PSA: Nova Launcher is owned by an analytics company

www.androidpolice.com /nova-launcher-acquired-by-branch/

Since a few folks seem unaware of this, I'm posting anew for visibility.

Privacy Guides @lemmy.one

PSA: Nova Launcher has been owned by analytics company Branch since 2022

www.androidpolice.com /nova-launcher-acquired-by-branch/

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I ditched it for Lawnchair, and I have no regrets. Works just as well as Nova did.
- Lol nah. I tried it recently. Lawnchair is lacking in so much customization compared to Nova it's kind of appalling to compare them imo.
  That being said, if you are ok with the Pixel launcher and pretty basic / generic customizations Lawnchair is a pretty awesome app.
  
  What are you guys doing to your launchers that needs so much configuration? I've been happy with Lawnchair for years. I set my gestures and that's about it.
  
  I like to categorize my apps. In Nova I have them divided into Web / Media / Games / Tools / System and I can swipe between each page (horizontally) of them. I use quite a few apps to do a lot of things tho, so *shrug.
  I also really like the Sesame search integration, Lawnchairs adaption of Pixel Launchers is good. But there is style and behavior customization that Nova offers that Lawnchair doesn't.
  I am pretty particular about making my phone just look and behave the way I want it, of course it changes over time as phones and apps get better but yeah.... It's largely why I preferred Android from the start and have stuck with it
  
  Agreed. Lawnchair was highly recommended, and when I tried it, I realized it's recommended by people who were never actually utilizing Nova's full potential. It's basically just pixel launcher with more bells and whistles, and that's not what I want. I use Nova because I wanted to make my own launcher that looked and worked exactly the way I wanted it to, not just be pixel launcher with some minor customizations.
  
  I may be kinda weird. My phone has looked the same for probably 10 years or more. The home screen is a wallpaper but otherwise blank. My name is at the bottom in the dock area, six letters, like M Y N A M E. When I tap a letter it opens a certain app or folder of apps. When I swipe up it opens others. For example, tap the M and it opens the camera, swipe up and it opens a folder of photo apps. Same for all six letters. I have one other page with active widgets for info I can take in visually like weather radar, news ticker, etc but on my main page, with those 6 taps and swipes I can open anything in a couple seconds max, one handed, probably with my eyes closed for oft-used apps.
  The letters of my name are 6 different images, I just typed my name in a nice looking font, took a snapshot of each letter and made the background transparent. So to set it up I drag the camera app to the dock then change it's icon to the M.gif I have saved on my sdcard, then set a swipe action to open the photo apps folder. Really simple.. as long as the launcher has those options.
  Since I read this post I've been looking at other launchers. I could find no way to get rid of the search bar in the dock with one launcher, another one didn't even have a dock, it had a vertical A-Z on the side so you could open a list of apps alphabetically. Lawnchair won't let me choose my own images for the icons in the dock, I can only select system icons or an icon pack.
  I'll keep looking, and maybe I can make my 6 gif into an icon pack to use with Lawnchair or something. But without those options I will have to start using my phone in a completely different way than I have been using it for over 10 years.
  
  To the best of my knowledge, Pear Launcher can do everything you're asking for. I haven't used nova in a while, but from what I recall of it, the free version of pear launcher is far more feature rich than nova.
  
  Thanks! I downloaded it and it can change icons to images and swipes work fine. I just need to figure out how to do folders. It only says "folders in app drawer" in the description, I need folders to open with a tap or swipe on a home screen icon. I still have a copy of Folder Organizer although it's been abandoned for years. I could get them to work with that if nothing else.
  
  Hey, dunno if you figured it out yet, but creating folders is done in the pear launcher settings (I get to the settings by a "pear actions" widget set to pear settings). From there, it's app drawer > folders > then you can make new folders and add stuff to them.
  
  People care about organizing their interfaces more than you, is that hard to understand?

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