I’ve tried a lot of the launchers I see talked about frequently- Nova, Niagra, Smart Launcher, Action Launcher, etc. but they all seem to not be worth the hassle of switching away from pixel launcher. Also none of them have the Google News feed that the pixel launcher has. I feel like I’m losing features when I switch. Perhaps I’m just stupid and am not utilizing the features these launchers actually bring to the table.

Can you tell me about your favorite launcher and it’s features that keep you hooked to it? Thanks.

  • Hellmo_luciferrariEnglish
    4•6 months ago

    I have tried many of launchers over the years, and I can only find myself using one: Nova.

    However, I don’t exactly love that Nova was bought out by Branch, an analytics company. So I still use Nova, but when using LineageOS or stock Android I use AFWall+ to block internet access to Nova.

    If privacy isn’t a concern of yours, then Nova without a way to deny internet connection to it would do.

    Nova has the google feed feature you are looking for. It works quite well.

    Nova has 1 feature that I cannot find in another launcher (at least not an open source one…) that for me is the ability to swipe up and down on an app icon and have it launch another app or shortcut. It’s powerful and allows me to keep my homescreen empty, and I have 12 app icons on my taskbar. That being said with swiping, I can launch 36 apps from my taskbar alone. Allows me to keep it clean. And that mixed with separate tabs for app categories created by me.

    The closest to Nova I have found, and is an excellent launcher is NeoLauncher

    This launcher has quite the selection of features and I do implore you to check this launcher out.