Lawnchair
this post was submitted on 02 Feb 2026
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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!
Awesome! will check it out, thank you for the suggestion!
A warning, it's different from a normal launcher. That's why I love it!
I love KISS for the minimalism. I even hide the favorite bar, hide icons and make the search bar transparent too, just tap bottom to bring up recent apps + fuzzy search.
Same. I've been using KISS for years. It would feel weird to use anything else at this point.
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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.
They actually fixed my minor complaint which was allowing folders on the home screen so big props to Niagara for that one.
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Stock GrapheneOS
I used to spend a lot of time configuring different launchers (including Nova Launcher) but since I’ve switched to GrapheneOS, I’m actually quite happy with the stock launcher. It has everything I need — multiple home screens, widgets, folders. And I use App Search as dedicated search and secondary launch app that I’ve set up as digital assistant for gesture invocation.
kvaesito, I switched from nova a few months ago and I'm loving it.
I tried KISS, Niagara, etc. Kvaeasito is the one that stuck for some reason.
It's "kvaesitso" you guys
kavatitse
Kvasideeznutz 🫠
NGL, I copied the guy above me because I didn't feel like double checking. You right.
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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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I switched to Smart Launcher because it was the only one I found that mentioned being able to import my Nova backup. The transfer wasn't perfect, but extremely good.
Yeah, it was my second smart phone ever, and my first android (first was an iPhone 4s that my grandmother got me. I very much did not want it, and told her as much before she got it), so I didn't have a previous launcher. Just tried like 10 of them, and liked SL more than any of the others I'd tried. I think Nova was in that lot xD
Niagara, nice simple clean
Surprised I had to scroll this far for a Niagara recommendation. Been on it since Nova sale and it's fantastic
Niagra is the bees knees
Nova got sold and now it's a tracking-laiden pos. That's why is gone terrible.
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.
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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.
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I switched to Olauncher a few years ago, and I cannot use anything else now. Works well for me.
+1. Olauncher is fantastic
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).
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Lawnchair
Another Kvae user I see. 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.
Bought nova, too. And regret. Now it is lawnchair, with a finally good update solution through obtainium, because of their confusing alpha, beta releases.
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I've been using OLauncher. I like the simplicity it brings to my phone experience.
Lawnchair. Can't donate to the dev hard enough.
I've been using Hyperion since Nova sold. I really like it, solid feature set and easy to port between phones
Personally I've not experienced any problems but that's likely because I've got an old phone with a old version of Android.
One of the tech YouTubers I like a lot did an in depth look at alternative launchers to Nova in this video.
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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.
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"?
I'm probably gonna get a lot of hate for this lol. I've tried quite a few launchers over the years but I'm currently using and have been using Microsoft Launcher for a few years now. There's something about it I really like. I really should go looking for another launcher...
also had nova before. same as others: switched to lawnchair. basically the same featureset
I use the stock launcher because I don't care, but I would try Lawnchair too if I wanted to switch,
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