Nova is now owned by an analytics company. You can probably guess why.

Today I’d only trust open source launchers. The default Trebuchet is fine. Lawnchair is alright too.

Niagara launcher

It’s a minimalistic approach, you get one widget at the top of the screen and then a handful of favourite apps.

There’s no app draw instead you scroll an alphabet on either side of the screen to find apps.

Works really well if you have a lot of apps and you want to find them by name.

In the paid version you can have multiple widgets but they stack in the one spot and you have to swipe between them.

It’s perfect if you want an uncluttered launcher.

My favourite open source launcher is Lawnchair, and proprietary is DNA Launcher.

Despite this community’s paranoia, I still use Nova. Can’t find anything that works as well yet.

Disclaimer that I bought the pro version for 99 cents way way back, so I’ve gotten my mileage out of that.

Also if you don’t mind Microsoft, the MS launcher isn’t too bad too. I’m using that on the work phone.

I use Lawnchair btw they released a new version days ago

Niagara Launcher if you want a very minimalistic experience. It’s not open-source, but there are other open-source, minimalistic options like mLauncher, Olauncher, Focus Launcher and Lunar Launcher. I have also seen people recommend Kvaesito. Lawnchair if you prefer a more traditional Android launcher.

I landed on Nova back in 2013 because it allowed me to assign secondary app shortcuts to icons on my dock that are accessed by swipe-up gestures. My hotbar has:

• phone, but swipe up for contacts
• messages, but swipe up for Gmail
• music player, but swipe up for YouTube
• Firefox, but swipe up for clock app

Haven’t paid any attention to any newer launchers.

Kvaesitso, it’s unique and open source

I think Lineage OS integrated launcher is fine but if you need to change it I would recommend Lawnchair or Kvaesito. It really depends on you workflow and what functions you want/need. I would say Lawnchair has a more classic interface while still allowing for customization. There are some forks going around so I encourage you to look in Github or F-droid. Oh and Niagara launcher is nice if you depend on few apps that you frequently use, but it has some features locked that are only available in the PRO version.

Nova is solid, still my go to after trying plenty of others.

AIO is pretty interesting so far, I just paid for it and i never so that.

I suppose it depends on your requirements. I tried a lot and, finally, Pear fitted the bill. I was happy enough with it to get the Pro version and haven’t looked back since.

i used nova in the past but they sold out and barely update their launcher anymore. i stick with the default now, currently trebuchet from lineageos, does everything i want it to.

Lawnchair 2 from F-Droid.

Because it’s pretty and it has plenty of customization features if you like the android stock launcher.

Sadly, none.

I’ve tried many over the years (15 years now!), and while some do work “better” than stock, there aren’t really any that use a different paradigm or concept (Maybe Square Home by chyk).

I don’t find the home screen/desktop concept to be very useful (same with computers). I get the idea, and it should be very useful - it just isn’t, to me🤷🏼

The number one thing I do is switch apps - so for years I used Simple Task Switcher as my launcher, because it was way faster than the native Switcher, and it provided screens for favorites and shortcuts.

Fortunately the Android app switcher has finally caught up and become quick and sensible (and unfortunately Simple Task Switcher no longer works due to changes). I do like the task switcher today.

The other problem with the home screen is the delay implemented in Android when you go home, which I find really annoying. This was intentional (not sure why, maybe because way back on early phones it gave the system time to render some stuff). It’s still there, and not because my phone is slow - even a brand new Pixel with no apps or Google account has this delay. It takes nearly 2 seconds to go home - long enough to make me question if I hit the home button.

I don’t know what the answer is - I keep looking for a new/different way to have a home screen that’s more useful, but they all present the same paradigm (although with different/better features, such as Lawnchair and Nova).

The only reason I go home is to open the app drawer (I find apps on the home screen chaotic - it would take me longer to find an app there than in an alpha list).

Jina Drawer is something I’ve toyed with that has a different approach, though it’s not a launcher.