

24 comments

Kvasaeito
- No one is able to write the name right 😅. It's Kvaesitso. I mean no bad. It's pretty uncommon name. It just makes me smile to see it written wrong more often than right.
- I actually gave this a go (or 6, over the past year) but it was a bit too radical for my taste
Pie Launcher https://www.f-droid.org/packages/de.markusfisch.android.pielauncher/

Fast Draw https://www.f-droid.org/packages/peterfajdiga.fastdraw/

Open Launcher https://www.f-droid.org/packages/com.benny.openlauncher/

Discreet Launcher https://www.f-droid.org/packages/com.vincent_falzon.discreetlauncher/

mLauncher https://www.f-droid.org/packages/app.mlauncher/
Using Lawnchair atm. It's okay-ish which is enough for me, but I really like Niagara, although the double-tap-to-lock feature behind a paywall was a huge dealbreaker.
- feature behind a paywall was a huge dealbreaker
  
  Devs got to eat. And, if I remember right, for less than price of a meal for something you use, probably multiple times a day.
I've been using neo launcher since nova was sold. What kind of bugs have you encountered?
- Every UI setup change needs a launcher restart to take effect
  
  I think I've run into this bug a couple of times. For some reason, the grid can become unaligned and I'd have to restart the launcher from the advanced options to fix it. I wish development was faster but that's how open source goes sometimes.
- I have had the chance to use it on a few different devices and ROMs. Been with it since before name change.
  
  Performance, especially bugginess is highly variable. I don't know if it's the phone, the ROM, other apps, settings or what. Sometimes it is smooth and you forget its there. other times it is crashing every 5 mins, sometimes without being fully recoverable. Like on a certain set up my widgets would disappear when it crashed and widgets aren't in the backup so you have to redo them from scratch.
  
  If it doesn't work on you current device just don't give up on it and whenever you get a new one give it a spin again.
Maybe I'm leaving myself hanging out, but I'm still using lawnchair because I like it! Perhaps worth using again?
- I really like having a plain home screen that I can put widgets onto, so that leaves Niagara out
  
  Sorry, I didn't know lawnchair was related to Niagara.
I'm using Trebuchet (default Lineage launcher) with Launcher30 Lposed module. It's simple, it's very stock, no nonsense, just launcher.
- This came installed with my rom too, but I really need the option to sort the app drawer into categories or folders
- wow, thanks for this
I've also been looking around but there are no good FOSS launchers currently.
- KISS Launcher?
  
  this is what I use. I'm over sorting, I just want to type in the name of the thing I want to launch
Neolauncher FTW

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

Do an image search for screenshots, the repo doesnt really do it justice.

On f droid.
there was a thread here with the same topic: https://lemmy.ml/post/4933449

my suggestion: KISS
Well...if you want something that eat little ram and supports icon packs, Mini Desktop launcher
Simple Launcher - basic but gets stuff done

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