I use μLauncher, its a quite different foss launcher based on swipe actions. It works well for me. Check it out, its intresting.
this post was submitted on 02 Feb 2026
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I also switched to niagara launcher since I'm also on an old device and need something minimal. Big question though: which launcher other than nova has the most shortcut options? Not just swiping on folders, but double tapping, double tap +up etc. That's the basic thing I miss from nova.
I find the stock Samsung launcher for one ui 3 pretty comfortable, but if I were to pick a different launcher, I’d probably just grab fossify launcher, since it’s pretty dang lightweight, especially on my old hardware.
Niagara at the moment. There's a lot I'd change about it but it's the best I've spent the time to learn the ins and outs of so far.
It's so good. Cuts out so much crap.
I also recommend Niagara, it's an excellent launcher
I want to try Mako and Olauncher, but I'm afraid of malware and data collection. Any advice?
OLauncher is great. I used Nova for a long time but I'm happy with OLauncher. It's also available on F-Droid which is pretty neat.
TREK: Total Interface
It's Total Launcher with an LCARS theme.
I've been using it for 4 or 5 years now across two different phones.
I absolutely despise the entire smartphone menu paradigm so this is as close as I can get to departing from it and sticking with something static that doesn't move about or spontaneously change behaviors every third update.
That's a static menu system sorted, now if I could just get my pixel 8 pro to stick to 30 minutes screen timeout after I set it once, that'd be great. It flips back to 30 seconds nearly every time I put it down and sometimes while I'm holding it.
Why isn't there a developer option for "never let the phone change settings on its own"?
Been using Fast Draw for a minute now. I like the simplicity and the lack of even the desire for a search bar. The only problem I have is that it can't handle a widget well, and can't handle more than one widget at all.
Lawnchair
Lawnchair
Heard a lot of praise for it and tried to test it the other day, but noped right back out when just trying to create a folder in the dock was horribly buggy and repeatedly resulted in having a duplicate of one of the app icons in it showing on the home screen, weirdly overlapping the "at a glance" widget, and when I tried to fix it the folder just disappeared. Not sure if I was doing something wrong, but that wasn't very confidence inspiring. Stock Pixel 7, so it's not like I'm using a particularly unusual setup either
Sounds like my experience so you're not alone. Tried it on both a Pixel 8 Pro and P10 Pro XL. Its foundation is good, but it needs a lot of polishing.
Will check it out, thank you!
Another Kvae user I see. I love KISS.
I change the settings to set swipes for common apps like browser and camera, set others as favorites like email and messaging apps, and then set it to show nothing else except the search bar. Tapping the search bar shows commonly used apps, or you can a search.
Works great for my "workflow", and leaves the "desktop" almost completely clear. Then I have the wallpaper set to the NASA astronomy picture of the day. Works great!
Same. I've been using KISS for years. It would feel weird to use anything else at this point.
I agree, KISS on minimal mode for me.
I use KISS but with the Launchy widget as well and it works great.
Interesting! Do you (or anyone) know of any similar one that's FOSS and available outside of Google Play?
Afraid not 😔. If you find anything please let me know
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Niagara. It's simple and clean. All I need is an app drawer and a few favorites, and that's basically what it provides.
Same here. It's very smooth. I wish there were a few other customization points, I'd rather use my own weather app than the built in one, and I do, but then end up with different forecasts as they use different sources.
Minor complaints, but still a little friction that could be solved.
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Square home 2.
kvaesito, I switched from nova a few months ago and I'm loving it.
This is my choice as well. I like Niagara but the different way they do widgets I just can never get. KISS launcher is being true to its namesake, and I like most of it.
Kvaesitso is like a mixture of both to me. It doesn't have the notification style of Niagara, but it's simple in a different flavor to both Niagara and KISS.
I can get a clean home page like KISS with just a clock widget.
Swipe left and I get the app drawer with search bar focused (you can turn it off). On top of the drawer you can pin favorite apps and even shortcuts, as well as let it populate with your most used apps automatically.
Swipe up from home you get a dedicated vertically scrolling widget page. The built in default widgets are useful but it's easy to add more. Downside is the widgets only stack vertically.
I'm just a bit irritated with the gestures to open the notification panel and quick access tiles because it uses accessibility system, and that freaks my bank apps to no end.
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Smart Launcher gang checking in. I am also a Nova Launcher refugee, and I found that Smart Launcher had similar features and ease of use.
What ever comes pre-installed on the device. I stopped caring around the time when they stopped making cool new smarphones. It has became just a tool since.
Same one I've been using for the past... 14 years? Smart Launcher. Great UI, and means when I get a new phone I don't need to learn a new UI :D
+1 for smart launcher. I got it back when the paid version was like 5 bucks. It's more now, but I've been very happy with it overall.
Lawnchair also looks great. I'd consider switching if Smart Launcher becomes enshittified or if Lawnchair has better features.
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What does a launcher do, what can a non-default one do (or not do) that warrents the effort to not just use whatever the default is?
Using a non-default launcher gives you more options to customise your home screen and any other screens off to the side.
For example, Pixels always have the Google search bar right there on the home screen, and it's not removable (or not last I checked). But what if I don't want it there? A 3rd party launcher will usually give me that option.
Or another example - some launchers allow the use of gestures to activate certain things, eg open app A, start an email in app B, call a specific contact, etc. This can be gestures on empty parts of the screen or swipes on icons.
On my phone, on which I use Total Launcher, it looks like this:
Tapping each of those 12 icons opens a folder. But I can also swipe each folder icon up, down, left or right and have certain apps or activities open without ever needing to go into the app drawer.
So, if I want to make a call, I swipe left on the communications folder (top right). If I want to open Lemmy, I swipe right on the Internet folder (blue, bottom row). If I want to open my phone settings, I swipe up on the Tools folder. And so on.
That way, I can activate 48 different things while only having 12 icons on screen, keeping it quite neat and tidy, and leaving space for my little collection of widgets at the top.
Gotcha, thanks!
I switched to Olauncher a few years ago, and I cannot use anything else now. Works well for me.
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I use Niagara. I needed something that was linear to help stave off the urge to browse.
Nova got sold and now it's a tracking-laiden pos. That's why is gone terrible.
Lawnchair. An improved Launcher3 that I use in place of Lineage's built-in launcher.
I don't really like text-only "simple" launchers as the icons help with quickly figuring out what app does what. Some of the features the AOSP Launcher3 lacks are present in Lawnchair/(mainly more customization over existing features).
I tried Lawnchair the other day and found it severely lacking.
What is an android launcher?
Like a catapult for robots.
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